8 Myths About Authoring Tools You Need to Stop Believing

An essential part of the learning process for authoring tools is educating yourself on why you want to use them first and their benefits. Unfortunately, several myths surrounding these tools tend to keep people from making a change. Here, we’ll look at some of the most common myths about authoring tools and why they aren’t true so that you can make an informed decision.

An authoring tool makes it simple and quick to design digital courses for those with little to no development experience. Without an authoring tool, creating courses requires coding expertise or an in-house programmer. In the absence of either, you are virtually helpless. Let’s start by dispelling the most prevalent myths about the usage of authoring tools that are used to create interactive videos, multi-module branching courses, responsive courses, and software simulations.

People frequently believe that purchasing off-the-shelf courses for training programs is faster than creating one. Ready-made courses may not assist you in achieving company-specific results, and developing eLearning courses should be quick. Authoring tools have grown in popularity because they save time and money when developing eLearning courses. With the help of cloud-based authoring tools, several content developers can work on a course simultaneously from different locations. Its built-in file storage mobilizes content for quick access by all its users. Using simple templates and themes can help accelerate the creation of eLearning courses.

This conclusion may be accurate if a course is either ineffective or not designed to address the requirements of the learners. However, even if the course created by your authoring tool is excellent, some learners still need to finish it because they accomplish their learning goals early on. Furthermore, good authoring tools are not enough to create a productive and successful online training program. It results from your team’s collaborative efforts, helped by authoring tool technology. Low completion rates may also signify subpar content or the application of inefficient tactics.

Making learning enjoyable is essential for engaging your employees during training programs. A course can be entertainingly varied by using various eLearning components, including graphics, videos, audio, interactive design content, and more. However, use caution when making learning enjoyable. Refrain from overburdening these features and providing a course with low knowledge value. Use cutting-edge yet goal-oriented learning techniques to impart to your trainees pertinent content if you want the desired results. Using online authoring tools like Easygenerator, you can easily present complex and high-quality content, create courses with a dash of humor and innovation and host them on the cloud. However, you must strike a balance between the level of innovative technology used and the humor to get the best results.

People frequently complain about the cost of owning authoring tools. But, authoring tools reduce the overall cost of creating an eLearning module and boost ROI, dispelling the myth that they are expensive. Authoring tools are a one-time investment with multiple benefits. The finished product has a broad geographic reach and doesn’t require any overhead expenditures or additional trainers to satisfy the workforce’s training needs. Consider the savings in developing an appropriate training environment with hardcover training manuals. Streamlining the development process and obviating the need for programming and development experts also saves the company money.

Many of you may think that dumping content while you are making a PowerPoint presentation is nothing but instructional design. Based on this ideology, try to think about why companies shall require instructional designers to create eLearning courses.

You have to understand that building any e-learning course is a complex process that is dependent on a specialized instructional design strategy. Where PowerPoint add-ins help in simple e-learning courses, more advanced tools; authoring tools are required to construct complex e-learning courses and implement sophisticated instructional designs. With the help of authoring tools, you can curate the content based on the learning goals of your trainees.

You may have often heard that eLearning is not as effective as in-person training. But, this conception is false. Any e-learning module lacks a physical trainer who can monitor the engagement of employees. Therefore, every e-learning course should adopt different ways through which a two-way interaction can be maintained. Different training methods in e-learning courses, such as situation-based training, gamification, simulation, and much more, will make trainees feel as if they are attending a physical classroom. Using an authoring tool helps incorporate all these different instructional design strategies with the help of easy-to-use templates.

Technology is only useful if it’s driven and operated well. Instructional designers must support their employees’ learning needs when creating the course to meet the training objectives. Authoring tools follow their instructions to implement their vision, and they design the course to have an impact.

Creating attractive courses which can engage the audience is important during the learning process. Trainees may probably lose attention amidst the course, and that can bring low engagement and low performance ahead. Most people think that an increased number of clicks indicate high engagement. But that’s not true at all. The number of clicks doesn’t decide how much good or poor interaction is with the customers. Some also click randomly and without observing the useful content, they may leave your online course. Would you still think that clicks maintain your trainees’ engagement?

The quality of content only decides how any learner will interact with your course. To acquire a high engagement rate, incorporate interactive components such as animations, fascinating visuals, media, audio, and much more. Instead of the total clicks, you will require authoring tools through which you can include the above-mentioned features when you are designing e-learning courses. 

Conclusion

With the emerging authoring tools, the e-learning industry has changed immensely. Since knowledge of complex coding is not required at all, anybody can easily create an e-learning course. Through this article, I have explained all the popular myths or misconceptions that make you frightened to use these authoring tools. I hope every explanation in this article about the major myths solves your doubts.

The fact is that authoring tools make any kind of e-learning easier. Through the right awareness and support, trainees can easily learn through the different online modules. On the other hand, the instructor also finds an easy way to design his/her e-learning course and incorporate highly enriched content with attractive animations, media, and much more. The tool has no boundaries, and there are infinite opportunities to explore more. Now you have removed your myths about e-learning authoring tools, are you ready to select an authoring tool for you?

Everyone can now create their eLearning courses thanks to the introduction of authoring tools, which has significantly changed the eLearning industry. Authoring tools can make your transition to eLearning easier with awareness, learning, and support. The myths and misconceptions surrounding authoring tools can make them intimidating to use. Consider the authoring tool’s role in your L&D department carefully.

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