Opinion: 'Learning technologies'? 'Convergent technologies'? What do these mean?

Sometimes in curriculum development, and everyday usage, a new term, or new piece of jargon, springs into common use, and everyone seems to know what it means, yet no one can give a clear definition of just what it signifies in practical terms. Moreover, being 'new', we might reasonably expect that anyone using such a term would also be able to explain how it is different from any older terms, and how the 'new' parts of the meaning relate to older meanings. But often the sheer newness of the term is so attractive to those who use it that they do not pause and try to make any sensible connection with earlier ideas. These had once themselves been new, and had been for years taken for granted, yet are now pushed aside without a second thought, largely because the new term arrives with a sense of compelling urgency. Something needs to be done, right now, because, look...we have to deal with this new thing called 'X'. But what is this 'X'? And why should we do anything about it? We actually need to begin with some hard critical thinking. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers,.