Answer: Thinking about instructional design, how does each tool benefit the learner by aggregating and presenting material in a cohesive manner? Are there drawbacks to the tools you researched?
When I couldn't get the link to the OpenSesame article LMS/LCMS/CMS to open, I did a web search for the article and somehow came across a site called Lessonly. The tool seems to be a really good paid version of a CMS.
Lessonly is a self-proclaimed "anti-LCMS" — equivalent to a LCMS "but with more capabilities." Although Lessonly is marketed as a tool for employee training, I believe it has great features that would make it a great tool for online learning as well.
As far as creation and hosting of content, cool features include the ability to:
When I couldn't get the link to the OpenSesame article LMS/LCMS/CMS to open, I did a web search for the article and somehow came across a site called Lessonly. The tool seems to be a really good paid version of a CMS.
Lessonly is a self-proclaimed "anti-LCMS" — equivalent to a LCMS "but with more capabilities." Although Lessonly is marketed as a tool for employee training, I believe it has great features that would make it a great tool for online learning as well.
As far as creation and hosting of content, cool features include the ability to:
- capture information in various formats (.doc, .ppt, .pdf) and share it with enrolled users across devices or operating systems
- create and assign quizzes
- create feedback loops — this includes the use of video feedback, where users (students in our case) can create a video response
- track metrics and measure progress and performance with a gradebook
- create Learning Paths and Smart Groups to deliver instruction to identified subgroups
As far as everyday management and usage, features that make Lessonly very user friendly to instructors and students are:
- a SSO option for easy login
- the ability to bulk upload users and content
- PDF exporting for reports
- an API that integrates with other tools to manage user data and analytics
- the ability to tag content for easier sorting and distribution
The Gist: Lessonly is a non-education option that seems to offer great tools for creating, aggregating, and even hosting content for online learning. It's a CMS and LMS in one.
The "But..." (There's always a "but," isn't there?): Lessonly isn't necessarily built for teachers, and it's price tag shows that. There is no advertised pricing (that I have found) on the Lessonly website. However, a quick search for Capterra reviews and BetterBuys reviews indicates that pricing is a pay-per-user approach, with plans starting at $200-300 per month on the low end. Wow.
Another option: Adobe Captivate
Adobe has a longstanding reputation of excellence in all things related to digital creation. For the ones who gave us Photoshop, Lightroom, Spark, Dreamweaver, and soooo much more, it just makes sense that Adobe would offer a place to aggregate all this content. Meet Adobe Captivate.
Captivate allows users to author interactive and responsive learning objects within Captivate. Creating and curating content happens in the same space, and with a plethora of available Adobe assets such as images, fonts, themes, and games, the possibilities are virtually endless. I have no personal experience in creating content with Adobe Captivate, but the overview of features suggests that the content and the way it's presented will follow the 6 Graphic Design Best Practices that I wrote about in this previous post and various types of learning tools like what I wrote about in another previous post.
For example, Fluid Boxes maximizes the use of white space and also ensures that the layout of the content is responsive to the type of device the student is using to access the content. Built in screen capture features record not only the screen, but also computer audio and mouse and keyboard activity. Mobile-specific gestures such as swipe, tap, and pinch to zoom can also be incorporated for the benefit of users viewing on mobile devices. This valuable tool eliminates the need for additional screencasting tools I've described previously; and once again, screencasts are created and house all within the Adobe ecosystem. And standard must-haves like quiz builders and accessibility features like text-to-speech are all included as well.
Two final features that I found really amazing are master slides capabilities and Adobe's publishing options. Use a Master Slides feature, content creators can define styles and formats that can be applied to the content to ensure consistency. I'm no marketing or branding expert, this common sense idea is big for me. Consistency is important, and I try to ensure that all the content I create looks and "feels" the same. Finally, Captivate offers the the ability to publish the content to various LMSs and as an app! I believe that would be a great way to share content with students who live on their smartphones.
The Gist: Adobe Captivate is Adobe; it's awesome. It includes web 2.0 tools for differentiating learning, for differentiating assessment, and for creating learning objects all under one roof.
The "But..." isn't as big a but this time. All the features certainly aren't free, pricing is not as bad as Lessonly either. At $29.99 a month or with an educator license of $349 ($1,099 commercial) it is certainly more affordable that other equivalent options. I'm sure that decent, free Open Source software is available for those who don't mind collaborating or coding their own CMS, but on a schedule like mine, I wouldn't have the time to create the content and work out all the bugs in how to host it. With a name like Adobe, you know the content and support will be top-notch.
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