What are clients looking for in an elearning Content Authoring System?

23 Aug 2007

According to the Brandon Hall research it appears the top five business and technical requirements from clients (mostly US) when looking for elearning content authoring tools are:

  1. Novice friendly, yet still has underlying extensibility for complex interaction types.

  2. No plug-in required (with the exception of Flash output).

  3. Adherence to SCORM specification and AICC standards (the real need is full interoperability with many LMS solutions).

  4. Short learning curve for new content developers.

  5. Extensive library of very interactive question types (beyond multiple choice and true/false).

and the next five are listed as...

  1. Robust testing engine (with features such as randomization, drawing from a test item pool, etc.).

  2. Rich media support.

  3. Ability to repurpose content quickly from other sources, such as PowerPoint, Word, and specialty authoring tools (i.e., simulation tools).

  4. Minimal time spent creating navigational control structures (i.e., navigation buttons, menus, etc.).

  5. Low cost (for stand-alone authoring tools)..

I wonder if this order of value applies to the Australian clients of our CloudNine Content Authoring System. You might like to let us know…