The 5 Best Elearning Authoring Platforms
With the vast number of elearning authoring platforms available to you on the market, how can you tell which is best for your team? Digital training is on the rise, so it’s vital you choose the software that will future-proof your learning.
Here’s our summary of the top 5 elearning authoring tools – whether you’re an experienced or newbie instructional designer, there is sure to be a tool on this list that fits your needs.
How can you determine which is best for you?
This totally depends on a range of factors that are happening internally with your organization or team. Here are a few factors to consider:
- Authoring ability
- How many authors you want to include
- How quickly you’d like to produce content
- The quality of learning you require
- The amount of content you need to produce and manage
- Your budget
- Plus a load more!
5 of the best elearning authoring platforms to consider
Elucidat elearning authoring platform
A fully cloud-based platform that makes it easy for large teams to produce training at scale. This means organizations can deliver more digital training, to more people and respond to change faster.
Highlights
➔ Produce Elearning Easily
Select pre-built, expert-designed blueprints based on your goals and just add content. Simple as that!
➔ Work Efficiently at Scale
Open up authoring to your organization – risk free! Advanced user permissions, plus total brand, asset and localization give you total control of users.
➔ Move Quickly for Faster Impact
Build, update, reuse and roll out your elearning in a fraction of the time using.
- Ready-made blueprints that will make your production 4x faster
- Wide range of interactions and features
- Advanced user management to
- Easy to use WYSIWYG interface
- Elearning portal to share courses with learners instantly
- Advanced brand management to meet guidelines
- A time investment needed to utilize the full capabilities of the tool
Adobe Captivate
Captivate is a desktop-based authoring tool, with some online authoring capabilities. It’s one of the best known, and most powerful tools – but comes with a steep learning curve, plus a few other challenges.
Highlights
➔ Powerpoint-styled interface
Captivate adopts a similar interface to PP, with color palettes and slide masters defining the look and feel.
➔ Screen Recording
Captivate’s built-in screen recording allows you to create good quality systems demos and build sandpit-style screens for users to practice in.
➔ Complex interactions
Mobile gestures and geo-location features are all possible and can contribute to a high-quality experience, but the options for personalized learning are limited.
- Ability to create highly complex interactions (if you’re experienced enough!)
- geo-locations capability avaliable
- Output adapts to mobile gestures
- Ideal for screen reocrdings or software simualtions
- Steep learning curve with limited dedicated support
- Traditional styles PP based interface can be limiting
- Difficult to update and maintain content
Articulate 360
Articulate 360 is a suite of various tools and programs for creating elearning courses. It’s flagship tool, Articulate Storyline, is a powerful, yet complex, desktop-based tool designed for building PowerPoint styles courses. Articulate Rise is a much more basic online authoring tool, used to create simple courses quickly.
Highlights
➔ Highly customizable for experienced authors
Storyline is a high customizable tool, with the ability to create complex interactions. Although, it’s steep learning curve restricts this to pros only!
➔ Simple, speedy
The Rise tool makes authoring content quick and easy – the content looks great and works great, but lacks customization!
➔ Similar to PowerPoint
With features similar to PowerPoint, new users should understand the interface. Themes and styles can be applied across courses.
- Good flexibility and control in terms of content output
- A commonly used tool, so designers tend to have experience
- Very active online community
- Reasonably powerful show me/try me/test me software simulation elearning capability
- Content can look very generic
- Limited customization and flexibility
- No translation management
- Lacking in accessibility options
- Storage limitations in place
Gomo Learning
Gomo is a cloud-based authoring platform used to create multi-device learning content. It has a built-in LMS that allows deliver of elearning either online or offline.
Highlights
➔ Quick start wizard
Pre-built templates and a quick-start wizards get you up and running quickly.
➔ Built in LMS
Gomo has a built in LMS that allows the creation and delivery of elearning content. This lacks the full spec of a traditional LMS, but gets the job done!
➔ App available
The downloadable app allows learners to access content either online or offline
- It’s a cloud-based authoring tool, offering greater flexibility than desktop tools
- You can produce responsive elearning output
- They have an offline mobile app and Gomo Central, which is a cloud-based learning portal
- Ability to provide multi-language courses
- Layout restrictions limit your creativity and give courses a templated look and feel
- The interface is not intuitive and is tricky to use without a WYSIWYG interface
- Customization options may not be enough for creative visuals
iSpring Suite
iSpring suite is a PowerPoint-based authoring tool, allowing authors to create advanced interactive learning content. The suite comes with a built in authoring tool and LMS, that’s designed for fast, yet simple, authoring and releasing.
Highlights
➔ PowerPoint plug-in
Use iSpring from directly inside PowerPoint to create additional interactions. This limits course potential, but is ideal for those using PP as their main tool.
➔ LMS add-on available
Launch learning to your learners, plus host meetings and webinars.
➔ Short learning curve
Users who are confident in PP will pick up the tool very easily. Authors can quickly and easily add basic content – but may feel limited if they wish to get more advanced.
- PowerPoint integration
- Low learning curve (if experienced in PP)
- Simple interface
- Video editing
- Great for Windows users
- Not available for Mac users (without other software)
- Can’t create slide-based courses without PowerPoint
- Not fully cloud-based
- Requires installation
- Basic output
Start producing high-quality elearning at scale with Elucidat
If you’re looking to produce awesome elearning designed to engage your learners, super fast and at scale, then elucidat could be a great fit for you. Book a personalized demo, and we’ll explore your biggest elearning challenges and how to solve them.
