E learning platforms and instructional courses are now an important part of everyday training, thanks to the increase in technology used by all businesses today. As such, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of elearning authoring tools and technologies which you can test and buy freely online.
Elearning is the future of business communication. Nowadays, this technology is being used in most companies. There are thousands of new elearning courses are being developed each day. Whether you are looking for e Learning software free download or e Learning tools and technologies, this article will help you to get one of your choices.
authorPOINT Lite
A free version of a commercial authoring tool, authorPOINT Lite creates eLearning content by converting PowerPoint presentations. The free version does not include live video/audio functionality or the ability to save as a SCORM compliant flash presentation. This is installed, not web-based, software, and is used by a plethora of institutions of higher education.
CourseLab
A freeware version of the commercial product, CourseLab 2.4 allows eLearning content creation in a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) programming-free environment. It’s installed software for Windows computers, and is available for download at the CourseLab website. Customers seem to be concentrated in academic, rather than corporate, eLearning organizations.
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.
eXe
This is an open source content authoring application that allows you to design eLearning courses without HTML or XML knowledge. It is SCORM compliant and can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux. eXe is meant primarily for use by teachers and academics.
GLO Maker
An open source tool, GLO Maker is a free download that helps you build “GLOs,” or “Generative Learning Objects” which are “rich, interactive learning experiences.” It allows deployment to mobile devices. The software is generally aimed at academic eLearning course designers.
LAMS
The Learning Activity Management System is a free open source tool to create and deliver online learning activities. LAMS allows for SCORM compliant course creation, and includes integrations with many LMSs like Moodle, Sakai, and others. It caters to both academic eLearning and corporate training.
Multimedia Learning Object Authoring Tool
This open source tool creates SCORM compliant “learning objects” that can include video, audio, images and text. It includes an online demo which allows you to create test learning objects of videos and images.
RELOAD
An older open source project RELOAD (Reusable eLearning Object Authoring and Delivery) is managed by the University of Bolton and provides an editor to create SCORM compliant courses.
SmartBuilder
You can sign up for the free version of this hosted authoring software at their website. It provides an object-based authoring environment to make course creation intuitive and straightforward. Clients for SmartBuilder lean towards the corporate side of eLearning and training.
Udutu
An online course authoring tool that supports video, audio, graphic, and text functionality within courses, Udutu also follows a “WYSIWYG” format to simplify eLearning content creation. It’s meant for use by either corporate or academic eLearning professionals.
Xerte
An open source suite of browser-based tools, Xerte lets you to author content with no programming knowledge required. It allows for the creation of mobile compatible content that does not rely on Flash. It is currently in use by a variety of corporate and higher education organizations.
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.
Scratch by MIT Media Labs
This is another authoring tool for eLearning courses from an educational institution — this time, from MIT. The Scratch website pegs the tool as a creative and innovative approach to content creation. In fact, it’s suggested that Scratch can actually break through traditional page-turning mechanisms.
With Scratch, you can build an entire ecosystem of animation, music, and art. In other words, it helps to create an interactive storytelling methodology instead of legacy eLearning methods. A quick glance at their website is enough to make a case. Minimalist and highly visual, Scratch provides a huge repository of existing stories and lessons to inspire eLearning authors and even has an active community of users to address the lack of sales support.
iSpring Free
The “little brother” of the well-known iSpring Suite is very capable by itself. Install it on your Windows machine for free and start creating your first training course straight away. It allows you to turn old boring PowerPoint presentations into mobile-compatible SCORM courses with quizzes and YouTube videos.
The main advantage of the tool is its simplicity. The editor has an intuitive interface, so it’s suitable for novice course developers. What’s truly great about iSpring Free is that the number of courses you can create using this program is not limited, unlike many other free authoring programs. This tool is definitely among the world’s best free e-learning authoring software.
Easygenerator
Easygenerator is a cloud-based e-learning authoring tool you can run in your browser. The free version offers just a fraction of the functionality available with the paid tool, but it’s still a reliable online authoring platform with features like WYSIWYG editing and drag-and-drop workflow.
Support for such e-learning standards as SCORM, xAPI, and LTI makes Easygenerator a prominent candidate among cloud-hosted free SCORM authoring tools.
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.
Conclusion:
You have spent a tremendous amount of time and money to develop your course content. You have also invested a lot of resources into designing attractive graphics, grabbing attention-grabbing images, and developing enticing audio segments. Finally, you have set the stage for a great learning experience. All that remains is a smooth launch of your eLearning course.