Contextual data of learners play a vital role in various e-learning applications in recent years,as learning contexts not only provide learners with context-aware services but also enhance effectiveness.However,various e-learning systems adopt different contextual models(i.e.,application-dependent contextual model),and consequently data sharing and system integration are challenging.In this article,we propose a unified learning context framework to support heterogeneous e-learning applications.This context framework,being versatile and flexible to various e-learning applications,can address the shortcoming of application-dependent models.Within the framework,we define a set of contextual operations to manipulate and customize the learning context data.The proposed context framework can support various context-aware e-learning applications.Through the case studies,we also verify that the proposed framework is very flexible and powerful in different scales.