The practice of teaching online and the experience of learning with e-media raise issues about time. Taking a historical approach, this article introduces three concepts of time--which physics, psychology and phenomenology characterize--and it questions their adequacy in theories of e-learning. The article argues that Heidegger's phenomenological account of time produces insights into the ontological character of students, which may ground and inform a new theory of e-learning, one that privileges the student and indicates the limitations inherent in experiencing technology.