You’ve heard about elearning authoring tools before. Maybe you’ve even used one. There are many to choose from, but you need to select the right tool for your business.
In this article, we will discuss three of the best elearning authoring tools available. But first, let’s look at why an elearning authoring tool is important.
Adobe Captivate
Captivate is one of the most feature-rich tools, especially when you take into account its interoperability with other Adobe tools.
We like that you can storyboard your courses and utilize advanced transitions and triggers – the result of which is engaging content for any scenario or subject. The PowerPoint integration is a must-use feature for anyone with content in this format, as it fast tracks your course creation process.
Elucidat
Elucidat is a cloud-based authoring tool that focuses on making it easy to produce awesome eLearning, super fast. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s light on features. It’s a user-friendly option that is made for big employers. Authors can start from pre-built blueprints – or build out courses from scratch using the intuitive “what you see is what you get interface”. Flexible user permissions let L&D collaborate better with SMEs, while maintaining central control.
Content is responsive to all screen sizes, so it’s ideal for mobile learning. And tools to manage variations and updates makes keeping pace with change a piece of cake.
Elucidat has an in-depth review of tools on their site. Check out their best eLearning authoring tools blog post.
5. iSpring
iSpring’s big draw is that it takes PowerPoint content and converts it to eLearning courses. So, it’s super simple for those new to SCORM to understand and execute the process. As well as slides, you can incorporate video capture, interactions, and assessments to build engaging content.
The data generated is then fed into the reporting suite of your LMS. One thing to note for Mac users is there’s no dedicated version for your machine unless you install Windows on your Mac.
6. Camtasia
First and foremost a video capture tool, Camtasia content can be exported as SCORM packages. It’s an excellent option if you want to jazz up PowerPoint presentations as you can effortlessly record narration and even your face simultaneously.
It may be a lighter option than the others listed, but it benefits you by being highly accessible and affordable. Just be sure to test the reporting output on offer so you know it meets the requirements of your organization.
EdApp
Design beautiful, engaging and effective eLearning courses that have features such as microlearning with their cloud-based course authoring tool. EdApp is completely free and used to train teams large and small all over the globe. Some of their impressive clients include the United Nations, Shell, Mars, and Pandora, to name a few. A collection of EdApp’s clients have also shared their experience with the platform, to give insight into how they successfully train their teams with the innovative and intuitive Learning Management System (LMS).
With EdApp’s template-driven authoring approach, you don’t start with a blank page: they already know what a good microlesson looks like. All you need to do is choose the responsive template that suits your learning objective and add your content. Creating and updating agile eLearning courses takes minutes and hours, not weeks and months. It’s a simple and effective tool to use regardless of how much experience you have.
Beyond an expansive template library, EdApp includes a completely free, editable content library that’s full of ready-made courses, contributed by thought leaders from around the world. This high-quality content is there for you to access, edit, customize, and deploy to your teams with ease. What’s great is the content library is always growing, meaning every week you will see new courseware ranging in topics from health and safety procedures to sustainability and everything in between.
CourseLab
CourseLab version 2.4 is another free authoring software for building eLearning courses that can be published to the web or an LMS. You can make slide-based courses with images, videos, complex multi-object interactions, and quizzes. Unlike EdApp, it doesn’t have a library of ready-made courseware available. CourseLab does come with a set of eLearning templates, though learning how to use and customize them may require quite a lot of time. The downside of this authoring tool is that the interface isn’t as intuitive as others and may even feel a little outdated. This means it can feel quite complicated to those who are just beginning to work with authoring tools for eLearning. This tool is better suited to more experienced developers who have an idea of how LMS authoring tools work and are more comfortable navigating the platform.
3. IsEazy
This cloud-based tool is useful for creating eLearning courses and has a simple and friendly interface that is easy for everyone to use, regardless of experience level. What makes this platform stand apart is the ability to create slide-based courses using modern design templates. There’s an option to add voiceovers, videos, links, and cards. Courses consist of chapters, but sequential navigation is available only in a PRO plan. After a course, learners can be provided with a final quiz.
4. Moovly
This online tool is great for creating training or marketing videos to be shared with customers, students, or employees. You can either elect to create a clip from scratch or pull from a template for inspiration. Moovly also allows users to upload their own media, such as videos, pictures, text, and sounds. The built-in stock libraries of photos and videos can be combined with doodles, infographics, animations, and transitions. There’s also a mobile app to view videos and upload media from a mobile device.
5. AdaptiveU
This authoring tool allows you to create simple lessons and combine them into courses.
The free plan allows you to create up to 10 challenges and invite 10 active users to take them. Your courses are limited to 1 GB of storage space. The start page can be customized to be more personalized to your training, and courses are created using a simple, easy-to-use editing tool that contains all sorts of media components, such as files, documents and pop quizzes. You can do all this, while also viewing reports and tracking data, but it lacks an editable content library meaning more time is needed to create your content.
6. Crowd Wisdom
Crowd Wisdom LMS is designed specifically for large-scale professional education and partner and customer training. They allow users to personalize, manage and track education in one hub, and to better engage learners through personalized learning tracks. It’s designed specifically for growing and mature learning programs. Unfortunately, Crowd Wisdom only offers a free trial and it’s been reported on platforms like G2 that the platform is too expensive and provides little to no support after regular changes are made to the LMS.
