Historically education has been supported by technology; however, during the past three decades electronic technologies for educational purposes have been used to achieve better learning outcomes. There are two propositions regarding the use of computers for educational purposes; that is, people can learn "from" technologies or people can learn "with" technologies. The, e-learning literature reveals that technological and instructional perceptions are diffuse. Furthermore, only recently have the ethical and cultural issues been considered. The philosophical discussion within this paper considers these issues and explores the idea of knowledge or content in e-learning, teasing out the differences between these two concepts. In order to contextualize the debate, the literature is reviewed, and a philosophical debate using an inquiry example is presented.

The development of educational technologies is enhancing a distinctive feature of learning environments: the learner’s personalized environment. However, the current literature in e-learning seems to neglect an important discussion: will individuals (learners and lecturers) and organizations face an enhancement concerning ethical dilemmas due to this evolution? To promote this discussion, this paper builds on a consideration of e-learning definition and its ethical dilemmas, and human-centred learning concept and its dimensions, to examine the implications of integrating social and cultural contexts. By examining the evolution of e-learning management systems the argument progresses to a discussion of the relationships between pedagogy and ethics. By framing evidence at different scales, the authors critically reflect on the ethical dilemmas embedded in e-learning systems. The discussion concludes with advocating the adoption of an extension of “three P” mode of pedagogy to become the “P3E” model: personalization, participation, productivity, lecturer’s ethics, learner’s ethics, and organizational ethics.

The development of educational technologies is enhancing a distinctive feature of learning environments: the learner’s personalized environment. However, the current literature in e-learning seems to neglect an important discussion: will individuals (learners and lecturers) and organizations face an enhancement concerning ethical dilemmas due to this evolution? To promote this discussion, this paper builds on a consideration of e-learning definition and its ethical dilemmas, and human-centred learning concept and its dimensions, to examine the implications of integrating social and cultural contexts. By examining the evolution of e-learning management systems the argument progresses to a discussion of the relationships between pedagogy and ethics. By framing evidence at different scales, the authors critically reflect on the ethical dilemmas embedded in e-learning systems. The discussion concludes with advocating the adoption of an extension of “three P” mode of pedagogy to become the “P3E” model: personalization, participation, productivity, lecturer’s ethics, learner’s ethics, and organizational ethics.

Global networks through distributed systems technology granted a new meaning to knowledge creation, storage and distribution within higher education context. This global dimension imposes a considerable amount of ethical and social impacts concerning distributed knowledge because it is expressed within local contexts. Nonetheless, main stream literature highlights equity and cultural sensitivity as leading issues, and disregards the existent social dilemmas concerning organizational innovation in higher education. Therefore, this chapter aims to promote a philosophical and empirical argument within contextual determinants, in order to explore the ethical and social key dilemmas of distributed knowledge between global and local diversity in higher education. For that, under scrutiny will be a specific layer regarding first co-author e-University strategic implementation framework which interacts with ethics and culture, in order to, understand e-learning current practices in higher education, as well as, to nominate potential future guidelines concerning these trends.

Abstract. The work environments raise changes associated with both economic and social demand in an internationally competitive context. The focus of this paper is the perspectives of people, both employers and employees, who are engaged in lifelong e-learning, within the Portuguese economy. It critically reflects on recent experience at a small local institution considering whether complex state-of the art technology becomes a key to the development of lifelong learning practices in a knowledge-based society.Keywords: lifelong e-learning; distance learning; organizational context; case study; lecturing experience Introduction. The Internet has been identified as a potential enabler of lifelong learning. Web-based learning systems enable workers to participate in learning activities without the time and distance constrains. Lifelong learning provides the opportunity for the discussion and collaborative knowledge construction to enable learners in acquiring knowledge in the context of learning, working and collaboration associated with a positive evaluation of scientific/technical knowledge. This paper will examine the contribution of lifelong learning to organizational development, specifically in relation to e-learning courses by distance learning. In this context, lifelong elearning is used by employees to improve their current, or future, employment prospects as well as by employers as a way of improving their organizational performance. This paper draws on the first author's experience of e-teaching and of distance tutoring students who are in full time employment and critically reflects on the recent experience at a small local institution considering whether complex state-of the art technology becomes a key to the development of lifelong learning practices in a knowledge-based society. In the first part, the paper is theoretical in its orientation of lifelong education, whereas in the second part it makes an overview of the web text-based discussion forums lifelong learning system in use in the institution under study. The third and last part of the paper presents, discusses and assesses the findings related to the learners' opinions on a variety of aspects of their lifelong vocational training courses and explores the significance of the use of simple technology as to the meanings it may bring to the development of lifelong learning practices. What is lifelong learning? Smith and Spurling (1999) provided a simple definition of lifelong learning, that it relates to people learning consistently throughout their lifespan, covering all life from the cradle to the grave, and which may start at any age. Through lifelong learning the decision to study is much easier then more traditional