most studies aimed at improving learning focus on the instructor and the parameters of the learning environment, rather than the learner. On the other hand it was felt that ibstpi’s interest was too focused on the online learner and that broader qu- tions needed to be asked, placing the learner in the context of a hugely complex learning landscape that is only partially determined by the formal education context and deliberate processes of learning. Based on the above consideration, and while inspired by ibstpi’s initiative, the Learning Development Institute proposed to run a dedicated workshop in conju- tion with a Presidential Panel Session to be hosted by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) at its annual convention in October 2005 in Orlando, Florida. This brought together ten individuals who initially started collaborating online. The majority of them then met face to face in Orlando at the workshop. They subsequently shared their ideas with the wider audience of attendees at the Presidential Panel Session that followed the next day. And they then took another two years to reflect further on the issues that had emerged, producing the chapters of this book.