Stephen Downes' Presentation

I listened to Stephen Downes' presentation and his interview and I noticed a few striking points that made me think that the Internet is completely different means of communication. Perhaps I couldn't fully understand what he was trying to say, but basically I agree with him. He points out the new features of the Internet (or e-learning) are openness, conversation, individual and decentralization. In traditional classes, we have a teacher and students. On the other hand, we have a moderator and participants in e-learning classes. Downes says "We want layers, not channels. Instead of trying to organize the network, we should be looking at how it can organize itself." The most important part of the online class activities is discussion and exchanging participants' ideas, or sharing one's knowledge about the topic. Without discussion, it is not a class but just getting information on the Internet.
I thought multiliteracy meant the ability to use various new technological tools, but now I am a little confused. As Downes says, we need a new vocabulary and new language to become multiliterate.