The E-learning industry is growing at an unprecedented rate. With most organizations opting for remote training for their employees, the need for developing good learning content is increasing too.

An essential aspect for developing engaging e-learning courses is choosing the proper authoring tools. With many options available in the market, it becomes confusing to choose the right one, and most learning course developers do so after trial and error.

Many comparisons and research are needed to pick the most appropriate authoring tool. However, it should not be such an arduous task, and for that reason, we will be highlighting the most important considerations to review before choosing it. So, let’s begin.

The needs of the learners

This should be the first and foremost thing you should consider before picking an authoring tool. For instance, find out if your learners need those interactive simulations or animations in the place of a simple sideshow.

Being aware of the skills, technologies, barriers, and type of learning content helps a lot in understanding the requirements of the authoring tools. So, you need to be well aware of your learners and their learning needs before finalizing anything.

Course development time

Another significant factor to consider is your time to develop the course content. If there is an immediate need for courses, specific rapid authoring tools can considerably cut your development time.

These tools are the ideal choice for developing a course within tight deadlines. These come in handy for repurposing the existing content and creating new courses quickly, courtesy of their pre-built functionalities.

The ready-made templates aid in a quick media integration in the e-learning courses. So, consider the time taken by different authoring tools for the course development, and then decide.

Learner Skills

Before picking an authoring tool, consider whether the learners have the necessary skill sets and knowledge to work with a complex training tool. Check if they are more comfortable with a simple, easy-to-use tool.

Choosing an authoring tool that challenges their skills will help them push their limits and create a solid course that will be a learning curve. However, selecting tools like iSpring that are easily accessible and simple for designing a course within a tight deadline is recommended.

Budget

Decide your budget before you choose an authoring tool. Determine how much you will be spending on the course. If you have a limited budget, prefer choosing rapid authoring tools, and if you can spend enough money, pick one that offers a wide range of features and functions.

This choice depends greatly on what you want to achieve with the tool. If you intend to include interactive quizzes and games, choosing expensive tools with many features can help create interactive and customized courses.

So, review demos to determine the overall cost of operating an e-learning authoring tool, and then choose it.

Delivery

Your authoring tool should support that responsive design if you want to make your courses accessible for all devices. This will ensure that all the courses run smoothly and hassle-free on all devices and browsers. Also, consider if the tool supports features like mobile publishing.

Scalability

The tool you choose should be equipped to cater to the demands of adding new features while upgrading the course or adding something to it. The tool should have enough versatility to accommodate the complex e-learning courses you could be designing in the future.

Conclusion

So, keep these considerations in mind while choosing a content authoring tool for your e-learning course. If you find it challenging to choose, take a look at various demos of the tools or courses developed using that tool. This will make it easier for you to choose the best-suited authoring tool for your audience. This article will help you choose the right content authoring tool.