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Latest E-Learning News and Notes

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So that a more constant date is set each week for this blog, the topic “Latest Content Authoring Tools Trends” will be posted Tuesday morning, July 19th.  Then going forward, each Tuesday a new blog posting will appear.

This month’s news and notes includes details on the E-Learning 24/7  Course Authoring Tool Shootout,  new Content Authoring Tool Directory along with interesting data points, LMS Info and final tidbits.

E-Learning 24/7 and E-Learning TV presents: Rapid Course Authoring Tool Shootout

This shootout will have six RCATs compete to find out whose content authoring tool is really the best.

Reports, details and insight will be posted in this blog, and the E-Learning 24/7 Linkedin group. The action can be seen courtesy of E-Learning TV via the net and on YouTube.

The Shootout will go from 6 to 3 to 1 winner.  So, two challenges over the month of August.

How it will work

  • 1 Course built within a set time – 120 minutes
  • Each person who is working on the software, has no knowledge of the vendor’s software prior to
  • Each contestant will receive the following materials:  1 small vid clip 20 sec, two audio clips – 15 sec and 30 sec, a PowerPoint slide deck with 6 slides and info, two full pages of content that they can pull from
  • They will need to create the best course possible and a 10 question quiz
  • Three Judges: Two from E-Learning TV and myself will judge the results
  • The top three winners move on to compete in a following session that will increase in difficulty
  • As aforementioned, you will be able to see the competition via the net and on YouTube, as well as this blog and the E-Learning 24/7 Linkedin Group

The Competition

  • Articulate Presenter and Quizmaker
  • Adobe Captivate
  • Rapid Intake Unison
  • iSpring Presenter with their quiz tool
  • Lectora
  • One that Readers of this blog will choose

The software is the full versions and not limited in any such manner.

Why have people who have no knowledge of the software?

The premise of these tools is that anyone regardless of their tech skill set can create a course.

Since, the majority of training depts, learning and development depts do not have someone with a background in instructional design nor an e-learning developer in their midst to build the courses, a person who is either brand new to training or is a classroom trainer is asked to create WBT.

The competition thus follows this real life approach.

Who will be Selected?

Six people from the Los Angeles area.  E-Learning 24/7  and E-Learning TV will select the individuals. We both agree that they will have no knowledge of the software they will use to create their course.

Will where it take place?

Hollywood, CA

When does the 1st shootout be seen via the blog, net and YouTube?

August 23rd

The Championship will be seen on the net and YouTube on the E-Learning TV channel, Sept. 13th

How can we pick the last competitor?

Email me with the subject “shootout” and in the email write the name of the vendor.

The winning selection will be announced on the E-Learning 24/7 Linkedin group July 22nd.

New Content Authoring Tool Directory

  • 124 vendors, inc. 16 open source free tools
  • 1 of the 16 open source vendors that offers m-learning capabilities
  • 26/108 commercial vendors offer m-learning capabilities inc. output to mobile devices
  • 3 enable output to Sony PSP (mobile device)
  • Some vendors still output to Blackberry, which is struggling in the market, a couple output to old Windows Mobile OS, one outputs to Palm OS (which HP just nixed)
  • New directory has a column identifying the the RCAT tool has m-learning capability, inc. output to mobile devices
  • Directory includes quick details on each product and price if available

To view and download the latest directory: RCAT Directory

  LMS News

I will be presenting  “Replacing Your LMS: Facts you need to know NOW!”, a webinar sponsored by Certpoint

Who do I like for LMS Vendors?

People often ask me what LMS I like or prefer. The challenge is there are 395 vendors in the market, and some systems are good for specific niches or target audiences or target markets.

So, what may be great on in niche, may not be in another. Or, might be strong in SMB but may not be great if you want Extended Enterprise or mid to large.

That said, I went ahead and selected several vendors, that I like.

It is an initial list and by no means the final list. As part of the Ultimate LMS Buyers Guide, that

I will be debuting for sale in Dec., a breakout by those specific areas (briefly noted in the last paragraph) will be a section.

To see the list, please visit E-Learning 24/7 Linkedin Group 

There are notes on the vendor solutions along with some additional details on the selections and how they were decided.

E-Learning 24/7 Consulting Services

A brief description including pricing can be found on this blog, under the header “E-Learning 24/7 Consulting Services“.  For information on specific services, please select and click one of the options below.

E-Learning 24/7

Published by Craig Weiss

Craig Weiss is the CEO and lead analyst for The Craig Weiss Group, which provides analyst, advisory, M&A, and consulting services to buyers, PEs, investment firms, and vendors. His newest product is FindContent.io, which offers companies, schools, universities, and individuals who are seeking off-the-shelf content a discovery experience to find the right provider for their learning and training needs. Craig has been identified as one of the most influential people in the world for e-learning and the most influential person in the world for learning systems. Craig writes the Craig Weiss blog, which is read weekly in 174 countries, territories and colonial territories. Since he launched the blog in late 2009, his forecasts and projections on e-learning have been over 90% accurate. Craig’s experience in the corporate world as a training director/manager overseeing divisions and departments, including developing and implementing e-learning programs and finding and selecting learning systems, makes him uniquely qualified in the analyst and consulting industry. He has worked in multiple verticals, including healthcare, non-profit, association, retail and hospitality, aerospace/defense, financial services, and technology. Additionally, Craig has written for numerous publications and regularly speaks at conferences and events worldwide. He resides in Southern Arizona, with his dogs, Voodoo, Spirit and Cali.

2 comments

  1. Sounds like fun! I’m not sure if you’ll be able to make it fair though. Articulate and iSpring are plugins to PPT. Many of the “things” that you do in Articulate and iSpring are actually PPT features. Will your contestants know PPT?

    Also, it’s not easy to pickup Captivate cold and build content. Although I’m not even sure they’d try and say that they are as “rapid” as other tools.

    I wonder what your competition would be like with experts in each tool? Either way I look forward to seeing/hearing what happens.

  2. Pingback: Rapid Course Authoring Tool Shootout « in the world of eLearning

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