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Lynch makes these observations in a section on adult learners where she draws on insightsderived from Knowles (1978; 1984) and to whom she ascribes the theory of 'andragogy' (Lynch,2002 ibid). 'Adults', she says, 'have a great deal of experience and knowledge upon which tobuild' - that which I categorise as (N 1 ) - and 'usually have specific learning goals in mind whenthey decide to continue their education' (Lynch, 2002 ibid). In the context of this study where itis my adult learning that is the subject of the research, Lynch's opinion that andragogy is at theconstructivist end of the learning continuum is a helpful insight when considering more recentthinking about technologised learning.Elsewhere (appendix 3) I refer to the importance of Polsani's paper (2002) that radically affectedmy thinking on the nature of knowledge in the information sphere after I heard him speak inNew Zealand. This was at the same conference where I was taken by the thoughts of Lewis(2002) on knowledge-building environments and his re-working of Vygotsky's zone of proximaldevelopment for the new era (Lewis 2002 p. 4).Much of the literature associated with the contribution of technology to learning refers back toVygotsky's ideas. Grabe and Grabe (1998) make the point that 'Vygotsky is a classic example ofa scholar whose ideas were much more influential after his death than in his lifetime' (Grabe andGrabe 1998 p. 68). His three core ideas summarised here as: 'speech/talk', 'scaffolding' and the'zone of proximal development' are all components of 21st Century computer-supportedlearning. Combined they are characteristic of 'constructivist' learning episodes. It can be arguedthat there has been a happy confluence of constructivist pedagogies and the emergence ofcomputer-assisted learning. Sprague and Dede (1999) write,'In a constructivist classroom, students are more actively involved than in atraditional classroom. They are sharing ideas, asking questions, discussing concepts,97Simon Hughes Ph.D. Thesis (October 2012)