Higher education’s e-learning efforts succeed when college courses are designed to meet multiple objectives. These courses should comply with state and federal educational standards while providing meaningful content to students via the Internet. They should teach critical thinking and vital career skills on a platform that is easy to use and manage.
Higher education aims to build student skills and understanding step by step and course by course. A well-crafted e-curriculum takes monumental effort and endless hours to complete without the help of specialized tools. Fortunately, course authoring software such as SoftChalk can simplify the process and save time and money in the instructional process. Your educational institution’s e-learning efforts should substantially improve if you choose a quality software program that is flexible enough to meet your needs.
Choosing Course Authoring Software
Proven, sophisticated course authoring software will significantly improve your current online courses for students and instructors. When evaluating different programs, look for the following features:
Easy Content Creation
Implementing course authoring software can be frustrating if you choose programs that place too many demands on your instructional designers and faculty members. You want a program that requires no coding so that people of any technical skill level can create engaging and interactive content that appeals to students. Your staff members can easily transform their knowledge and creativity into courses that advance student learning and prepare them for the next step in their education.
Meet Accessibility Needs
Online courses must meet online accessibility standards for all users. Your software choice needs to be compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level and Level AA. The goal is to make your online courses accessible to everyone who wants to learn from your educational offerings. Software such as SoftChalk helps your designers implement these features into their course content. It also helps faculty members adhere to best practices in all aspects of course design. Your goal is to give everyone a chance to benefit from your curriculum.
Easy Integration
If you use a Learning Management System (LMS), you need a content creation program that will seamlessly integrate with it. If you do not have an LMS, you can choose software that allows for stand-alone course design. SoftChalk can provide both types of content creation platforms.
Cost and Time Savings
Advanced and cost-effective software allows your higher education institution to produce quality content that is easily shareable, which eliminates exorbitant textbook costs for students. Four-year in-state students now pay around $1200 each year for textbooks used in the traditional classroom setting, causing some to take on extra employment to pay for their course materials. A high-quality software platform allows all involved parties, including learners, faculty members, and instructional designers, to access an open education resource area that offers free and varied educational materials.
Effortless Administration
Creating course content is only the beginning of the e-learning experience. If you use a learning management system, you need one that makes it easy to manage multiple courses and many students. The program should allow administrators to easily add and delete users, provide quick user authentication, facilitate course revision and addition, and provide helpful analytics.
Premium Support
Learners and instructors cannot afford for their e-learning courses to experience lengthy downtimes or contain frustrating glitches. When choosing your software, look for one that has a comprehensive support program that offers fast and effective service through online communication such as email or chat. Today’s learners do not adhere only to daytime schedules. They may work on their course in the middle of the night or during their early morning work breaks. You need to choose software that comes with a high level of easily-accessible support to meet learner requirements.
Comprehensive Training
Your faculty members may have experience with online course creation but still worry about learning a new system. That’s why your software choice should provide convenient, in-depth training. Companies such as SoftChalk offer a variety of training options, including one-hour webinars that introduce the software and its features. For those who want more comprehensive training, they offer remote hands-on workshops as well as on-site workshops. If you want a customized training experience, SoftChalk will design one for your institution.
Final Thoughts
Implementing course authoring software does not need to be difficult. You should choose a product like SoftChalk that simplifies the process for learners, faculty members, and course designers while being cost-effective and easy to maintain. This advanced software lets all involved parties focus on the content instead of the process. Real learning takes place when students have access to engaging content that meets current best educational practices and accessibility standards. Without the help of a software content authoring program, reaching those standards is difficult, costly, and time-consuming.
For more information on the benefits of SoftChalk for your higher-education institution, call 1-877-638-2425 or email learnmore@softchalk.com. You can also request your free trial by filling out our brief online form.
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