I attended an all-day Learning Summit hosted by Association for Talent Development (ATD) Pikes Peak Chapter in Colorado Springs on October 20, 2015. There were panel discussions, breakout groups, and demonstrations of Captivate content authoring tool. Captivate is a popular content authoring tool that is useful in building software simulations and mobile delivery and is one of the most affordable authoring tools on the market. There is a fair amount of learning curve for this tool. However, it is well worth the effort since it has the ability to build graphics, animations, interactivity, and quizzes embedded within the activity/lesson. This in turn could be embedded within an Learning Management System (LMS).

There are other content authoring tools out there like Articulate Storyline and Lectora. Storyline has become the most popular in the last couple of years. Lectora is pricey and requires a significant amount of time to learn this tool. If you have time and money, this could be a good tool for you but be sure to check out how well it delivers on mobile devices.

Speaking of mobile devices. Are we building courses that can be delivered on any mobile device? What? Crickets...... Perhaps this needs to be a focus as we move forward with course development and authoring tools.

One of the trends in Instructional Design (ID) is that "programming is back." We've had the luxury of using some very helpful tools to design our webpages such as Dreamweaver. Using Dreamweaver tools for development will not be going away but now there's HTML5 to consider. HTML5 allows for mobile delivery on any device. We, as Instructional Designers, need to seriously consider updating our programming skills to include HTML5. The former popular tool of Flash programming doesn't work on Apple products therefore, you can imagine how long it will last as we all move forward with the millennial generation. Flash does a lot of fun interactivity and snazzy animations.

Bottom line, we all need to update our skills and considerations for delivering content to maximize learning. For many in the marketplace that means mobile delivery. We need to get on that wagon.

Please feel free to contact me with comments or questions. I'm happy to talk with you.