At a conference I recently attended, speakers dedicated ample time talking up the future of mobile technologies and e-learning, an inevitable convergence that, for lack of a better word, could be called m-learning. While there were as many people as there were opinions on how mobile technologies would impact e-learning, nearly everyone agreed that in the future, mobile technologies would play a huge role in the rapidly growing e-learning market. Already, there are numerous applications for mobile technologies, from the ability to wirelessly transmit learning modules and scores, to enabling learners to assess their skills on the go.

E-learning defined
Generally, words appended with the letter "e," such as "e-commerce" or "e-marketplace," connote any Internet-enabled or facilitated interaction between people. E-learning is no exception. E-learning is a subset of technology-based training and encompasses all learning activities conducted on the Internet. It can be "live" (also known as "synchronous") learning, meaning students communicate with peers and instructors in real-time, or it can be completely self-paced, which is known as "asynchronous" learning.

In practice, however, e-learning has come to mean anything that has to do with learning on the Internet. Every company in the training and education space seems to proclaim they're an e-learning company, from companies building authoring tools to companies digitizing instructor-led training for online delivery. Who can blame them? Who wouldn't want to be part of an industry that analysts such as IDC (International Data Corporation) are predicting will nearly double every year through 2003?