The students. E-learning programs especially benefit students who are home-bound, live long distances from the on-site campus, and/or have busy lives often juggling family, professional, and other responsibilities. E-learning courses can also benefit traditional students, especially those who want or need to engage in accelerated learning. The minimum requirement for students to participate in an e-learning course is access to a computer, the Internet, and motivation to succeed in a non-traditional classroom.

The teacher - the facilitator. A trained teacher acts as an e-learning course facilitator. He or she is often also the designer and monitor of the course. A successful facilitator must know how to integrate life experience, communication, professionalism, and content into the learning environment.