We’re very proud to announce that we’ve just added two new tools for learning content creation to our line. Learning Content Creation Tool #1 is a course focused on using the latest and greatest in web-based content creation techniques, whereas Learning Content Creation Tool #2 is a video tutorial series explaining the finer points of writing short stories.
Learning Content Creation Tool #1 focuses on helping students learn to use the newest features of our famed web-based learning management system, including the ability to create one’s own custom emojis, use the new toolbars, and take advantage of our latest photo-editing suite. Some students may also choose to learn how to record and edit their own podcasts within this course.
Learning Content Creation Tool #2 focuses on helping students develop their short story writing skills by walking through the process of creating a short story from start to finish.
Learning Content Creation Tools
Deciding on an eLearning authoring tool is tricky business unless you know exactly what you want. And there are lots of tools to pick and choose from. Here’s a list of some of the most popular tools out there today:
1. Articulate Storyline 360
A well-known name in the world of authoring, Storyline is clean, modern, and has plenty of powerful features. For example, it allows you to storyboard your courses and then dictates the path that your learner takes. And although it can take a little bit of time to get to grips with Storyline, it’s balanced by the quality of the results.
The platform has two pricing options for you to choose from: a Storyline 360 subscription or a one-off purchase of Storyline 3. The website has a helpful comparison chart that details what comes with each option. The subscription is probably the better choice as it gives you access to a host of other apps to use and the benefit of regular updates, but either option is worth a try.
2. Articulate Rise 360
The sibling to Storyline, Rise 360 is another top-quality authoring tool from Articulate. With a prime focus on mobile-responsive content, it’s a smart choice for those who want courses that are compatible with every device. Again, like Storyline, it has a clean, modern interface that delivers visually pleasing results.
3. 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.
4. 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.
7. Composica
Another authoring tool with a strong focus on smooth collaboration, Composica enables you to work with your colleagues straightforwardly.
You can add different users, assign tasks, and always have the most up-to-date version of your content at hand. It also has competitive pricing so it’s a relatively affordable option for your business.
8. knowbly
If you’re looking for a simple, yet powerful authoring tool, knowbly is one to check out. It’s got all the features an eLearning newbie needs like drag and drop content creation, quick customizability, mobile-responsive, and more.
The platform also enables you to easily organize all of your content within one system so you’ll never lose track of any of your assets.
9. Lectora Online
Both a cloud and a Windows-based solution, Lectora is an eLearning authoring tool that works well for SCORM content. A neat feature is that it integrates with Camtasia and Snagit. This means that making screen recordings, image editing, voiceovers, and more is that little bit simpler.
10. gomo
Self-described as “mobile-first”, gomo is another simple to use authoring tool. It’s a recommended solution for beginners wanting to optimize their content to be mobile-responsive, as it has a drag and drop interface. Another bonus for beginners is that it has media assets on offer that are visually attractive and can help you make your content more engaging.
11. Easygenerator
Described as “all-in-one eLearning software”, Easygenerator has lots of impressive features to help you make engaging content.
It’s another top option for newbies as no coding is needed. And, it’s super user-friendly, so you can handily create your content. It’s also an LMS authoring tool that’s compatible with most solutions, meaning you shouldn’t have any issues using this with your preferred platform.
12. DominKnow ONE
DominKnow ONE is a diverse authoring tool that can help you make lots of different types of content. As you’d expect, it works well at making mobile responsive content and is very convenient for teams to use while working together.
Content is also simple to publish and distribute, and with everything in one place, it’s effortless to keep track of all of your course content.
The priorities for LMS authoring tools
During your authoring tool comparison, it’s a smart move to dig deeper into your research and not just focus on the superficial aspects. Before making your final decision, we suggest you get all the details on:
Cost
Find out the pricing structure and different pricing models available to you, as well as what features are attached to each.
Customer Support
Never underestimate the value of great support. Do your research into how the tool supports you and, during your free trial, test the support to see how responsive each tool really is. You don’t want to be left alone with a problem!
Documentation/Guides/Knowledge Base
If you need information, you must know where to go and that it’s easily accessible. Ask your potential authoring tool vendor about the resources available to ensure you can get the answers you need.
