Introduction Thanks to Our Tipsters

A. Introduction

In October and November 2007, The eLearning Guild conducted a survey of its members, ask- ing for their favorite tips for using software to create e-Learning. Members could submit tips in any or all of these five categories: Courseware authoring and e-Learning development tools, rapid e-Learning tools, simulation tools, media tools, and combining and deploying authoring tools. A total of 122 members responded to the survey, contributing 162 usable tips. As usual in our past surveys, the tips range in length from one-sentence ideas all the way up to page-long discourses. Some are very basic in nature, and others are quite advanced. We have not edited the tips in any way, other than to correct spelling – everything you see in this book is in the tipsters own words. As a result, these tips will be useful to any designer or developer look- ing for best practices to incorporate into their own production process. We began the process of turning these tips into an organized collection by simply separating the tips into the five major categories of the survey. The largest group is the tips for authoring and development tools. The smallest group is the nine tips on using media tools. Next, we tried to sort the tips in each group into sub-categories that would help readers locate the ideas of most interest to them. We were able to do this for three of the five groups, but the two smallest media tools and simulation tools are presented without any kind of cate- gorization. We follow each tip with a number indicating who contributed it, and an indexed list of Tipsters appears at the end of the book. This may help you to contact Tipsters for additional information. A few tips were contributed by “Anonymous” but in most cases, you will know who provided the idea. We deeply appreciate the effort that contributors made to create these tips. We hope you find many valuable ideas here that can help you as you create content for online learning. This FREE Digital eBook would not have been possible were it not for a generous contribution to its development from these sponsors: • Trivantis http:www.trivantis.com • Adobe http:www.adobe.com • QuickLessons http:www.quicklessons.com • Articulate http:www.articulate.com If youre not familiar with their products for e-Learning, or if you havent checked them out lately, we encourage you to take a look at your earliest convenience. Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools | 5

I. How to Use These Tips