What's the difference between traditional e-learning and "e-learning 2.0"? How do teachers create a functional 2.0 learning community? Read/Write Web recently published the best summary and examples of e-learning 2.0 I've read to date. Here's how they explain the differences between the traditional and new forms of e-learning:

"...the traditional approach to e-learning has been to employ the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), software that is often cumbersome and expensive - and which tends to be structured around courses, timetables, and testing. That is an approach that is too often driven by the needs of the institution rather than the individual learner. In contrast, e-learning 2.0 (as coined by Stephen Downes ) takes a 'small pieces, loosely joined' approach that combines the use of discrete but complementary tools and web services - such as blogs, wikis, and other social software - to support the creation of ad-hoc learning communities."

To read the rest of the summary and learn about websites that help online teachers create learning communities check out e-Learning 2.0: All You Need to Know.