Features
It’s always a good move to make a list of “must-have” and “nice to have” features and ask your potential vendor about each one of them so you can quickly rule in or rule out options.
Ease of use
Remember, an authoring tool should help you make content quickly and easily, not slow you down. Ensure your solution is simple to use so you can efficiently build the content you want.
Our last tip, when in doubt, try it out! If the authoring tool has a free trial, make the most of it. It’s the best way to find the ideal authoring tool for your content.
list of authoring tools
1. iSpring Suite Max
iSpring Suite Max is a full-featured eLearning solution focused on making rapid content development easy and intuitive. A major plus with iSpring is that the core authoring tool works as a PowerPoint add-in, which makes for a familiar WYSIWIG interface that’s very easy to use. You can start with an existing PowerPoint presentation and enhance it with more sophisticated eLearning content.
iSpring Suite Max takes a modularized approach to the user interface, with special tabs for different types of training tasks. There’s a quiz maker for assessments, a video and audio editor for creating video lectures and screencasts, and a conversation simulation tool for building dialogue simulations with branching. Creating interactions is made simple with a whole set of ready-made templates for creating glossaries, catalogs, timelines, references, and FAQs.
The workflow puts the focus firmly on content development and dispenses with the manual configuration of complex interactive elements and coding variables. To create beautiful courses even faster, there’s a content library full of high-quality images of location backgrounds, icons, controls, and characters.
Another important thing is that iSpring Suite Max comes with iSpring Space, an online space for teamwork on eLearning projects. You can build your course, and all other authors from your team will be able to review the content or edit texts, add knowledge checks, and polish the course look and feel in a single place.
There’s also a built-in authoring tool for making eLearning content right in a browser. You can create a course the same way you write a post on social media. Just type in (or copy) texts and add images and video. Then add quizzes to check how your learners understand the material. That’s it!
Learning curve
iSpring’s seamless integration with PowerPoint means that most people will be able to pick it up and immediately get authoring. The familiar interface and streamlined workflow make for a gentle learning curve that allows the user to explore other modules and features at their own pace.
Fortunately, ease of use doesn’t mean you can only create simple interactions and traditional slide-based courses – there’s a lot of flexibility to add more complex scenarios and interactives.
Assessments
With iSpring Suite Max, it’s extremely easy to create graded quizzes, surveys, and quick knowledge checks that can be included between course slides. There are over a dozen question types, from the ubiquitous multiple-choice to the engaging drag-and-drop.
Interactions
Separate from the quiz editor, iSpring Visuals is centered on building learning interactions. What’s best about this component of the tool is that you don’t need to start from scratch – just pick one of the interaction templates like Timeline or Accordion and fill it in with your data.
Video and audio editor
This features a fully functional video editor, enough to merge several videos with transitions and captions into one MP4 file and insert it into a course.
Conversation simulations
iSpring has a special tool that allows you to build realistic conversation simulations that will help your learners master their communication skills. This is a must have for sales and customer service training.
Mobile learning
With all its components supporting HTML5, iSpring-published content is 100% mobile ready. Unlike with some other course creation tools, you don’t need to build separate content versions for desktop and mobile. The software automatically adapts your content to all display sizes, saving you time and your nerves.
Publishing options
- pure HTML5
- MP4 for video
- eLearning formats: AICC, SCORM, xAPI and cmi5
Pros
- Ability to use an existing PPT presentation as a starting point for a course
- Simple familiar interface for building courses quickly
- Built-in dialogue simulator with branching conversation scenarios
- Professional video studio for recording and editing screencasts and webcam footage
- Robust tool for creating interactive quizzes and surveys
- Perfect playback on all devices
- Text-to-speech function
- Ability to turn PPT presentations into SCORM courses
- Ability to convert Word and PDF documents into interactive SCORM flipbooks
- Professional grade content library with 68,000 assets, including templates, characters, backgrounds, and icons
- Cloud service for fast content sharing and collaboration
- XLIFF Translation support for fast course localization
Cons
- PowerPoint needs to be installed for iSpring Suite to work
- Doesn’t support closed captioning (CC) for video and audio narration
- No software simulation support
- Only works in Windows
Best for
iSpring Suite Max is a fast eLearning development tool, and a great pick for PowerPoint users looking to take the leap into a full-fledged content authoring tool.
