These days, academic and corporate institutions are increasingly using eLearning to deliver training programs. To expedite this process, a plethora of eLearning authoring tools are now easily accessible, offering options to streamline content creation and enhance learning experiences.

Studies indicate that by 2028, the eLearning authoring software market is expected to grow to a startling $2.55 billion. However, because there are so many possibilities in the eLearning writing tools market, selecting the ideal one is usually challenging.

To help you overcome this challenge, we’ll discuss several considerations when choosing an eLearning authoring platform that satisfies all of your content authoring needs.

Table of Contents:

What is an eLearning Authoring Tool?

An eLearning content authoring tool is essentially an authoring software application that allows users to both create and develop online courses or training modules. These tools include a range of interesting features and functionalities that make it easier to create interactive and engaging eLearning content for users.

One of the key highlights of using an eLearning content authoring tool is the amount of time it can save. These tools typically have a range of pre-built templates and other design elements that can be customized and reused, thus saving the author a great deal of time and effort that would otherwise be spent from scratch for each course.

Besides, most eLearning authoring tools have drag-and-drop functionality, which makes it super simple to add and arrange content such as images, text, quizzes, videos, and more.

Benefits of eLearning Authoring Tools for Content Creation

Here are some of the key benefits of eLearning content authoring tools for streamlining the overall training and development process:

1. Fastens the eLearning Development Process

One of the main advantages of using a rapid content eLearning authoring tool is that it speeds up the overall content development process. Most of these eLearning development authoring tools feature a range of pre-built templates, themes, and other interactions that you can easily integrate into your course design.

This is possible because the tool allows you to completely skip the process of gathering media and outsourcing more time-consuming tasks to be able to create engaging and interactive content for learners.

2. Assessments to Track Learners’ Progress

When it comes to assessing learners’ progress effectively, one of the key aspects is tracking and measuring data. There are several assessment tools available on the market that allow you to create summative assessments and integrate them with your LMS to offer a seamless data exchange between course content and user analytics.

This allows you to monitor various important metrics, such as user engagement rates and knowledge retention, and also identify areas for improvement in courses far more easily. For instance, one of the best eLearning authoring tools, Dictera by Hurix Digital, allows students to be evaluated through detailed summative questions that, in addition to reinforcing important concepts.

This, in turn, helps to verify the success of your course content in terms of learning outcomes. Further, these assessment tools have valuable metrics that enable you to assess and strategize about how to make changes, modify, and improve your course content over time.

Besides, most eLearning authoring tools come with built-in reporting features to help you generate valuable insights into learner performance, such as course completion rates, learner scores on assessments and quizzes, and the average time spent by the user on each activity or course module.

3. Multiple-Device Compatibility

eLearning authoring tools also give you the advantage of choosing the distribution option that best suits your needs to share your courses on PCs, smartphones, or tablets.

This, in turn, allows the content to automatically adapt to different devices without compromising on aspects such as usability and quality. The result is higher accessibility for users to access information immediately, irrespective of their location.

4. Easy Updates

Rapid eLearning authoring tools are much easier to update as they allow new information and revisions (if any) to be added to your eLearning course design. To stay up to date with compliance and changing learner demands, all you have to do is access your current eLearning course materials and either generate new content or make the necessary adjustments to the eLearning template.

Further, in today’s dynamic world of eLearning, employing eLearning authoring solutions for faster course creation offers a more cost-effective approach to generating efficient training content.

This is simply because the tool utilizes fewer resources throughout the entire process, streamlines the overall efforts of the team, and leads to the production of engaging material with much less effort.

5. Collaboration

Lastly, modern eLearning authoring tools that utilize cloud technology allow you to collaborate efficiently, as multiple users can work simultaneously on creating eLearning courses. This kind of collaboration extends not just to the same section but even to the same presentation.

This means that each editor gets the creative liberty to add or change content directly, thus allowing everyone to contribute their specialized knowledge with a single common goal: to be able to create the best eLearning course for their users.

Top 5 Features to Look for in an eLearning Authoring Tool

When looking for an eLearning authoring tool, here are some of the key features that the software must have:

1. Easy Creation of Assessments, Quizzes, and Surveys

One of the most crucial components of an e-learning authoring tool’s specification is this. You may easily create quizzes and assessments using an eLearning tool, verify for knowledge as needed, and receive feedback from students.

When picking an eLearning authoring tool, consideration should be given to the number of users and the kinds of jobs that can be accomplished using the technology in issue.

2. Multimedia Integration

Another must-have feature of an assessment tool for teachers is the easy integration of multimedia files. These include images, audio, GIFs, and videos to help you create interactive and interesting content.

Top content authoring tools such as Dictera also offer excellent support for media libraries and let you upload extensive numbers of files to accompany your content.

Further, any eLearning authoring tool you pick should be easy to use and offer excellent usability. Usability here refers to the overall experience and whether the interface and tools are intuitive enough for users to achieve their goals when creating content.

