With the huge growth of tablet devices lately, it seems that eLearning authoring tools are going through another change. It’s nothing new —just another step in the continual evolution we all have seen since the early 1990s, when authoring tools were first introduced to help eLearning professionals create and deliver learning. Since the beginning of eLearning, there’s been a struggle to maintain a balance between ease-of-use and learner engagement, and authoring tools have had to evolve to maintain this balance, as well. In the early 1990s, the industry was largely dominated by PC or Mac based applications that required simple programming/scripting to “author” solutions like Hypercard, Authorware, Director and even some cases pure Flash. While powerful for their time, these tools were not easy to use, requiring complex programming skills except Flash.
Macromedia Authorware, was my clear favorite tool at the time, where I could create learning programs primarily via dragging and dropping icons, whereas Actionscript (for Flash) and Lingo (for Director) could not be described as “simple” to learn for those not able to program. Then after about five years (2004 I think), Captivate and Articulate came along and allowed people like me to create interactive simulations of software, using screen recording/scraping and limited interactions. Now it seems like the authoring tools like Captivate and Articulate are introducing mobile/tablet friendly building functions. I wonder what the future of authoring tools will bring, as who knows what technology will come our way.
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Published by theirishduck
I love the ability where I can plan, prioritise, design, develop and deliver blended learning solutions for a variety of markets. I love to consult and advise about the best use of digital learning and improve design standards in line with evolving ways of working. I also enjoy to keep up to date with, understand and regularly recommend emerging technologies and practice to improve individuals, teams and organisational capabilities.
With over 12 years digital learning experience and demonstrated experience in both instructional design and eLearning development, I have also a lot of experience conducting training needs analysis including how to leverage principles such as design thinking and root cause analysis to understand and address performance gaps. I also have led many facilitation workshops and even presented at iDesignX and Game Developers Conferences both here in Australia, Wales and in the United States.
I bring loads of coding experience in Java, ASM, C++, HTML, JavaScript, SCORM and xAPI, as well as proven capability using Adobe Captivate, Trivantis Lectora and Articulate Storyline 360 Studio authoring programs. Of course, Adobe Creative Cloud is also part of my toolbox which I also use daily. Being taught traditional and advanced 3D animation techniques, I love hand drawing and polymer clay sculpture, but can also use the Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage applications.
With strong multimedia, training and programming backgrounds, I understand modern learner behaviour including micro and social learning, I am very familiar with most LMSes and app-based (XCode and Android Studio), adult learning models and e-solutions.
I also possess the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, whilst being pro-active in delivering work independently with minimal supervision, but enjoy working in teams.
I've been told I am a resilient, relationship focused guy which can manage and navigate conflicting views and stakeholders/subject matter experts.
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