I created a list of eLearning Paradigms to talk about subscription learning, but I think the list could stand on its own–and I'd like comments to see what I've missed.

Elearning is still a relatively young field, having its start in the 1960's during the advent of the computer age and gradually gaining a critical mass after the internet became a mass phenomenon. Because it's a young field, we are still learning how to think about elearning. With each new paradigm, we think more deeply, more fully about what elearning is–and can be. Below is my categorization of the most important elearning paradigms as of 2014.

eLearning Paradigms 2014

• Content Presenter (enables content to be presented to learners)
• Comprehension Tester (enables learners' knowledge to be tested–and feedback provided)
• Practice Provider (enables learners' decision-making to be tested–and feedback provided)
• Performance Supporter (enables performers to be prompted toward action)
• Reminder (enables learners or performers to be reminded to learn and/or take action)
• Social Augmentation Provider (enables learners to learn from and with each other)
• Gamification Provider (provides motivational incentives and behavioral prompts to action)
• Mobile Learning Provider (provides learning and/or performance support through mobile technology)
• Data Utilizer (enables data collection and data-based interventions)
• Video Provider (enables video to be utilized in various ways)
• Learning Organizer (provides organizational structure around learning opportunities)
• Personalizer (enables content or prompting to be individualized or tailored)
• Learning-Delivery Augmenter (enables easy delivery of content or prompting) 
• Context-Based Triggerer (enables content or prompting to be delivered depending on context)
• Cost Saver (enables learning to be delivered at a lower cost)

I'm sure that I'm missing some elearning paradigms. You might have noticed that I'm only listing elearning memes that have a positive connotation. I am not mentioning such things as boring, trivial, poorly-designed. Also, some of the list may not be true, or may not always be true. For example, I've recently read research that shows that elearning is not often a cost saver. The bottom line, however, is that the list above represents a good number of the ways in which we tend to think about elearning.

Here's the thing: The paradigms listed above represent the dominant mental models we use when we think about elearning. As Thomas Kuhn wrote many years ago, paradigms are a double-edge sword. On the one hand, they help us think. On the other hand, they put boundaries on what we think. For us in the learning field, we get both benefits and costs from our elearning paradigms. They help us consider ways that we might design or utilize elearning. On the darker side, they constrict our thinking. One of the reasons we created the eLearningManifesto was to get the field to think beyond some of its weaker paradigms.

What are your thoughts on the dominant elearning paradigms?

If you want to learn more about subscription learning–offered as an additional paradigm for elearning, you can do that at SubscriptionLearning.com.