3. Interactive Activities

Interactivities such as infographics, quizzes, scenario-based learning, leaderboards, mini-games, etc., are an essential component of any eLearning course or module. They make eLearning stand out over traditional learning methods and give it a distinct competitive advantage.

Adding interactive elements to eLearning courses is also a great way to help learners better interact with the content instead of simply reading it. Further, integrating these elements helps learners actively participate in the learning process and piques their curiosity about acquiring knowledge.

With the appropriate content authoring software, such as Dictera, at your disposal, you can make your eLearning content much more interesting and engaging as compared to a conventional instructor-led training session that can quickly get boring and monotonous for learners.

4. SCORM Compliance

To make eLearning content freely accessible to learners, it must be published or delivered in the appropriate venue.

E-courses are usually distributed or published via learning management systems. For managing and storing eLearning content as well as automating routine operations like assigning courses and grading assignments, an LMS that complies with SCORM is an excellent option for eLearning authoring software.

However, the data must be provided by specific, accepted standards that the system can manage for your LMS to be able to do this. These eLearning standards consist of SCORM 1.2, AICC, xAPI (Tin Can), and SCORM 2004.

5. Assessment Options

Teachers today need to be able to assess their students on a regular basis to better serve their needs and help them with subject improvement. Because of this, the eLearning authoring tool that you use needs to provide a range of assessment features, including multiple choice questions (MCQs), quizzes, and automatic feedback.

This facilitates your ability to ensure that you can assess your students suitably at various points in time and that they can gain from self-evaluation as well.

In light of this, the director of educational program development and the head of instructional design teams should ensure that the eLearning authoring tool they select meets not only these essential requirements but also the particular training objectives and technological requirements of their company.

You can provide your learners with effective, interesting, and high-quality eLearning experiences by selecting a platform that excels in these areas.

How to Choose the Right eLearning Authoring Tool?

When it comes to choosing the right eLearning authoring software for your business, your expectations from the tool, which can vary from organization to organization, largely determine your decision.

That said, here are some of the common factors you need to consider when picking an eLearning authoring tool.

1. Ease of Use

The eLearning authoring tool you pick should be easy and simple to use. This means that the tool should allow subject matter experts (SMEs) to produce content without much hassle or technical proficiency, reducing the time required for creating training content.

2. Theme Options

To make the training courses interesting, it is important to pick an eLearning authoring tool that comes with various built-in themes to help you get started quickly.

For instance, Dictera is a powerful eLearning authoring tool where you simply need to select a theme, add your branding elements to it, such as color and logo, paste your content, and your course will be ready.

3. Tool Compatibility

In case you’re already using a Learning Management System (LMS) for your business, make sure that the new authoring tool you choose is fully compatible to work with your LMS.

This will make it easier to sync the data that you create in one tool with the other. Similarly, ensuring that your authoring tool is SCORM-compliant makes it easier to integrate with your LMS.

4. Scalability

One of the key advantages of cloud-based eLearning authoring software is that it allows your workforce to flex and scale as per your current development needs.

For instance, if you wish to create eLearning content for a major project, a scalable authoring tool such as Dictera allows you to easily leverage the skills of team members or experts in multiple locations. Likewise, SMEs can access your authoring tool from almost anywhere in the world and utilize your branded templates to make successful contributions to the project.

5. Budget

eLearning authoring tools for businesses come in a range of price options. This makes it important to consider the budget or how much money you are willing to spend while choosing the tool. It is important to keep in mind here that while some eLearning authoring tools require a subscription, others charge a one-time fee.

6. Online Training Assessment Tools

It is best to choose an eLearning authoring tool that features online training assessment tools. These can range from scoring options and customizable quizzes to scenario and response answers. This will allow you to make learner evaluations easy, save time, and also help in identifying any areas they are struggling with.

7. Robust Device Support

With the corporate work environment becoming increasingly dynamic, where employees have the freedom to work from anywhere and at any time, corporate training initiatives have also become dynamic.

To adequately support your employees’ learning needs in such a scenario, the eLearning authoring tool you choose should be compatible with various devices, including mobile phones. This allows you to readily update content on your authoring tool, allowing the LMS to deliver it on the device employees are using instantly.

8. Analytics

Knowing and understanding who your learners are and how they can access and use your courses is an important aspect of understanding your business.

This information helps you ensure the effectiveness of your courses. Therefore, it is important to pick an eLearning authoring tool that can give you enough data to reveal a new potential market or indicate ways to better serve current customers.

Five Best eLearning Authoring Tools

Check out the list of authoring tools ruling the roost this year:

1. Hurix Digital

Whether making engaging assessments, adding multimedia-rich content, or integrating interactive simulations, Hurix Digital has all the tools to bring eLearning ideas to life for beginners and experienced users.