It’s also worth choosing if you’re searching for the easiest and fastest way to move existing instructions, manuals, and textbooks online. If you already have PPT presentations, you can turn them into e-courses in just a couple of clicks.
You can also publish your Word and PDF documents to eLearning formats quickly and efficiently. The result will be interactive e-books with a realistic page flip effect. When you want to get more creative and add quizzes, dialogue simulations, and interactives, there’s plenty of power under the hood.
Pricing
$970 (Annual license)
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2. Adobe Captivate
Adobe Captivate is a powerful authoring tool that’s well suited for general eLearning development such as creating slide presentations or quizzes and developing complex interactive courses. Also, it’s traditionally a preferred choice for developing software simulations with the help of effects, triggers, and slide settings. This allows for a lot of versatility in creating realistic simulations and presenting them to users in different modes, ex.: see it, try it, do it.
A standout feature of the latest 2019 Captivate release is the ability to create Virtual Reality projects and make interactive videos and studio-quality HD videos by simultaneously recording webcam and on-screen content and adding interactive elements. The wide range of interactions is another strong point of this toolkit. You can make eLearning fun with drag-and-drop, puzzles, games, and other interactive activities.
Learning curve
Captivate is known to have a fairly steep learning curve for new users, and in past releases, a rather confusing workflow that relies on a lot of separate windows to select variables and triggers, and perform other functions.
To create really great eLearning in Captivate, you need to spend a lot of time getting to know its functions, so it may not be the best choice as a first-time software for eLearning design. It’s perfect for creating more technical simulation-based training.
Assessments
Having fewer question templates than its competitors, Captivate offers a unique type of assessment in the form of software simulation. This feature might be indispensable if your training program is based on computer software.
Interactions
It has 19 learning interaction templates including games like “Jigsaw Puzzle” and “Who wants to be a millionaire?” They might look a bit sloppy and prove to be hard to configure, but the diversity here is truly impressive.
Video and audio editor
Adobe Captivate has a built-in editor that can help you put together a video tutorial with transitions and various effects like zoom and pan. The best part is that when you record yourself from a webcam, you can use the “green screen” feature to replace the background of your video on the fly.
Conversation simulations
There’s no special tool for building conversation simulations or character-driven dialogues in Adobe Captivate, so if these are a big part of your training design, it may not be the best pick.
Mobile learning
Captivate suggests an interesting workflow to those who consider mobile compatibility their top priority. The tool lets you break up your slide contents into the so-called “fluid boxes” that can change their size and positioning based on what device the course is being viewed on. This, in theory, gives you total control over the look and feel of your content on all possible devices – including smartphones.
Publishing options
- HTML5
- eLearning formats: SCORM, AICC, and xAPI.
- Flash (with an option for creating lessons in the EXE format)
Pros
- Extensive variables and branching that allow creative customization
- 360-degree (VR) capability to embed virtual reality into your eLearning
- True responsive screen display on all devices, viewable as you create the training
- Asset library including templates, people, headshots, and full-body shots
- Ability to generate text-to-speech (TTS) voiceovers automatically
- ‘Green screen’ feature where you can insert your own background
- Mobile-specific development tools such as geolocation tagging
- Complex software simulation recording options
- Has a version for Mac
Cons
- Unintuitive user interface
- Requires you to put in a lot of hours to learn how to use it
- Customers report that Captivate can get buggy and crash in Windows
- Designing responsive content is difficult, since you have to create separate versions for desktop, tablet, and smartphone
- Imported PowerPoint presentations don’t preserve all their animations after being converted with Captivate
- Technical support outsourced to a call center
Best for
Adobe Captivate is professional eLearning software, less easy and intuitive, but more powerful than its competitors. It’s best suited for experienced eLearning developers who are comfortable working with variables and some coding to make the magic happen.
