Higher ed e-learning succeeds when courses meet multiple goals at once: standards alignment, meaningful online instruction, and skill-building that supports academic and career outcomes. Just as important, courses have to live on platforms faculty can use confidently, and students can navigate easily, without creating a heavy support burden behind the scenes.
As online learning becomes routine, institutions are expected to produce consistent, high-quality digital coursework across departments and modalities. That makes the authoring platform a strategic decision, not a simple add-on.
SoftChalk helps reduce the lift. It enables educators and instructional teams to build interactive, media-rich lessons in a no-code environment, then manage and deliver that content through the higher-ed systems they already use.
Faculty-Friendly Creation with Built-In Interactivity
Implementing course authoring software can be frustrating if you choose programs that demand advanced technical skills or heavy training. The best tools let faculty focus on teaching, not troubleshooting.
SoftChalk Create uses a familiar, word-processor-style interface. Faculty can build lessons from scratch or reuse existing materials by copying and pasting content from Word into SoftChalk, which converts it into a web-based lesson format. The initial transfer is often quick for many lesson types, while still allowing instructors to refine headings, layout, and media depending on complexity.
That ease matters because the audience for digital coursework is now the majority. An Inside Higher Ed analysis of NCES data found that about 53% of U.S. college students are enrolled in at least one online course. When more than half of learners encounter digital materials each term, authoring tools need to support reliable, repeatable course development without slowing faculty down.
SoftChalk also includes a library of interactive activities and quiz tools that instructors can add without coding, helping lessons move beyond static pages into more engaging, feedback-rich learning.
Explore a few sample interactivities to see what’s possible in a typical SoftChalk lesson.
Accessibility and LMS Integration That Reduce Rework
Online courses must meet accessibility standards for all learners, and expectations are rising. In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice updated Title II ADA regulations and adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for public-sector digital content, including higher-ed learning materials, with compliance timelines extending into 2026–2027.
SoftChalk is designed to help higher-ed teams produce learning content consistent with WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA guidelines during the authoring process, supporting inclusive design from the start rather than relying on costly retrofits later.
Accessibility work can’t be separated from delivery, either. If your institution uses an LMS, your authoring tool has to fit that ecosystem cleanly.
Read more about SoftChalk’s commitment to accessible content authoring.
Supporting Affordability and Sustainable Scale
Advanced authoring software doesn’t just reduce workload; it can support affordability goals. According to recent data from the College Board, estimates show that in 2024–2025, the average cost of books and supplies for a full-time student is about $1,370 per year. When materials costs reach four figures annually, students are more likely to delay purchases, share outdated editions, or go without required resources altogether.
SoftChalk supports digital and open educational resources (OER) strategies by enabling faculty to create and share reusable learning objects across courses and programs. This helps institutions reduce dependence on expensive commercial textbooks while keeping materials current and faculty-owned.
At the same time, scaling digital content requires centralized management. SoftChalk Cloud provides hosting and content management so teams can maintain lessons in one place, update them efficiently, and reuse them across course sections or terms as appropriate. It also offers reporting tools to help instructors review learner progress and engagement for course improvement.
See how SoftChalk can support your OER and digital content initiatives.
Final Thoughts
Implementing course authoring software doesn’t need to be difficult. The right platform removes friction for learners, faculty, and instructional designers while improving quality at scale.
SoftChalk lets your teams focus on content instead of the process, so real learning can happen through engaging, accessible, and affordable digital courses.
For more information on SoftChalk or to explore how it fits your institution’s course development workflow, contact us today!
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