This subject immerses students, as learners in a learning community, in a small set of carefully chosen e-learning contexts, of which a featured example is UTSOnline. By using these contexts to cater for students' diverse needs and interests in e-learning itself, students' sensitivities to the potency of these media for learning are sharpened. As well, their understanding of problem-oriented approaches to learning (a key set of strategies within this suite of e-learning subjects and courses) is developed.
Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the nature and educational significance of e-learning communities. Students attain a basic level of technological fluency by using e-learning approaches to enhance their understanding of aspects of this new field, and they develop their critical appreciation of the worth of e-learning approaches from the perspectives of individual learners and active members of a learning community. They use their experience of e-learning, together with their reading and discussion in this subject, to distil educational models and theories for testing and use later in the course.