Zbigniew Meger
Basis of e-learning - from Shannon to constructivism

Distance education has been already known for over 160 years. Most of that time it was seen as a substitute of traditional learning, when a teacher was replaced by different books and materials. In the era of computers, people started to perceive didactic materials as information which is a material thing, i.e. a thing which can be transformed, moved and transferred. The issue of transferring information became an interesting problem of educational processes.

The article presents different concepts of learning - from traditional where a teacher plays most important role to new concepts which emerged on the basis of new technologies. Shannon theory, behaviorists' model, cognitive theory of learning and constructivism have been described in the article.