So far we’ve looked at motivation and complexity. The next consideration is culture. Culture can certainly be a subset of complexity; however, we separate it out here because it’s significantly different enough to warrant a separate discussion if you’re hoping to create eLearning for those outside your own culture.

Another major consideration in any discussion of eLearning concerns complexity.

Last week, we suggested that you discuss with your colleagues the question, "How important is it to us that we encourage and motivate the students who take our eLearning training?"

Also, you will find that there are a variety of other people who need motivation to successfully implement any eLearning plan. Besides the IT people, your course writers and course facilitators are important participants who will need motivational support.

Use the following motivation rankings to discuss facilitator motivation, with your colleagues.

The first consideration is the motivation of those involved—both those producing and those receiving the content.

This is a relatively simple question to answer: eLearning is learning that has some aspect of technology that is integral to its creation, delivery, assessment, and/or interactions. It can be as simple as a PowerPoint presentation or, on the other hand, as complex as your budget and expertise can create (think NASA). As we have seen, because eLearning involves technology, it can be simple or complex for either the creator or for the recipient, or for both.

We’re starting a running blog series based on an introductory course we’re creating about eLearning. You may be contemplating delivering some component of your organization's training through digital means. And that’s what complicates it all, digital means. Remember when training meant writing a book with good old paper and pencil, or delivering training face-to-face, or just as often, forgetting about the books and going out and working side-by-side with our trainees to solve the problem at hand?

How many times have we heard the line, “I’m the camera man,” in movies? If you were trying to get somewhere you weren’t supposed to be, slipping in among the camera crew seemed like a good idea. After all, it took four or five people following a journalist around to create good news, right? Camera operator, boom mic operator, lighting expert, and who knows what else. But, now, a revolution known as mobile journalism is rising up.

Lately I have been reflecting on how the work of LT has been shifting into new expressions. For the past 13 years LT has helped evangelical ministries that train and resource pastors and church leaders in least-access communities.

On my recent trip to Asia to interact with LT staff there, we discussed the question, "Why is it that someone will not spend much time doing an e-learning course yet will spend hours playing a video game?" Our discussion led us to make a list of the characteristics of a video game that keep players involved. Here is a list of what we thought were important elements of a video game.