In contrast to some vendors that offer an LMS or hosting solution as part of the package, if you want to host the courses that you author directly via Captivate, you’ll need to purchase the PRIME package, which is more expensive and probably not suitable for small organizations with less than 100 employees.
Pricing
$33.99/month or $1,299.00 (Perpetual License)
3. Articulate Storyline 360
Articulate Storyline is the flagship desktop authoring tool by Articulate. It comes bundled with a few other applications like Rise and Review when you purchase an Articulate 360 subscription.
Storyline is popular in the instructional design community since its advanced features like triggers and layers allow creators to go above and beyond in producing customized training content. However, for a newbie, it would pose a serious challenge to get to grips with Storyline – there aren’t many built-in interaction templates, so one would have to spend time learning how to create them from scratch.
With Storyline comes the Articulate Content Library – a collection of course templates, backgrounds, characters, buttons, and icons. It includes a rather small portion of visual assets created specifically for instructional design, at the same time providing access to a vast collection of stock images.
Learning curve
Storyline is right in the middle between iSpring and Adobe in terms of its learning curve: it’s not as easy to pick up and start as the former, although it’s not as complicated as the latter, and you can begin producing decent looking courses in a relatively short amount of time.
Assessments
Articulate QuizMaker offers users the standard multiple response, fill-in-the-blank, hotspot, and a few more question types that can be inserted into a quiz as well as into a survey.
Interactions
Articulate Studio, Storyline’s predecessor that comes bundled with it, has a selection of interaction templates that you can insert into your course. There you can find things like FAQ and Checklist. If you’d like to use one of them in Storyline, you need to import them from a Studio project. Otherwise, you’ll have to build your interaction from scratch or download one of the community-provided templates.
Video and audio editor
Storyline includes a simple video editor that lets you do transitions from one recorded take to another, add captions, and save the output to your course. However, it’s not half as advanced and useful as what Captivate and iSpring have to offer in terms of video editing.
Conversation simulations
The abovementioned Articulate Studio includes a “Conversation” interaction template that can be used to create dialogue simulations. However, it can only be used as an educational tool, not as a rated assessment.
Mobile learning
Courses published with Storyline are fully mobile-compatible. Also, Articulate has its own mobile app that can download and play published content offline.
Publishing options
- HTML5
- eLearning formats: SCORM, AICC, xAPI, and cmi5
Pros
- Similar to the PowerPoint interface of Storyline 360, but with greater opportunities for customizing the content
- Allows you to build complex interactions by utilizing features like object states, triggers, and layers
- Screen recorder for making screencast captures and simple editing
- Content library with access to stock images
- Outputs responsive mobile-ready courses
- Can import PowerPoint slides
- Free mobile app for playing courses offline
Cons
- Not the most user-friendly interface
- Has a rather steep learning curve
- Interaction templates sometimes don’t work properly
- Screen recording functionality is basic compared to other solutions
- Can be heavy on computer resources
- No Mac version
Best for
Articulate Storyline is best suited for experienced instructional designers who need more leverage over the content they produce. This can be achieved by utilizing the advanced features like triggers and layers that Storyline provides.
Since Storyline comes with several desktop and web authoring tools aimed at making it easier for teams to collaborate on eLearning projects, it would be a good fit for collectives. The drawback is that most individual developers and small organizations won’t need all of these tools, but will still have to purchase the entire set just to get Storyline.
Price
$1,299/year (for teams) or $999 (for individuals)
4. Articulate Rise 360
Articulate Rise is a web-based authoring tool that allows instructional designers to create training modules or entire courses in the “longread” form using their browsers. Although originally limited to a fairly small selection of interactions, Rise gets updated regularly, so more and more assets become available for creators over time.
Learning curve
Built as a cloud-based application for eLearning authoring, Articulate Rise is a level of magnitude easier to learn than the desktop Storyline. It offers an intuitive interface that won’t be any hassle to master.
Assessments
So far, there are only 4 question types available in Rise: multiple-choice, multiple response, fill-in-the-blank, and matching. Same question types can be inserted into a module, not just as rated quizzes, but also as quick knowledge checks.
