Dave White raises a continuum of types amongst participants online as presented via an Elluminate session for the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course. These include ‘Visitors’ who may view the Internet more as tool box of technologies and ‘Residents’ who tend to ‘loiter’ online and are more focused upon actively or purposefully creating their online persona. Alternatively, George Siemen’s raises another perspective whereby online learners may be seen as forming and creating an environment/s. I feel that just by listening to this discussion, naturally, I learned more about the language and cultures of e-Learners. Recently, I had written in the CCK09 Moodle using the term ‘Individual’. So now I need to explain that I was speaking a different language at the time.

Older people may tend to visit online, while youner people may be more at ease with being ‘residents’. The concepts of Culture and Motivation are central to Dave White’s view of the nature of e-Learning. In addition, the value of immersion and the experiential rather than didactic teaching and learning are advocated throughout this above-mentioned Elluminate session. Roy Williams, convener, advocated that rather than trying to lead the horse to water, ‘throw the horse into the water’. Alternatively, with respect, I advocate creating environments within which individuals are enabled to tell their own very specific, unique story with as many details or as little detail as they wish to provide. I fully understand that attention to the specific is not necessarily popular in contemporary e-Learning contexts.