Custom eLearning Services: Design & Development

What software is used for custom eLearning development?

The top eLearning authoring tools we use are:

• Articulate Storyline Allows us to deliver interactive courses to any device. Designed to deliver an ideal learner experience, the course will provide mobile-friendly playback controls optimized for every screen size and orientation. https://articulate.com/360

• Adobe Captivate A smart authoring tool that lets us create immersive learning experiences with VR and 360° media assets. https://www.adobe.com/products/captivate.html

• Trivantis Lectora A powerful authoring software that comes with real-time collaboration, automated versioning and backup, built-in workflow and project management, and integrated content management tools. https://www.trivantis.com/products/lectora-online-authoring/

• Elucidad Allows us to give your learning audience access to cloud-based personalized digital learning paths that they can access on any device. https://www.elucidat.com

• iSpring Another cloud-based authoring tool that allows for personalized learning on any device from virtually anywhere. https://www.ispringsolutions.com/

• Other authoring tools We select the authoring tools for the project based on various factors, such as the needs of the organization, desired learning outcomes, project complexity, timeline, etc. Talk to us if you are looking for eLearning authoring recommendations. To read more about our favorite eLearning authoring tools, see this eLearning Blog article: Top eLearning Authoring Software Products. We recently compared the two top tools, you can see the results of this test in this article: Features of Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate Compared Side-by-Side.

What multimedia editing tools will you use to develop the training?

It takes more than just one tool to build a truly beautiful eLearning course. Here are the top multimedia editing tools we use when developing eLearning:

• Adobe Photoshop The world’s best imaging and graphics design software that we use to create and enhance photographs, illustrations, and 3D artwork, design learning interfaces and interactions. https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

• Adobe Illustrator The industry-standard vector graphics software that allows us to create custom characters, players, icons, drawings, and illustrations for your learning course. https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html

• Adobe After Effects We use After Effects to create cinematic titles, intros, transitions, animate a logo or character, etc. Your course becomes fun and engaging with the help of motion graphics and visual effects. https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html

• Cluelabs eLearning Widgets Easy to use widgets hosted on the cloud and used with an Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate eLearning course to enhance the learning experience. https://cluelabs.com/elearning-widgets.html

• Adobe Audition A professional audio workstation that allows to create, mix, and design sound effects with the industry’s best digital audio editing software. https://www.adobe.com/products/audition.html

• Unity 3D A real-time 3D development platform, complete with modelling tools and services, that offers incredible possibilities for learning games and simulations development. https://unity.com/

• Amazon Sumerian Allows us to build highly immersive and interactive scenes that run on desktops, VR/AR hardware such as Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, Google Daydream, and Lenovo Mirage as well as Android and iOS mobile devices. https://aws.amazon.com/sumerian/

• Other multimedia editing tools Other tools are used as needed. Good eLearning design is a complex task. As we evaluate the project requirements, we come up with the right combination of tools we will use to create a beautiful learning course for your organization.

What are the typical stages of the custom eLearning development process?

Here are the most common stages of the eLearning development process:

• Planning and analysis At this stage, the stakeholders determine the format of the course, learning objectives, project goals, scope, etc.

• Content gathering The project team collects, sorts, synthesizes, and organizes the course content. Content will likely come from several sources, including internal documents, online research, and subject matter experts (SMEs).

• Template development Templates typically consist of blank placeholders that mark the important elements of your course, such as the course welcome, objectives, and assessments. The design team may also develop several layouts for your templates.

• Storyboarding Storyboarding is the point where your design team decides what goes where and in what order it should go, using the content they’ve collected and the templates they’ve developed.

• Multimedia assets production The designers work on producing various assets that will be used in the course, such as voice over recordings, videos, animations, illustrations, etc.

• Course development The eLearning developers build the course using one or multiple custom eLearning development software tools and/or programming interfaces.

• Testing The learning product is thoroughly tested by the internal testing team to ensure that there are no bugs, errors, omissions, and oversights before the course is delivered to the learners.

• Edits and revisions The project team collects feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders and passes this feedback to course developers in order to make edits and incorporate any changes into the course before it is finalized.

• Implementation After the learning is rolled out, the learning outcomes are recorded and monitored to determine whether the course meets the learning objectives. This stage concludes the eLearning development process.

If you are interested in learning more about the stages of eLearning development, you can read this eLearning Blog article: Custom eLearning Development Stages.

Where can I learn more about custom eLearning development process?

Here’s a great video from Youtube that provides an in-depth explanation of all stages of the eLearning design and development process.

Can I see examples of custom eLearning you developed?

Absolutely! Let us know what kind of learning product you are looking for, and we’ll show you project with similar scopes that we’ve worked on in the past.

Can you provide a custom eLearning course development checklist?

Here’s a checklist you can use for your custom eLearning development project.

• ✔ Determine project sponsors and stakeholders

• ✔ Define desired learning outcomes

• ✔ Select a contact person for the development team

• ✔ Find subject matter experts if needed

• ✔ Assemble the project team

• ✔ Collect, sort, synthesize, and organize content

• ✔ Design course theme

• ✔ Develop course template

• ✔ Storyboard the content

• ✔ Produce multimedia assets

• ✔ Develop the course

• ✔ Test and troubleshoot the course

• ✔ Collect feedback and requests for edits

• ✔ Make edits

• ✔ Perform the final round of testing

• ✔ Roll out the course to the learning audience

• ✔ Analyze outcomes

How much does custom eLearning cost?

If you are looking to find out how much your eLearning project would cost, we will gladly discuss your goals with you and will provide a competitive price quote. Simply submit an eLearning development cost price quote request and we'll get right back to you.

Do you offer custom eLearning templates?

Yes we do! Each project is different, so we design the templates to not only match your organization’s style guide, but also to provide the best way to transfer knowledge to your learners. Reach out to us, and we’ll have our best designers start working on your custom eLearning template right away.