Interactions
There are 10 interaction types, including accordion, flashcards, and timeline. Plus, content creators who use Storyline on their PCs can import an interaction of any kind from the desktop authoring tool.
Video and audio editor
Being a web-based content authoring solution, Rise doesn’t have a video or audio editor, so one would have to resort to using a desktop program for that. But it at least allows users to upload and manage subtitles via its web interface.
Conversation simulations
There’s a built-in dialogue feature that allows you to create “scenarios” – interactive dialogues that serve as educational segments in training courses. These, unlike in iSpring Suite, are not rated and thus can’t be used as assessments.
Mobile learning
Content created with Articulate Rise is well-suited for mobile devices with a built-in responsive player that can automatically adapt to any screen, be it tablets or smartphones.
Publishing options
- HTML5
- eLearning formats: SCORM, AICC, xAPI, and cmi5
Pros
- Ability to create responsive training content quickly with a simple web interface
- Access to content library with lots of visual assets like backgrounds and characters
- OS agnostic: works on Mac, Windows, and Linux
- Support for all major eLearning standards allows one to create training content quickly and upload it to any LMS
- Allows you to collaborate on courses with your team members
Cons
- Limited content customization capabilities – an understandable tradeoff of a streamlined web application
- Only a single format of a training module (longread) can be created with it
- Just 4 question types to use in quizzes
Best for
Articulate Rise will be an equally good fit for new instructional designers and experienced industry cats. When your projects don’t have strict requirements on what content should look like and how it should function, Rise will allow you to pump out training courses quickly.
Price
$1,299/year (for teams) or $999 (for individuals)
5. Camtasia
TechSmith’s Camtasia is a desktop powerhouse for recording and editing instructional videos. It’s available for both Mac and PC, and is considered to be one of the most popular authoring tools for screencasts and other types of training videos. It doesn’t just allow you to record your screen and edit the captured video – there’s a quiz editing tool, a bunch of stock video/audio, and various visual effects, all at your fingertips.
Learning curve
For someone who has never worked with a video editor before, Camtasia might come across as a bit overwhelming. However, this authoring software is well known by the community and there’s a handful of video tutorials and help articles that will help you grasp the basics of working with the app quickly. After you’ve come to grips with Camtasia, it actually becomes pretty easy to operate and allows you to churn out high-quality training videos in short order.
Assessments
Camtasia can be used to insert quizzes and surveys to videos. There are just 4 question types available: multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and short answer.
Interactions
This product is not the typical authoring tool that includes all sorts of interaction templates. Focused on video editing, it doesn’t provide any interactive elements other than quizzes and surveys.
Video and audio editor
Camtasia has been the top performer in the casual video editing market for a while now. It’s safe to say that this application is much more capable than the usual video editors included with other authoring tools.
Conversation simulations
Cannot be created in Camtasia.
Mobile learning
The program doesn’t offer any special tools or perks for mobile learners. But since its only output is video, it doesn’t need to, because all modern smartphones and tablets can play these formats just fine.
Publishing options
- video formats, including MP4 and AVI
- eLearning formats: SCORM 1.2 and 2004
Pros
- Available for both Mac and PC
- The most advanced video editor compared to all other authoring tools on the market
- Gives access to a library of stock music, intros, transitions, and other assets that will help you get the job done in less time
- Built-in quiz maker that allows you to create quizzes inside your training videos
- Supports SCORM; can export training modules for use in an LMS
Cons
- Limited to producing video content
- No interactive elements can be used in output content aside from quizzes
- Built-in quiz tool only has 4 question types to select from
- Not half as capable as true video editors like Adobe Premiere Pro or Davinci Resolve
Best for
This authoring software will come in handy for anyone who makes training content about computer software. Recording the screen and the webcam, editing the output with a bunch of stock effects, exporting the finished lesson to SCORM – Camtasia has everything you need for a good video tutorial that can act as training material. However, if the project you’re working on requires something other than a screencast with visual hints and annotations, look for a different solution.
Price
Lifetime license + one year of updates for $299
Conclusion
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