Instructional design is a growing industry because many institutions and corporations are realizing that designing, developing, and delivering online curricula for their employees is extremely beneficial. As a result, employers are researching instructional design tools that would best fit their work environments. Research has shown that no matter what the industry, students and employees learn best when they are engaged and can interact with the content. Therefore, many businesses are seeking e-learning tools that can help their lessons be more interactive and help bring the training to life. The content usually contains animations, quizzes, walkthroughs, games, annotated videos, etc. This blog will give a brief overview of some instructional design software that can be used to create eLearning Content.

Video Creation Software

Video lessons are thought to be engaging and more capable of bringing life to a situation that leaves learners with visual images and animation. Technology has come a long way and video creation software now allow users to annotate, do voice overs, mix an array of media, and many other things.

Panopto

Panopto is a video platform for business and universities. This tool can be used for video management, recording, and live streaming. Many presenters and instructors also use this tool to record, edit, and share their own recordings, along with a screen recorder for windows. Another good aspect of this tool is that one can also upload PowerPoint decks directly into the platform and edit video and audio to accompany the slides.

CloudApp

CloudApp is a screen recorder that is very simple to use. With this tool one can record video, webcam, GIFs, capture your screen and share it within seconds to the cloud. This tool integrates with apps like Slack and Trello so that people can quickly share content specific to any question.

Movavi Video Editor

Movavi Video Editor is great for making videos. It offers a variety of audio editing options like audio frequency adjustments, noise removal, special editing effects, and so much more. Many instructional designers use this software to create videos with images, text, and audio. An individual can easily import images or videos, add filters, transitions, and audio. 

Screen Capture Software

Screen Capture Software help when doing documentation or answering the “how to” and “how can I.” This type of software helps the designer to capitalize or emphasize on a certain element of a screenshot. In addition, this type of software allows designers to record movement as videos and GIFs to show how exactly the application works.

Snagit

Snagit is used for creating quick, spontaneous videos to setup instructions as eLearning lessons. With this, capture any part of the screen, record actions, annotate the captured elements, and make real-life screens part of the eLearning courses.

Screenflow

Screenflow can be used on Mac products. It is also a screen recording and editing software. One thing I like about this software is that it captures your screen and your audio. Also, Screenflow can exports the videos directly to YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, and many other platforms. Screenflow also allows users to turn whatever they have captured into animated GIFs.

ShareX

ShareX is a free/open source tool that for screen capture, file sharing, and productivity that can also help in creating quick videos. This is useful when you need to create how-to video elements for your eLearning courses.

Course Authoring Software

Course Authoring Tools allow instructional designers to put together different types of media to create engaging and interactive course content. Using authoring tool can be used to develop new courses or bring enhancement to courses that may need to be revised. In a nutshell: this type of software allows designers to create courses that are engaging, interactive, and filled with rich content.

Articulate Storyline

Articulate Storyline is a tool used to create online instruction modules using built-in templates, characters, a library of themes, and other graphics. This can be used by anyone from skilled course designers to regular subject matter experts to create slideshows, screencasts, software simulations, interactive timelines, and more. Storyline’s interface is almost similar to Microsoft PowerPoint but has a lot more to offer in terms of branching, interactivity, triggers, transitions, screen and video capture, and more.

Whatfix

Whatfix is primarily used in corporations. It is a performance support platform that helps trainers create interactive training content in the form of real-time in-app guidance. This in-app guidance engages the employees step-by-step and prompts them to perform specific tasks on the platform. Whatfix interactive walkthroughs are easy to create. For instance, creating a 10-step walkthrough would typically take about 10 minutes. The Self-Help widget provides relevant in-app guidance to the employees. The interactive walkthroughs created are auto-converted into multiple formats which can be downloaded and shared with the employees.

Adobe Captivate

Adobe Captivate is an instructional design software that helps you create responsive eLearning content and transform non-mobile courses to mobile learning content. Usually users experience some sort of difficulty when trying to view or complete assignments in their online course when using their mobile devices. In many instances online courses aren’t designed to be fully responsive and mobile friendly. Captivate solves that problem and can be used to create courses, tests over LMSs, presentations, etc. There are a huge number of design options available on Adobe Captivate that can cater to non-tech savvy users to advanced instructional designers.

Interactive Learning Software

Gamification in eLearning is slowly becoming the new trend in corporate training. When the attention span of learners is quite low and they’re involved in doing numerous things in their day, gamifying the learning process will hold their attention for longer and increase knowledge retention. These two gamification tools can help trainers make the learning more engaging.

Kahoot

 

Kahoot is a game-based learning and trivia platform. This is a good tool because you can create quizzes on any subject in any language and run highly interactive training sessions, be it offline or online. Many universities and businesses use Kahoot because it’s fun, exciting, and facilitates a new way to engage.

 QuizGame

This is a tool to gamify corporate training. The main focus of such gamification is to accelerate retention of training knowledge. Everyone learns better in bite-sized formats and quizzes are as bite-sized as bite-size can get.

In conclusion, many employers are seeking the best instructional design tools to ensure they are creating quality courses that are engaging for their learners. The key to success is to ensure the courses contain course authoring software, video creation tools, interactive programs, and screen capture software.