Two other issues that designers of online learning programs address is the length of online learning programs and re-using learning materials. As MTV has influenced the attention span for material on television, so the web culture has influenced the attention span for material online. Although people can surf the web for hours, they generally do not spend a significant amount of time at any single website. Instead, they read a brief topic and move onto the next. Similarly, one of the challenges of learning online is packaging the material in units that are sufficiently small that they can hold learners' attention for the entire length of the learning unit.
Learners have difficulty searching long units to find information of interest.
Using a set of information as course material in one instance, and as reference material in another, suggests the issue of re-use. Re-use is when information developed for one purpose is used for others. In others, you must make changes. Three factors limit the re-use of information. The first is the imagination.