Firmwater

Learning eLearning: Authoring Tools 101

Posted December 10, 2009 by Julie Maranhao

Does This Sound Familiar?

“I want to start providing some of my training courses online. I already have my classroom materials prepared, so how can I get started?” If that sounds familiar to you then this blog post can help explain where you can go from here.

For starters, you need to be aware of the fact that your original classroom content cannot be delivered on the Web in its original state. So, if your content is currently in the form of PowerPoint slides, video recordings, or even Word documents, it will need to be converted to an online format before you can move it online.

So, how do you “convert” it from its original state to an online format? Well, that’s where authoring tools come in.

Authoring Tools?

When I first heard about authoring tools, I must admit, I was a tad confused. And even after doing some research, I’m still overwhelmed. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that there is just too much information out there. And the worst part is that you can rarely find it conveniently in one place!

So, to make the research process easier for you, I thought I’d gather some start-up information on authoring tools here.

There are mountains of authoring tools to choose from and every tool does something different. So, unless a tool has been recommended to you, it will be near impossible to search for and evaluate them all. This is especially true if you’re not sure of the type of tool you should be looking for. From what I’ve found, it seems like most of the tools pertain to certain categories: flash template tools, PowerPoint conversion tools and screen capture tools. And the type of tool you choose will very much depend on your original content sources and the type of final content you wish to create.

Tool Types

If the bulk of your original classroom content was created with PowerPoint, then it would be best to look at some PowerPoint conversion tools. But, if you need to show your learners how to browse through a Web site or use a software application, then a screen capture tool would be your best bet.

There are also tools available that will help make it, in a manner, easier for you to author your content. Such tools are used, for example, to develop interactions to engage the audience you’re addressing. This is the case with flash template tools, which tend to offer you libraries of interactions. You can then integrate these interactions into your main content.

SCORM Specifications

Many of these authoring tools can publish to various different types of formats, but if you plan to deliver your content on a Learning Management System (LMS), you should ensure that the tool can generate SCORM content.

Why? Well, if you will be delivering your content via a LMS to your employees, your clients or your students, you will want that LMS to be able to track it. The content must be published in a certain way so that the content can interact with the LMS accordingly.

I completely understand if you’re drawing a blank here. It, too, took me a while to wrap my head around the idea of SCORM. For now though, all you need to know is that most of the popular authoring tools generate SCORM content and that will allow you to:

Move your content from LMS to LMS without any proprietary problems.
Track and report on the user activity within the LMS.

But enough about SCORM; this talk can go on for hours, so I am going to save all of the juicy details about SCORM specifications for a later post.

Tools List

Below is a list of some of the more recognized authoring tools:

So, since I’m here to learn, my plan is to spend some time working with a few of these tools. I’ll test them out and report back on my experiences, and you will hopefully gather some insights on how easy they are to use, their interactivity capabilities, etc.

My goal is to help save you the time and trouble of learning a bunch of new programs. And, since time is of the essence, you can then concentrate on getting your online learning business up-and-running.