eLearning Authoring Software

An LMS authoring tool or eLearning authoring software is a piece of software training administrators and instructional designers use to build eLearning content, such as courses, tests, and lessons. Content authoring tools let you create content either from scratch or by uploading your existing content to a purpose-built template. For this, you can utilize different media types, including text, images, audio files, PDFs, presentations, and videos.

Creating an eLearning course for the first time is easy. You need to follow some logical steps. Gather the right content for your target audience, be clear about your eLearning objectives, choose the right eLearning creation software to design, share, and manage your content, test-run the course with a small group of end-users, and collect feedback. If the result is positive, you’ve successfully created your course.

It depends on what you’re looking for in such a solution. That said, a tool that is easy to use and versatile is considered suitable for most use cases. Along with this, the tool should provide ready resources so that you don’t need to create content from the ground up. Add to this excellent customer support to help address any queries or problems you might have.

The cost can vary depending on your needs. There are free authoring tools available that allow you to create basic courses. These might be a good option for individual learners or small projects. Similarly, many eLearning platforms offer subscription plans with different features and user capacities. They can range from $1 per user per month to $200 to $500+ per user per month. If you need a highly customized platform with advanced features, you'll need to pay for custom development. This can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars.

Several free eLearning authoring tools are available. Look for tools like H5P and iSpring Free that offer basic functionalities for creating presentations, quizzes, and interactive elements. Consider open-source platforms like Moodle that provide more flexibility for customization but might require some technical knowledge. Some paid authoring tools like ProProfs Training Maker also offer free plans with a limit on the number of users. These can be a good way to test the software before committing to a paid subscription. Remember to carefully consider your needs when choosing an authoring tool.