eLearning has emerged as the one true savior for businesses in the last few years. It has helped businesses and organizations to continue the training and development of their employees. It has played a crucial role in bringing employees up to speed with the latest trends and developments in their specific industries with the help of online learning.

While eLearning has gained sudden popularity, the need to choose the right tools to create eLearning content has also come to the forefront. The software that helps training managers and subject matter experts in creating interactive learning content is known as an authoring tool.

An authoring tool is a powerful utility software that enables its users to create eLearning content that delivers value with different forms of media. An authoring tool can help with online training in the following ways:

• It helps bridge the gap between amateur and veteran trainers.
• Helps create interactive training content with the help of multimedia to better engage the learners.
• It helps convert legacy content into modern online training modules.
• It helps deliver training to remote employees effectively.

But how can you choose the best authoring tool for your training needs? Don’t worry. In this article, we will give you five tips to help you choose an authoring tool to solve all your eLearning content creation woes. The tips are as follows:

Think of your design team and its skillset

You can choose from a wide range of tools from the bubbling authoring tool market. But the availability of excessive choices doesn’t mean you can choose any tool at face value. The skills and competency of your design team in using a particular authoring tool are the most essential considerations while making a choice.

When your designers are proficient with a tool, they can extract all of its features and create eLearning modules that stand out. Even if you think that a tool has impeccable features, you must cross-check if your designers are well versed with it.

Examine the needs of your learners

You can choose from a wide range of tools from the bubbling authoring tool market. But the availability of excessive choices doesn’t mean you can choose any tool at face value. The skills and competency of your design team in using a particular authoring tool are the most essential considerations while making a choice.

When your designers are proficient with a tool, they can extract all of its features and create eLearning modules that stand out. Even if you think that a tool has impeccable features, you must cross-check if your designers are well versed with it.

Look for a tool that supports responsive design

Learners may access training modules on different types of devices. Given the prevalence of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and the like, the perfect authoring tool should support responsive design.

A responsive design ensures that the training modules can be accessed on all types of devices without losing out on any interactive features. Adobe Captivate is an authoring tool that offers additional responsive design options.

Identify whether a tool supports your instructional strategy

An authoring tool must align with your different instructional strategies and complement them well. For instance, if you want to use interactive elements such as quizzes, games, animations, etc., the authoring tool should provide apt options. Similarly, if you want to include videos for your visual learners, the tool should also be able to support the same.

Consider your budget and examine it against the tool’s maintenance costs

After considering everything, you should analyze your budget for investing in an authoring tool for your eLearning needs. You must know how much your finances will allow you to spend on such a tool.

If you have excess funds lying around, and you need a more sophisticated and feature-loaded authoring tool, you can go all guns blazing and spend freely. On the other hand, if you have a tight budget and still want your teams to excel with great eLearning modules, you can opt for a rapid authoring tool.

Conclusion

You can refer to the tips mentioned above to make the best choice while looking for an authoring tool for your company’s eLearning needs.