Some eLearning developers tend to focus on their courses’ appearance; others place a greater emphasis on content. However, only a few, work on creating an effective eLearning design that has an impact on learners by evoking emotions and causing a lasting impression. This is called emotional design.

eLearning professionals are often over-confident about a course’s ability to capture an audience’s attention and engage users with its content. By conducting a simple “reflection” test before publishing, like the famous Blink Test or Eyeball Test, can make a great difference to ensuring an effective eLearning course.

The most challenging aspect of imparting effective online training is targeting the many learners taking the same program. Understanding the different types of learners, summed up in following categories, is beneficial to any designer looking to create personalized eLearning courses.

Most of adult learning strategies are based on the idea that adults learn differently from non-adults. The term that often comes up is “androgogy,” which Malcolm Knowles coined to describe how adults learn in contrast to “pedagogy” or on how children learn.

Working in eLearning design can be overwhelming; eLearning designers spend many hours struggling to come up with the best possible design. It may seem like adding more programs and apps to the designer's kit can't possibly be the solution, but well-structured time management and handy tools make the difference between eLearning projects that cost and eLearning projects that benefit.

One of the biggest issues in eLearning is distractions. The brain is constantly bombarded with stray thoughts even when users exert great self-control. The problem is yet more pronounced in mLearning, as devices themselves may cause distractions such as phone calls, email alerts, and the knowledge that the user could easily be doing something different. The average mobile user also has a short attention span — most people skim headlines and prefer bite-size content to long articles.

The brain is a complicated machine, capable of creating extraordinary works of art, solving complex problems, and feeling the deepest of emotions. At the same time, our brains function on a daily basis taking on more mundane and routine tasks that are just as important as building bridges or writing books.

Although infographics, charts, illustrations, and other visuals for eLearning will never replace quality content, they can often do a better job at explaining content easily. However, in order to become effective teaching tools, visuals must reflect the user’s cognitive architecture and add something meaningful to the learning experience.