Online Learning 101: Part I
Authoring and Course Development Tools
June 3, 2010
Part I: Authoring and Course Development Tools | Part II: Games and Interactivity | Part III: Tools for Web Conferencing and LMSs
The first part of this three-part series focuses on authoring and course development tools and techniques for integrating e-learning. In Part II, Susan Landay explores games and interactivity solutions for e-learning. Part III looks at tools used for web conferencing, as well as learning-management systems. —Editor
If you're anything like me, you have plenty of experience with face-to-face training, but are drowning in the wake of online (or blended) learning tools.
Uncomfortable with this sinking feeling, I set out to educate myself, while mindful of the need for learners to work with new material on their own and at their own pace. I wanted to identify the best ways for face-to-face trainers to add e-Learning to their repertoire, without the assistance of a fancy IT team or investing tens of thousands of dollars.
To this end, I searched for software tools with relatively low-costs, minimal learning curves, and a focus on lively and interactive tools consistent with best practices in brain-based learning techniques.
To make sense of the myriad of eLearning solutions available in the marketplace, I broke them down into four categories that help explain the e-Learning process:
- Authoring (course development and creating your content)
- Games and add-on tools (games and interactions to reinforce and/or teach)
- Conferencing (connectivity tools used for webinars and synchronous learning)
- LMSs (learning management systems to administer and track training)
In this three-part series, I offer a description and overview of each category as well as an explanation of: 1) the role they play in enabling online experiences; 2) criteria you might use to choose among the vendors; and 3) a few reputable, cost effective solutions for each.
A couple of caveats: My comments, descriptions and prices are drawn from vendor websites, personal research, conversations at conferences, and LinkedIn discussions. Second, because LMSs are quite costly and involve bigger learning curves, I have deemed them to be outside of my scope and offer just a quick overview at the end of part 3.
Authoring/Course Development Tools
The course development/authoring tools are software programs that enable you to create course content. The most readily available of these is PowerPoint. However, many trainers find PowerPoint to have some limitations. For instance, PowerPoint's interface is somewhat cumbersome when creating high-end animations that integrate text, images, audio and video. While PowerPoint is terrific for linear presentations, its interface is more difficult when creating "branching" presentations, whereby a user digs down into any number of buttons or scenarios. Although it contains a robust collection of "slide templates," it does not come loaded with a library of "interactive game templates."
If you are looking to move beyond PowerPoint for course development, following is a list of the criteria you might use to decide among the various options:
- PowerPoint interface:
- Does the software work within PowerPoint by adding new toolbar items?
- Does the software replace the need for PowerPoint?
- Does the software create interactions that can be imported into PowerPoint, in case you'd like to use it for live training also?
- What file formats can be imported/exported? This is important if you want to load your content into a LMS (to be defined later) or some other program.
- Does the software reside on your desktop or online? This is an issue if you prefer to work offline.
- Are courses stored on desktop or online?
- How quickly can you learn the new program?
- How quickly can you create animations of images, text, etc.?
- What types of games and interactions come bundled with the software?
In listing vendors for course authoring tools, my goal was to find solutions that were reputable, cost effective, easy-to-learn, and consistent with brain-based learning techniques. As such, this is not to be taken as an exhaustive list. The prices listed represent standard pricing at the time of writing; prices may be subject to change or discounts.
ProForm Rapid eLearning Studio by Rapid Intake
This e-Learning Best of 2008 winner has intuitive tools that make it easy to create drag and drop activities, learning games, branching simulations, and RapidCam screen recording. You can modify more than 21 existing templates, turn PowerPoint presentations into e-Learning courses, include narrative audio in screen recordings, edit previously recorded movies, and apply hundreds of pre-built animations to images and text. Included is a Swish Rapid Animation Tool that lets you import and position images and text, synchronize audio, animate anything, then export it as a Flash movie.
Claims to fame:
- Compared to Adobe Captivate, Rapid Intake claims ProForm is cheaper, easier and has more features.
- For Audio editing, use Audacity (free online).
- The most popular Standard Premium Edition (described above) is $999.
- The basic Standard Edition is $499.
Articulate Studio '09 Pro received the "Best Product of 2009" by Training Media Review. All tools in the Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio '09 work together seamlessly—and all within Powerpoint. "Presenter" makes it easy for anyone to add interactivity and narration to PowerPoint slides. "Quizmaker" enables you to create professional, custom Flash quizzes and surveys. You can insert selected quiz slides into your course. "Engage" gives users the ability to produce dazzling interactive content. The "Video Encoder" component allows users to import any video and convert it to Flash.
Claims to fame:
- Very easy to use and learn
- Ability to add learning games like Q&A, Sequence, Word Quiz, Wheel of Fortune.
- The Professional Suite is $1,398; Standard Suite (without "Engage") is $999.
- Individual software components are also sold separately.
This software program enhances PowerPoint's basic functionality, allowing users to fine tune and optimize the appearance and playback of presentations, distribute courses in the popular Flash format, create quizzes with various types of questions, record and sync presenter video, add Flash and YouTube videos, import or record new audio narrations, add presenter information and company logos, create unique navigation, design with customizable player skins, and much more. iSpring looks terrific, is easy-to-use and considerably less expensive than comparable products. iSpring is newer to the U.S. e-Learning marketplace (the product was introduced in Russia). Although it has not yet been recognized with an e-Learning "best of" award, its list of featured customers is quite impressive.
Claims to fame:
- An incredible package at an unbeatable price.
- Also includes easy LMS integration and ink annotation tools
- The Pro version is $249 and includes a PowerPoint to Flash solution: 10 player templates, audio narration and sync, multiple presenters, content compression, and presentation size control.
- The Presentation version is $499 and includes all of the above, plus video narrations and sync, presenter video, quiz builder, etc.
Adobe has a whole suite of eLearning products, which together are called the Adobe eLearning Suite, which contains Captivate 4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Photoshop CS4, Acrobat Pro Extended, Presenter 7, Soundbooth CS4, Adobe Device Central CS4, and an Adobe Bridge CS4. Among those, the components frequently used for course authoring are Captivate and Presenter.
Captivate 4 lets you create simulations, software demos, interactive scenario-based training, and quizzes; convert content to Flash; import PowerPoint slides; and add in click boxes, hyperlinks, etc. Presenter 7 lets you easily create Flash presentations and self-paced courses complete with narration and interactivity; import and edit video in any format and export as .SWF files; record and edit high-quality audio; help ensure consistency with branding and customization; deliver advanced quizzes and surveys with question pooling and randomization; publish content as a PDF file, preserving all of your animations; create AICC- and SCORM-compliant content; and integrate with Adobe Acrobat® Connect™ Pro software to deploy, manage, deliver, and track content.
Claims to fame:
- The Adobe name. (Note: this is both a benefit and a drawback, as Adobe is somewhat notorious for poor customer service and sales support.)
- Many people swear by Abobe products.
- The Adobe eLearning Suite is $1,799.
- Captivate 4 is $799 and Presenter 7 is $500.
While there are an increasing number of tools available for course authoring, the programs mentioned here are a good smattering of reputable low-cost, easy to learn, systems.
In the next part of this three-part series, we will review the tools available to build games and interactivity into your online learning.
About the Author
Susan Landay is president of Trainers Warehouse, a women-owned business that offers hundreds of effective, innovative and fun products for trainers and educators across all industries. Prior to joining
Trainers Warehouse in 1997, she was a consultant and trainer in the field of negotiation and conflict resolution. She is a graduate of Yale University and The Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Her early work experience included being a professional clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
