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An authoring tool is a software designed to help instructional designers (or aspiring instructional designers) create professional, engaging, and interactive eLearning content for custom training courses.

By using various media, including pre-made interactions, images, graphics, and audio, authors can quickly create and upload content into new or pre-made templates. Authoring tools can organize and deploy content or upload them to a learning management system (LMS).

Authoring tools can create a variety of eLearning content, including:

  • Quizzes, surveys, and assessments
  • Video lecture and screencasts
  • Interactions
  • Branching scenarios
  • Dialogue simulations

Ready to learn more about eLearning authoring tools? Let’s dive into what an eLearning authoring tool is, what it can do, and the industry’s most popular authoring software. 

What Is An eLearning Authoring Tool?

An eLearning authoring tool is a software designed to help instructional designers (or aspiring instructional designers) create professional, engaging, and interactive learning content for custom eLearning courses. 

Authoring tools are most commonly known for creating eLearning courses, but they can also develop learning courses in other modalities, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). In-house or outsourced developers use authoring tools to create custom eLearning content, lessons, and courses with text, media, and interactions.

By using various media, including pre-made interactions, images, graphics, and audio, authors can quickly create and upload content into new or pre-made templates. Authoring tools can organize and deploy content or upload them to a learning management system (LMS). Many LMS’s now have a built-in course authoring tool to create digital eLearning content. 

Whether an authoring tool is cloud-based or highly-specialized, essential features will vary. Authoring tools can create a variety of eLearning content, including:

  • Quizzes, surveys, and assessments
  • Video lecture and screencasts
  • Interactions
  • Branching scenarios
  • Dialogue simulations

Examples Of eLearning Authoring Tools

Popular eLearning authoring tool software includes:

Each software has its own set of tools and functions that allow authors to develop eLearning content from scratch or pre-made templates. For example, Articulate Storyline 360 enables authors to use built-in states for objects, drag-and-drop interactions, and illustrated characters. Lectora allows designers to push standard capabilities further with advanced coding that can develop high-customized interactions.

How To Select The Right Authoring Tool

If your organization decides to develop an in-house eLearning program, you must pick the right authoring tool. You don’t want to select an authoring tool that’s too advanced and overwhelm your designers. 

When selecting an authoring tool for your organization, you should complete the following four steps:

  • Step 1: Identify your specific training project’s needs and requirements — You should first identify your eLearning program goals and needs. 
  • Step 2: Ask yourself: “What expertise level will be working with the software?” — It’s essential that you know what level your authors are operating at. Are they novice developers or do they have decades of experience under their belt?
  • Step 3: Determine what type of eLearning course you want to create — You should know what kind of course you want to make, whether it’s a template-based course with text and images, a video-based course, or a course with complex interactions and graphic design.
  • Step 4: Research different authoring tools — Authoring tools are quickly changing as technology advances. It’s critical to keep up with new modes of learning and the new features and functionality of authoring tools. 

Are You The Author Of Your Own eLearning Story?

We’ve covered what an eLearning authoring tool is, varying capabilities, and how to select the right authoring tool for your training program. 

Are you ready to get started designing your custom eLearning program? Check out our video on what eLearning is. 

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