Learning and teaching are as old as mankind. They were developed at the bottom of every society and were aimed at maintaining or renewing a society. It was also a way to give everyone a position in the community. In the beginning, constructivism emphasized knowledge construction, later with the rise of social constructivism, the balance shifted to motivation and optimization of self-regulation (metacognition). The learner needs metacognition if we want to achieve conceptual change. Motivation is of primary importance because it relates to metacognitive activity and to the pursuit of meaningful, deep learning (Blom, Hoek, and Ten Dam, 2007).

With online or distance learning, more and more people will participate in a different kind of learning environments? Which kind of learning process suits these leanring environments? What are the differences between the existing learning processes and how can we support learning in these new learning environments?