With its easy-to-use authoring tools and useful features, the platform helps create content quickly and efficiently without requiring extensive technical expertise.

Features:

  • Optimize working on projects with the team through the sharing and collaborative features.
  • SCORM and Tin Can API compliance lets you integrate the platform with learning management systems (LMSs).
  • Use interactive elements, including games, scenarios, and simulations, to improve the learning experience.

Pros:

  • Due to its adaptable pricing structure, Hurix is an affordable option for producing eLearning materials for individuals and businesses.
  • Hurix Digital is one of the most flexible eLearning creation tools because of its interactive features and multimedia integration.
  • Hurix Digital gives users a safe space to produce and save their eLearning materials, guaranteeing security and preventing unwanted access.

Cons:

  • Creating complex programming-driven eLearning content might become an issue, as this is primarily designed for non-technical users.

2. Articulate Storyline 360

Articulate Storyline 360 is an eLearning authoring tool used by instructional designers and educators to create engaging, interactive courses that can be deployed on various platforms, including mobile devices and Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Features:

  • A pre-built templates and characters library speeds up the eLearning course creation process.
  • The courses you design automatically adjust to fit any screen size in Articulate Storyline 360.

Pros:

  • Articulate has an active user community and forums to provide resources to guide and assist new users.
  • The tool helps monitor engagement and learner progress through detailed tracking and reporting features.
  • Additional resources and tools, like the Review 36,0 are available for feedback and collaboration.

Cons:

  • Advanced features like triggers and variables might take much time and effort to grasp.
  • Many users will need help finding a subscription-based model that is budget-friendly.

3. iSpring Suite

An eLearning authoring tool called iSpring Suite has several capabilities, such as surveys, quizzes, conversation simulations, and multimedia integration.

Its goal is to provide learners with engaging and inspiring eLearning content.

Features:

  • The user interface of this tool is intuitive and easy to use.
  • The courses designed can be accessed through different devices.

Pros:

  • It supports the design of responsive courses.
  • Its interactive features can help improve retention rates.
  • Tailor online courses to their specific needs with the personalization options.

Cons:

  • Designing features is limited, as reported by some users.
  • The iSpring Suite cost is higher than that of other eLearning authoring tools.

4. Adobe Captivate

Developed by Adobe, Captivate lets you create visually appealing courses that encourage active learning and retention of the material.

Features:

  • Quizzes, games, simulations, and other interactive elements.
  • It enables users to form complex branching scenarios with conditional logic, enabling learners to receive personalized feedback and follow their learning path.

Pros:

  • Increased levels of customization let you create truly unique courses.
  • It tracks learner progress in detail so educators can easily monitor course effectiveness.
  • High-quality multimedia integration with Adobe’s signature flair.

Cons:

  • It requires a powerful system with plenty of processing power, so beware if your setup is modest.
  • The premium price tag is not suitable for small businesses and solo creators.
  • Limited collaboration features compared to other eLearning authoring tools.

5. Elucidat

Elucidat is known for its responsive design and collaborative content creation. It stands out for its ability to support multiple authors working together on a project while ensuring top-quality content output.

Features:

  • Extensive customization options make this tool useful for those who want fully personalized courses.
  • Collaborative authoring lets teams work together seamlessly.
  • Detailed learner progress analytics allow educators and trainers to make data-driven decisions.

Pros:

  • Perfect for organizations looking to create team-friendly, mobile-ready courses that pack a punch.
  • Gamification features, quizzes, and videos add layers of interactivity.
  • Cost-effective for organizations seeking robust eLearning solutions.

Cons:

  • Elucidat can feel intimidating to new users due to its broad feature set.

A Brief Content Authoring Tools Comparison

Tool Key Features Pricing Target Audience
Hurix Digital Interactive assessments, SCORM-compliant Flexible, contact for pricing Educators, corporate trainers, content creators, organizations
Articulate Storyline 360 Pre-built templates, responsive design $1499/user for a Teams plan and $1199 for a Personal plan Instructional designers, educators
iSpring Suite Quizzes, multimedia integration, and responsive design $970 for one license Beginners, content creators
Adobe Captivate Detailed learner progress tracking, conditional logic $1,299/year Educators, instructional designers
Elucidat Collaborative authoring, extensive customization Contact for pricing Teams, organizations

To Summarize

Everyone, from instructors to instructional designers, can develop excellent eLearning courses with relative simplicity when using eLearning authoring tools.

Dictera by Hurix Digital is an excellent example of an AI-powered assessment and eLearning authoring tool with all the features mentioned above. With the help of this tool, corporations and educators can work together in real-time to develop excellent surveys, quizzes, questionnaires, assessments, and more.

If you are an educator, content creator, or corporate trainer looking to find the best way to automate the process of creating high-quality assessments, Dictera offers the best solution to fulfill all your needs.

Connect with us today to learn more about Dictera!