Recent research into the essential elements for designing online courses based its findings on the triangulated detailed evidence of a small number of students who were competent online users. The researcher found that four elements were essential for online teaching and student success. From these findings, that included the views of competent online successful students, the researcher emphasised design elements such as substantial pre-planning including ‘chunking’ of content and pre-contact with prospective course participants, timely and developmental feedback during the course, and teacher confidence in an online environment and also with the content.