The drive to make e-learning portable and accessible is on with the announcement from two dot com companies of new products designed to enable 'learning-to-go'.

Learn2.com have designed web-based versions of their training courses for the Palm operating system that will enable Palm and Handspring users to access learning on the move. Tutorials include life skills, language instruction and car maintenance tips.

Gilat Communications have also announced their TrainPad PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) which will allow remote learners to connect to online learning systems. The TrainPad will use the Microsoft Windows CE platform and will alow training organisations to deliver e-learning without the use of portable computers.

These developments are going to prove very useful in situations where it is difficult for learners to access desk top computers eg. in third world development. It remains to be seen whether many current training packages can be developed to be useful on the tiny screen of a PDA.