The Rise and Fall of the eLearning Authoring Tool

If you are reading this, you probably are already aware of the fact that most “modern” eLearning was created using one of many excellent authoring tools. If you have used one of them, you were either paid to do so, or it was/is part of your everyday job. I’m also willing to bet that you’ve seen a big change in the projects coming your way.

Suddenly, eLearning development projects come with unwanted baggage like “cut costs” and “outsourcing” and the like. How could this be? By its very nature, eLearning saves immense amounts of money for organizations by reducing time away from work for learners, less travel (you know all of these) so why are they picking on us?

The answer is simple… budget cuts, budget cuts, budget cuts. Whether we like it or not, eLearning development costs money, and pretty much anything that costs money in this economy is under close scrutiny. So how can we continue to realize the benefits of eLearning, while addressing the undeniable cost reduction requirements of the companies that benefit from it?

Well, at the risk of sounding like I’m trying to jump on the global warming bandwagon, the answer is something I like to call “Green eLearning.” (I actually made that up, then Googled it, and I see I’m not the first to think of it… sigh.)

In any case, Green eLearning can be described using phrases we are all familiar with like “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” or adaptations like “eLearning Footprint.”

It’s pretty simple if you think about it for a minute. ELearning created using tried and true authoring tools can really get big and heavy. These tools have so much power, all of it begging to be used, and boy have we ever. Much of the content we have produced over the years is so elegant, that we even give ourselves awards at conferences for it.

Start by lightening the load. We can pour over the body of research we’ve created that talks about how complex interactions, scenarios, adaptive branching, etc. improves the learning experience for the learner. OK, that’s fine. But if we continue to spend our budgets on the fancy stuff, there is little room for speed to market, and not enough budget to address all of the eLearning projects we could be taking on. Net result = a few people learning something really, really well, and alot of other people learning absolutely nothing because we did not have the time or the budget to get to “that project.”

Reduce the size and complexity of what you create. The more complex you make it, the longer it takes to produce, while your learners plod through their daily tasks uninformed.

Reuse interactions and scenarios you’ve already built. You don’t have to re-brand it, just explain that “this example from a similar situation” will help them to understand the concept.

Recycle the content your subject matter experts have already created! They do know what they are doing when it comes to their jobs, and they’ve captured it in movies, PowerPoints, emails, you name it. It may not be polished, but it can be used effectively in a mashup for example.

Yes, I know, many of you believe that the formal eLearning authoring tool will never die. But if I had told you even a few years ago that Authorware would soon be retired, would you have thought I was out of my mind? Well, guess what, its days are numbered.