What are Authoring Tools and why are they vital in 2019?

Progressing from Pen and paper to typewriters to Microsoft Word has been a comfortable transition for writers of every age and time. Now in 2019, we have Authoring tools before us.

For years, people have worked with simplistic solutions to create high-quality content. But as the world is progressing in terms of technology, there are emerging much more sophisticated and intuitive solutions that can help content developers to create with much higher efficiency.

Now, Authoring tools can be used to create any kind of multimedia content to post online but their most major application is the creation of advanced eLearning and training courses.

You can add videos, audios, animations, images, and texts to make interactive learning courses, much like creating powerpoint presentations. However, these authoring tools come with the provision of assessing and tracking employee data as the training progresses.

Now that we have an idea about an Authoring tool is, let us take a look at the advantages they pose for your business.

1:- Efficient eLearning course development

Going by the traditional means, any kind of course development takes (a lot of) time. And thus, the biggest advantage authoring tools offer you speed.

Many tools come with in-built templates, themes, images and other elements which can be used to create interactive eLearning courses. Some of the tools also automate the evaluation of tests many other tasks as well. And because the developers are not required to create these elements from scratch, it speeds up the entire process of eLearning course creation substantially.

2:- Better collaborations

In many primitive internet-based collaborative writing tools, problems like overwriting and duplication have been plaguing. However, in the new-age authoring tools, the collaboration of writers has become much more intuitive and easy.

These tools enable writers to work in a more efficient way single-handedly, as well as, with remote co-authors. By making the communication easier and real-time, making comments and suggestions for the written content has become much more intuitive today.

In fact, many tools also come with the provision of controlling user access and rights. So when the author is in control of who can edit, suggest changes or just read the content, quality control, and content creation become much smoother.

3:- Easy updates

In the era of internet, general users have become used to catching the latest of everything – news, trends, technology. In the area of education as well, they require the latest technology with the latest information, which is crucial for better development.

While traditional online and offline courses can become too complicated to update frequently, eLearning authoring tools make content updation a breeze.

So if any of the previously taught facts or lessons become redundant or if there is a new discovery which needs to be in the course urgently, it can be done without much hassle.

And not just content, if a new template or design is required in the course, the existing one can be changed easily, as well.

4:- Recycling content

Unlike traditional methods of teaching, paid eLearning authoring tools and the free ones sometimes, allow easy recycling of learning content.

When you are producing content in bulk or as an eLearning course business, then it becomes vital and rather, logical to use old and new content as per context in different ways. Creating a course digitally gives you the leverage to easily accomplish that.

They save much of your time by giving you the freedom to customize.

Lastly,

Publishing content for multiple platforms, maximizing your resources with customization capabilities, considerably reducing the costs of outsourcing training courses, and, of course, creating highly engaging courses are some of the added perks of Authoring tools.

Be it license-based or Subscription-based eLearning model, new-age tools are redefining courses and content.