The E-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges

By Saul Carliner and Patti Shank
Review by Ryann Ellis

Publisher Information

ISBN: 978-0-7879-7831
Hardcover
560 pages
2008, Pfeiffer

The e-Learning Handbook provides a critical reflection on the current state of e-learning with contributions from the world’s foremost e-learning experts and best-selling authors from academe and industry, including Margaret Driscoll; Brent Wilson Lee Christopher; William Horton, L. Wayne Precht, Harvey Singh, Jim Everidge, and Jane Bozarth; Pat Brogan; Patrick Parrish; Marc J. Rosenberg and Steve Forman; Pat McGee; Philip C. Abrami, Gretchen Lowerison, Roger Cote, and Marie-Claude Lavoie; Thomas C. Reeves, Jan Herrington, and Ron Oliver; and Patrick Lambe.

What does it cover?

Like most handbooks, The e-Learning Handbook is broken into distinct sections. In Part I: The Context For E-Learning, co-author Patti Shank offers tips for thinking critically about how to move your e-learning initiatives forward.  

Part II: The Reality Versus The Hype of E-Learning includes offerings from well-known experts, such as Margaret Driscoll’s take on why e-learning hasn’t lived up to early expectations and a chapter on knowledge management by William Horton. Part III: Technology Issues looks at the literal nuts and bolts of e-learning, and includes chapters on infrastructure elements and e-learning standards. This section also includes chapters that review developing Web 2.0 options and discuss how to bridge the divide between training and IT.  

Part IV: Design Issues is aptly named with three chapters delving into various design considerations, frameworks, guidelines—and mistakes. In Part V: Issues of Theory and Research, academics review theoretical research on the workings of e-learning. Finally, Part VI: Economic Issues and Moving Forward has co-author Saul Carliner’s take on the future of e-learning. 

Is it worth reading?

The e-Learning Handbook offers a well-organized guide by people who know what they’re talking about. The book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the technological, design, economic, evaluation, research, economic, and philosophical issues underlying e-learning. Each chapter includes a chart that summarizes the key take-away points, contains questions that are useful for guiding discussions, and offers suggestions of related links, books, papers, reports, and articles.

About the authors

Saul Carliner, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the graduate program in educational technology at Concordia University in Montreal. Among his numerous books is Advanced Web-Based Training Strategies from Pfeiffer.

Patti Shank, Ph.D., is the president of Learning Peaks LLC, an internationally known instructional design and instructional technology consulting firm. She is the editor of The Online Learning Idea Book and the co-author of Making Sense of Online Learning, both from Pfeiffer.

Ryann Ellis is editor of Learning Circuits, ASTD’s online magazine about e-learning; rellis@astd.org.