The current era is often referred to as the Age of Information; however, it could just as easily be called the Age of Distraction or the Age of Interruption as, although humanity has never in its history been entirely distraction free, distractions have never been more rampant as they are today. Different forms of information are constantly battling for attention causing continuous partial attention to become commonplace. Thomas Friedman stated in 2006 “All we do now is interrupt each other or ourselves with instant messages, e-mail, spam or cellphone rings.”

Paying attention is a task people take for granted; they rarely stop to think about the complex neurocognitive processes involved. However, it is an important topic for eLearning developers who are often so concerned about the superficial elements of their courses and neglect to learn how the brain works. After all, paying attention is the first step in the learning process, so ensuring learners pay attention is fundamental.

Learning is evolving—in large part due to the Internet. Now you may already know about this. It's a fact you can't miss thanks to the proliferation of mobile educational apps, and courses suited to on-the-go learning.

In his book, The Art of Changing the Brain, Dr. James Zull , notably suggested how David Kolb's famous four-phase model of the learning cycle can be mapped into four major brain processes. He believed that better understanding the learning processes that occurs in the brain encourages a more flexible approach to learning. It does, by extension, help us become better eLearning developers and learners. After all, it's what's going on in the learners' brains that matters the most.

You have most likely mastered the basics of instructional design already. Now it's time to learn an intimately related discipline called information design.

Anyone looking to learn more about comprehensive design can read the book Universal Principles of Design, which features more than 200 descriptions in alphabetical order along with images to aid the explanations. For those interested just in those concepts that are most relevant to eLearning design, this post sums up some of the most important definitions.

Have you ever stared at the computer wondering how to make your eLearning course more effective? Should you use different graphics or alter the way the information is presented? Perhaps you could realign the interface and make it more accessible to users or enhance the art of storytelling to increase user engagement?

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.