Guidelines-a critical success factor in the development of Web-based trainings

Guidelines represent an important instrument in the development of Web-based trainings (WBTs). They help to create reliable, portable, and interoperable, standardized WBTs of high-quality. The development of guidelines can be considered as a key success factor regarding the effectiveness of WBTs. The effects of guidelines can be both favourable and restrictive. Guidelines which are too rigid and strict could have counterproductive effects, therefore an optimum at guidelines is to be aimed at. This article discusses potentialities and restrictions of WBT guidelines. It can thus be of assistance in the project-specific development of guidelines. The importance of guidelines is illustrated by a case study of the inter-universitarian e-learning network Winfoline.