How To Find The Perfect Collaborative Authoring Tool
For many learning designers like Georgia, Online Project Producer at the Open University, there are significant challenges when it comes to working with others on an eLearning project:
"The hardest part of my role is definitely balancing the needs of our multiple stakeholders. It’s a considerable challenge to herd them all together and move the project forward. Over the course of a year, I could be working on up to thirty projects, with several people requiring input on each project."
Read more about Georgia’s approach to developing eLearning for the Open University.
If you can relate to Georgia’s struggle, it could be worth investing in collaborative authoring platform.
The following 5 questions will help you find a solution that meets your needs:
1. Is It Cloud-Based?
Desktop-based authoring tools can be a major hindrance. They confine you to working on your eLearning project only when you are on a computer that already has the software downloaded.
Cloud-based authoring platforms enable you to access your project wherever you are, on any device. Similarly, you should be able to share projects with collaborators, making your production process more flexible and convenient.
2. Can I Have Unlimited Logins?
On that note, a truly collaborative eLearning authoring platform will permit you an unlimited number of logins.
Multiple, same-time logins are the only way to ensure your production process doesn’t take forever and is as time-effective as possible. With no need to share login information or wait for someone else to sign out, say goodbye to confusion, delays, lengthy handovers, and sequential authoring!
3. Can I Control User Permissions?
Before you get too excited, if you’re going to have multiple logins then you need a way to control who can do what. Introducing permissions will enable you to control the abilities of your users and avoid any clashes.
User permissions can also improve your stakeholder management. To avoid waiting for ages for their approval or receiving a significant change request when you’re about to go live, you could grant your stakeholders early access with comment-only permission. This way, they can leave their feedback as you work without the ability to edit the content directly themselves.
4. Can We Communicate Easily?
You’ll also need a way for your collaborators to communicate with each other, even if it’s just to give a quick update on where the project is at. Keep this within your authoring tool rather than via email or instant messenger so that all information relating to your project can be found in one place.
It’s best if comments can be added to specific parts of the project to provide context.
5. Is It Easy To Make Revisions?
It’s only natural that you’ll need to make some edits to your project, particularly if you have multiple authors involved.
It’s important to use a tool that lets you re-publish your eLearning if you need to make changes. It’s also helpful to have a history kept so you can refer back to earlier versions. This comes back to the need for cloud-based software so you can access previous versions online, rather than saving them in a file on a desktop.
Picking The Right Tool
Which authoring platform is right for you completely depends on your needs. If you just want to create a few eLearning modules for a small audience, you’ll be looking for something very different from a global business needing to reach 10,000 employees in multiple languages!
Start a free trial of Elucidat today to see if it’s the platform for you.
