Posted 7:17 PM by George Siemens
Progress Paralysis
Quote: "In many cases, customers become increasingly frustrated while seeking information that's obscured by confusing site structure, dead links, and useless search results. Organizations that have built piecemeal Web sites with no overarching vision waste so much time shoring up their existing systems that they can't move forward. This is progress paralysis."

Posted 6:53 PM by George Siemens
Support in a Distance Education Environment
Quote: "Evidence is accumulating, both empirical and anecdotal, that a key ingredient for success in distance education programs is support—for both faculty and student participants. Although many assume that faculty members have a basic understanding and familiarity with software applications and other tools for teaching online, this is not always true. While many faculty members do in fact use technology and other e-tools in their teaching, many come from a more traditional face-to-face lecture environment, and in fact may know less than the students they are about to instruct."
Comment: Sometimes I wonder if articles like this are even necessary...after all it seems obvious that the two most critical aspects of the learning cycle (learner and instructor) require appropriate support. Reality, however is different. Often it seems that learner and instructor are the most neglected component in elearning...why? No idea...

This article gives a good global overview of factors affecting learners - motivation, outside influences, experience, local support, adult learners, distance, technology. Drawback - the article doesn't go into enough detail on support mechanisms for instructors...still, a good read.