Giving teachers an empty online course to develop with little training and guidance is a little like giving a blank canvas to a child and expecting them to develop a masterpiece.

These days teachers are expected to be many things, which often means learning to use new tools on the job as they go. Without guidance, every online course ends up looking and functioning completely differently, making it difficult for both students and staff to use. By setting a minimum standard, staff understand what they need to include on their course to provide a more consistent experience to users.  When courses are consistent people know where to look for particular things and this makes interacting with online learning systems a lot easier to manage.

Developing an E-Learning Baseline helps teaching and support staff to understand how to develop their courses and how they can make improvements to the quality of their online teaching provision. With a set of guidelines to follow, it is easier to design higher quality online courses. Therefore, they can be instrumental in implementing successful institutional change programmes.

Incorporating accessibility principles into the baseline also helps staff to understand how they can teach in ways that helps everyone learn, in particular those with disabilities.