Must-have features of instructional design software


There are many types of instructional design software available. You can choose from cloud-based LMS, desktop software, and mobile tools. With instructional design software, the teaching process can be created in a way that is cost-effective, user-friendly, and productive. Before selecting any instructional design tools, it is essential to understand and analyze the process of instructional design.

 

What is instructional design?

By definition, it is the planning, design, and implementation of a training program for a specific group, employee training or general learning. It is possible to design instructional content using a variety of frameworks. Generally, online and offline training both require instructional design. Instructional design software is widely used for online training. Hence, the focus of this article will be on online instructional design software.

 

Content creation and storyboarding

Text documents and storyboards can be imported into instructional design software, which is a key feature. With various LMSs, it is possible to import documents into the storyboard interface. By doing so, the software automatically creates an interactive eLearning course from your document. LMS will also make it easy to add other multimedia to your course. Thus, it helps you in making your course interactive and engaging.

 

Creating interactivity

Adding interactivity and animations to your online course will make it more engaging and effective. To start with, interactivity enhances the learners’ curiosity and engages them in the content. By incorporating interactive elements, you can take feedback from learners, which can help determine seat time and for making improvements.

Various LMS allows you to create interactive elements like toggles, drop-downs, and alerts. Furthermore, these interactive elements can be created without any coding expertise. By simply creating a storyboard, LMS will generate these elements automatically.

LMS also allows you to create complex actions such as branching scenarios and interactive quizzes. The combination of a wide range of interactive features, and automated features makes any LMS a very effective instructional design tool.

 

Analyses and reports

Every instructional design strategy relies on assessments. For successful course evaluation and assessment, you should integrate quizzes, tasks, and assignments throughout the course. However, make sure that the tool you select for instructional design provides assessment tools that are simple to use and easy to interpret. There are assessment tools built into any LMS, like quizzes, MCQs, and assessments based on images/videos. In some LMSs, the assessment exercises can be automated by importing other documents. Further, by using an LMS, you can easily create your own assessment exercises.

 

Integrating multimedia

Nowadays, video-based learning has become one of the most popular eLearning trends. Your courses become richer and more engaging with videos, images, and various animations. Therefore, multimedia capabilities have become a necessity for instructional design software. Seamless integration between LMS and other apps or devices is provided. You can easily add video editor  and audio to your courses. Furthermore, audio can easily be synchronized with animations and you can easily add voice-over to your text.

 

Responsive courses

The LMS offers a variety of device-friendly courses. This means that it produces a responsive course that is compatible with any device. In this way, if you use an LMS for creating courses, you don’t have to put any extra effort into ensuring that your courses work on all devices. The built-in mechanisms of some LMSs automatically create responsive HTML5 output for their courses. The only thing you need to do is check for LMS that enables you all this.

 

SCORM

You should be able to integrate your eLearning courses with any learning management system with SCORM. Courses can be published as HTML files, downloadable files for viewing on PC, and also other files. As a result, SCORM provides you with the confidence that your course will work on any device. The courses you create will work well on all devices if they are compliant with SCROM learning management systems.

 

Updates

If you have a course, how often will you update it? The ability to easily update your course is one of the key factors to consider when selecting instructional design software. This may not be the best solution if updating instructions takes as much time as creating courses. When you are using a cloud-based LMS, you don’t have to worry about updates. The LMS providers will make sure of the updates.

 

Conclusion

You might need a different set of training tools than someone else. Once you find the perfect eLearning technology set for your business, you’ll be able to create engaging courses more quickly than ever. Some of the best instructional design software you can consider are Adobe Captivate, Litmos, Accord Software, and others. Make sure you check all the necessary details you need for your learning module and then make your decision.

 


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a seasoned professional with a strong background in growth strategies and editorial responsibilities. Kokou has been instrumental in driving companies' expansion and fortifying their market presence. His academic credentials underscore his expertise; having studied Communication at the Università degli Studi di Siena (Italy), he later honed his skills in growth hacking at the Growth Tribe Academy (Amsterdam).

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