Bates and Poole (2003) and the OECD (2005) suggest that different types or forms
of e-learning can be considered as a continuum, from no e-learning, i.e. no use of computers
and/or the Internet for teaching and learning, through classroom aids, such as making
classroom lecture Power point slides available to students through a course web site or
learning management system, to laptop programs, where students are required to bring
laptops to class and use them as part of a face-to-face class, to hybrid learning, where
classroom time is reduced but not eliminated, with more time devoted to online learning,
through to fully online learning, which is a form of distance education. This classification is
somewhat similar to that of the Sloan Commission reports on the status of e-learning, which
refer to web enhanced, web supplemented and web dependent to reflect increasing intensity of technology use. In the Bates and Poole continuum, 'blended learning' can cover classroom
aids, laptops and hybrid learning, while 'distributed learning' can incorporate either hybrid or
fully online learning.