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eLearning Tools

Adobe eLearning Suite

I did a review of Adobe's eLearning Suite on my blog

eLearning platforms are generally created with one or more of these three types of tools:

In addition, Supporting Tools can be used to ease the development of building elearning platforms.

HTML (Webpages)

HTML editors are perhaps the most versatile tool for creating elearning as almost all of today's PCs and mobile devices include one or more web browsers for displaying webpages that are based on HTML.

Web pages based on HTML allow you to insert formatted text, pictures, video, audio, and Flash programs. In addition, the linking capability allows you to insert branching scenarios, multiple choice questions, and other types of interactions.

You can build elearning platforms based on webpages with a simple text editor, such as Notepad and WordPad. In addition, applications, such as Word and Excel, will allow to save your document as an HTML page.

However, depending on the complexity of your design, you might want an HTML editor that makes the task easier. DreamWeaver is perhaps the most popular one. Other editors, including many free ones, can be found here. While many of the editors will allow you to create webpages by using WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), you still need to have a basic understanding of HTML as WYSIWYG does not always work the way you want it to. w3schools offers a free tutorial.

PowerPoint (presentations)

PowerPoint is a popular tool for building elearning as it can be found on most corporate computers and many personal ones. If the learners do not have access to PowerPoint, they can download a free PowerPoint Viewer that allows them to play the presentations. Other popular presentation applications include Apple's Keynote, Prezi, GoogleDocs, and OpenOffice.

Like HTML webpages, these presentation tools allow you to insert formatted text, pictures, video, audio, and Flash programs; in addition, the linking capability allows you to insert branching scenarios, multiple choice questions, and other types of interactions.

In addition, add-on tools, such as Adobe Presenter and Articulate Presenter, increase the elearning capabilities of PowerPoint.

PowerPoint leads to the next tool set, Specialty Tools, as the basic design of the elearning platform may be built with PowerPoint and then imported into many of the specialty tools in order to add more interactions.

Specialty Tools

Specialty tools, such as Articulate, Captivate, Lectora, eXe (open source), Raptivity, and SmartBuilder, allow you to capture and present interactive software simulations. They are often used in corporate learning platforms as they can readily be used by their LMS (Learning Management System). In addition, they offer many of the same capabilities as HTML and PowerPoint.

Adobe Soundbooth

Supporting Tools

Other tools that will assist you in creating an effective elearning platforms include:

Next Steps

Related Resources

Learning Environment Design Framework
Instructional Design Toolkit

ISD Concept Map
ISD Concept Map