1. No Overall Aim.

Make sure students understand why they are taking the course and what they’ll get out of it.

2. Vague planning.

Decide what you want students to learn and how they’ll learn it. Vague aims will not usually suffice. Find out the technical options. The course must be defined in those terms. The first slide will contain this video in this format, we’ll use this font, we’ll use pictures here, video there, and so on. Write it all down. Discuss it with colleagues. Test your ideas on prospective students. Don’t be afraid to ask developers to explain things.

3. Poorly designed content.

Many elearning modules are bland. They have too much text. Elearning should be interactive. It should look good. Video, animation, sound and good design can really help. Before you start, find out about what the technology offers. How can you use it? For instance, how will you use forums? Quizzes? Audio? Animation? Video? Drag and drop?

4. Hard to use. The course doesn’t work on student computers. Lack of testing.

The course and the LMS must be easy to use. If it is not user friendly then people will avoid using it. Make it easy to enrol, take the course and review results. Test the course on typical student computers. Consider bandwidth, browser versions, firewalls, operating systems, and so on. For instance, will student internet connections be fast enough to watch video playback?

6. Inadequate tracking of enrolments and results.

Who has enrolled? Who has completed the course? Who is failing? These sorts of questions are answered by tracking student interaction with the course. You can only get answers based on the information gathered. So when you test your course with typical students, test the reports being generated too. Make sure that all the information you need is being recorded. Make sure that the system records what you want before real students start taking your course.

7. Stakeholders not consulted.

Every stakeholder needs to be aware of the aims of the elearning program. Where possible, involve all stakeholders in appropriate parts the project. For instance, make sure adminstrative staff are happy with the reports generated by the LMS.

8. Poor support.

Good support means a support desk, an online forum and FAQs. Without access to support, learners will become despondent if they encounter a problem. When you solve problems, add the solution to a FAQ or a forum. Prefereably one students and staff can search.

9. Poor workflow integration.

The most important step is to integrate the elearning program with business processes. Make sure the way it integrates is supported by all management.

10. Forgetting business aims.

For example, does the course improve efficiency and reduce expenses? Does it reduce training contact time? Ask these sorts of questions. Can these things be quantified financially? Does the course represent a good return on investment?