6 Secrets for Quick and Cost-Effective e-Learning Development

Secrets for Quick and Cost-Effective e-Learning Development

The good news is that plenty of e-Learning developers are right there with you. They’ve learned how to create effective, engaging and amazing courses—all with limited time, budget and resources.

You can too! Take a look at these 6 secrets for quick and cost-effective e-Learning development:

1. Take advantage of templates.
   You don’t need to go through all the steps to design a new course from scratch each time. Instead, create a custom template that can easily be adapted to multiple e-Learning courses. With a template, you won’t always have to start from the beginning, and you’ll save valuable hours that can be used to add interactivity or additional resources to your course.
2. Create a library of resources, tools and articles.
   Save resources as you find them for quick access when you need them later. This cuts research time and provides quick inspiration and ideas when you’re developing your next course. Articles are also a great way to reference e-Learning tips and techniques. The next time you’re stuck, browse through your collection of creative inspiration. You can also check out the valuable resources in Lectora University—and they’re all free!
3. Find free or low-cost stock photo images.
   Before you spend extra money on images and clip art, search through free or low-cost stock photo sites to find what you’re looking for. With a little research, you can find tons of great free image sites, but a few to start searching right away are everystockphoto, morgueFile, FreeImages and FreePixels.
4. Add characters that engage learners.
   Characters are a quick and easy way to engage your learners throughout your course. Try looking for low-cost character packs on sites like these: eLearningArt and Cartoon Solutions. You can also choose an authoring tool that already includes characters, like Lectora Inspire V11 e-Learning software. Choose from more than 300 professional, high resolution and transparent photographs to include in your e-Learning course.
5. Use an affordable authoring tool.
   Don’t want to spend a lot on a full-featured authoring tool? Look into affordable options that still create professional grade interactive courses. At only $99, Snap! by Lectora is the most affordable PowerPoint to Flash rapid e-Learning software. With Snap! Empower, you can build custom Flash animations for only $99 as well!
6. Avoid redundant content.
   Remember that less is usually more. For example, you don’t always need to include both video or audio and text. Often a video may be self-explanatory, making any descriptive text redundant. Ask yourself if the audience is already familiar with the visual to determine if supplementary text is necessary. You can use your extra time to add new and valuable content for your learners.

As an e-Learning professional, you don’t have to sacrifice quality and interactivity when you’re developing online courses on a tight budget and timeline. Plenty of other developers have discovered that it’s possible to be efficient and create quality content that will continue to wow your learners! Use these 6 development secrets, and soon you’ll be creating quick and cost-effective e-Learning courses. Check out the Lectora e-Learning blog, Top 10 Cost-Saving Tips from the Latest eLearning Guild Report, for even more great tips.