Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review cross-disciplinary research on e-learning from workplace learning, educational technology, and instructional communication disciplines to identify relevant e-learning design principles. It aims to use these principles to propose an e-learning model that can guide the design of instructionally sound, usable, and interactive e-learning courses and programs for workplace learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a review of empirical and conceptual e-learning literature from human resource development, workplace learning, educational technology and instructional communication. Findings: The paper presents a current review of e-learning design research, identifies convergent areas of e-learning design practices, and proposes a tripartite e-learning design model. Design principles identified in the literature review include adherence to instructional design principles based on adult learning principles, ensuring human-technology interface (usability) guidelines, and supporting online immediacy (social presence) attributes. Practical implications: An expanded view of e-learning design strategies grounded in a learning sciences perspective and encompassing research on behavioral, cognitive, constructivist and humanistic theories is offered. Originality/value: The study provides an integrated e-learning design model that represents main areas of e-learning research and suggests competencies for e-trainers. (Contains 1 figure.)