What is an authoring tool?
Discover an authoring tool is, examples of their usage and how they relate to L&D.
- An authoring tool is a software application that helps users create specific types of content.
- Authoring tools are important because they reduce the amount of time and resources needed to create and publish content, especially if the content has to meet specific technical or standardised requirements.
- In the e-learning industry, authoring tools are particularly important as they can be used to create easily shared and accessible learning content and materials that fit various industry technical requirements such as SCORM and Cmi5.
- Human error and resource bottlenecks can sometimes mean that content is produced in a non-optimal fashion for sharing. User-friendly authoring tools make it easier to create content that can easily integrate with other content and software. This makes authoring tools a crucial part of the universal and accessible web.
- Authoring tools also widen participation for creating e-learning content as they lower the barrier of entry. You don’t have to be a skilled learning designer or master programmer to create content when you have an easy to use authoring tool that can do the legwork for you and produce great looking and compliant content.
- A potential drawback of authoring tools is that without proper maintenance and upkeep, they can become outdated and produce accessibility issues across your content library. Proper upkeep must be performed regularly by an expert to ensure that these authoring tools don’t become “stuck in time”.
