eLearning professionals need to raise the bar and reset their expectations if their learners are to consider courses worthwhile. The following ten points are things we have found successful eLearning professionals do differently. We hope they can help developers change their mindsets to create the best courses possible.

Despite the utility of multimedia in eLearning, images and even videos can only go so far: the core source of information remains text. Accordingly, a basic knowledge of typography is a must for any eLearning designer. Good typography enhances readability, encourages information processing, creates a visual hierarchy, and even engages readers' emotions. Here is a 7-step guide to making your course more effective—with typography in mind.

More and more companies today have invested or are starting to invest in an online learning program. Regardless of their size and type these companies realized that eLearning just makes good business sense.

The secret to eLearning success is not only setting goals, but setting the right goals. In order to achieve the required end results, understanding the difference between the different types of goals and when each is appropriate to use is very important. Clarifying goals since the beginning will impact your course content, the way it's structured and developed. Besides, if you don’t design with the right type of goals in mind, the eLearning module will be a waste of time and money, since the problem needs to be addressed from other perspectives.

Psychologists, eLearning professionals and other experts have always been interested in how we consume information online. Receiving and transmitting information are not new to us. But our entirely novel information environments are clearly shaping the way we search for and consume information. Today, "providing people with access to more information is not the problem. Rather, the problem is one of maximizing the allocation of human attention to information that will be useful.”

It's easy to predict the success rate of a course just be looking at its introduction. If it's boring, learners would either skip it refuse to read it. Nonetheless, they're already convinced that the course is less than impressive.

Content experts, instructional designers and other eLearning professionals often have to communicate complex information which learners may find difficult to understand and apply in their jobs. Although they routinely have to do this, there is a common misconception that technical content is too boring and pedantic. However, it does not need to be so. In fact, when dull, technical content that is presented poorly, it can overwhelm, turn off, and intimidate learners, leaving them feeling frustrated.

Most existing guidelines for eLearning planning and implementation are designed with larger organizations in mind and assume a level of staffing, IT support, and budget because traditionally large corporations are the ones with sufficient resources to create eLearning solutions. However, eLearning is rapidly growing in small companies and nonprofit organizations, where typically a single person is responsible for all eLearning activities — in other words, an eLearning department of one.