7. Adapt
Courses built with Adapt provide a webpage-like experience – they scroll vertically, not flipped like slides. This open-source tool is designed for rapid content development. It stands distinctly apart from other content developing tools that have evolved from a ‘PowerPoint’ format design and is suited only to those who want to create long read courses with ‘linear navigation.’ It also lacks a free, editable content library and has limited built-in features to help support better learning outcomes. Overall, the core functionality is sufficient to make simple online courses, but you can enhance the learner experience by installing additional Adapt plug-ins that will allow you to custom design your content. It also only offers a free trial, rather than a completely free experience.
8. GLOMaker 3.0
This free open-source tool enables you to create structured learning materials, by dividing the process of authoring into two parts: planning and designing. The planner tool offers instructional design guidance for using and setting up each block, and this is where the storyline learning design is created. The designer part is where slides are developed. There are a variety of templates that can be customized according to your training needs. GLOMaker provides a great number of options, including quizzes with feedback, slide-show viewer, photo display with zoom facility, video and audio players, and more. However, this tool is complicated to use, and novice course builders may have a hard time navigating the platform.
Articulate Rise 360
Rise was released by Articulate as part of the 360 suite in 2016, and compared to Storyline, is targeted at novice users or those looking to put learning together quickly. It uses prebuilt interactions and drag and drop content blocks to build out your learning, making it easy to create high quality interactions. However, there isn’t much flexibility when compared to Storyline 360 or many of the other authoring tools available.
Pros:
- Designed for easy course creation
- Access to Articulate Content Library 360
- Allows multiple authors to collaborate on learning
Cons:
- All courses end up feeling the same
- Cannot create complex interactions (however, you can import through Storyline 360)
- Mobile responsive
Suitable for:
- Those new to eLearning development
- Simple programs that need to be developed quickly
Lectora Online
Lectora Online is the cloud-based version of Lectora, one of the early eLearning authoring tools. Like Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate, its rich feature set comes at the cost of a steeper learning curve – to create truly great eLearning with Lectora Online, you need to be an experienced eLearning designer.
While Lectora Online can export device-responsive HTML5 content, the layout for each view needs to be done manually, adding significant development time. Lectora Online includes access to eLearning Brothers AssetLibrary with templates and stock assets.
Pros:
- Cloud-based
- Access to eLearning Brothers AssetLibrary
- Fully customisable
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- Not truly mobile responsive (you need to create new views for each device)
- Complex user interface
Suitable for:
- Experienced learning designers
- Customised, highly interactive content and simulations
Gomo
Gomo produces mobile-first device responsive learning. Pre-built templates and the quick-start wizard help you get up and running quickly, and there are a range of interactive templates you can use. Gomo offers a range of themes that can be configured to suit your brand or project. Shared libraries and a team-based approach support collaboration.
Pros:
- Interactive templates
- Easy to learn
- Truly mobile-responsive
Cons:
- No WYSIWYG interface
- Fewer customisation options than some competitors
Suitable for:
- Organisations looking to build mobile-first content
EasyGenerator
As the name suggests, EasyGenerator focuses on creating learning easily and quickly. It is suitable for those without experience in eLearning authoring. In fact, the company encourages employee-generated content, enabling learners to create content themselves. You can drag and drop content blocks for questions, video and audio.
While EasyGenerator doesn’t have an asset library like some of the other authoring tools, it does have a range of course templates you can customise for your own organisation.
Pros:
- Easy to learn
- Ability to import PowerPoint
Cons:
- No inbuilt asset library
- Limited interaction types
Suitable for:
- Novice authors
- Organisations create a small number of courses
H5P
H5P is an open-source online course software that allows you to create HTML5 eLearning content and publish it on popular platforms like WordPress, Moodle, or Drupal. It is modular, and there are a lot of content types and applications available for use with no technical skills needed. These include videos, HTML5 presentations, branching scenarios, quizzes, flashcards, and more. However, the tool is quite limited as far as creating complex and customized eLearning projects.
Coassemble
Coassemble is an eLearning creator software designed to provide a user-friendly course creator that makes the creation of interactive learning materials easier for managers and effective for your personnel. This training software allows you to transform your old presentations as well as PDFs and documents into engaging online courses with its available screen templates that support various media forms and provide interactive elements. You can assess your personnel’s knowledge retention through pop quizzes or activity-based challenges. A certificate is also given to your employees upon course completion.
CourseLab
CourseLab version 2.4 is a freeware program with unlimited timelines for usage. The program lets you create eLearning content in the popular WYSIWYG model, which means ‘what you see is what you get’. The tool is ready for download on CoureseLab’s official site — however, before you get started, do check the minimum system requirements as mentioned on their website. In closing, here are its primary features — English language availability for apps, 6 bands of module templates, space for two animated character objects, and 6 supported types of questions.
Note that there’s also a paid version called CourseLab 2.7 which offers an even more extensive feature set.
Conclusion
People have different ways to create their eLearning courses. Some people have expertise and knowledge in programming/developing so they choose this to make their eLearning courses. While others have no such skills but enjoy creating courses using a drag-and-drop interface. The choice for you will boil down to how technically savvy you are, how much time you want to take and the resources that are available to you.