The metaphor of “learning environments” plays a crucial role in the discourse about technology-based learning. The learning environments encircle the learners and influence them in a special way; at the same time, everything is tangible for the learners, everything is “at their fingertips”. This article elaborates the genesis of the term “learning environment” and the associated modeling of teaching and learning, referring to selected junctions in the educational debate since the 1980s.

Keywords
learning environment, didactical discourse, space metaphor, learning subject, knowledge