Every tutor understands that the knowledge he/she possesses is simply not enough. In today’s world, diverse supporting materials for illustrative purposes, and solutions for remote learning are absolutely necessary. With the abundance of technological advancements in recent years, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many classrooms have made the switch to a digital environment. On the other hand, what is clear, is that both students and educators can benefit from the extraordinary tools and features that the best e-learning companies have to offer.
Tools for e-learning: SaaS LMS
The variety of tools available for teachers can make things a little confusing — the more choice you have, the more difficult it becomes to choose the solution that meets your needs. Throughout this article, we’re going to take a closer look at some popular e-learning tools, SaaS e-learning software, and a few of the best e-learning platforms of 2020. To begin, let’s look at SaaS learning management systems (or simply LMS).
SaaS LMS represents software that was specifically created for educational purposes. As LMS is completely web-based, all study materials available on the Internet can easily be accessed. There are several impressive advantages with SaaS e-learning, including:
- No installation required — server space is not an issue here. As LMS is cloud-based, the company which owns the program is both the host and supporter of the tool.
- LMS software is renowned for its simplicity which is crucial for those who don’t consider themselves to be tech-savvy individuals. Complicated programs that require installation take time and experience. SaaS LMS software is typically extremely straightforward. All you have to do is choose the instrument, enter a few details and you’re ready to go.
- As LMS software is cloud-based, it automatically updates on its own. Plus, the host company takes care of any bugs (should they arise) and carries out regular checks of the system.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the top names in e-learning software:
Moodle
Many K-12 schools and higher education institutions prefer to use Moodle software — and for good reason. Moodle is a convenient tool when it comes to creating virtual courses. It also makes managing digital lessons a breeze. In addition, Moodle is equipped with some handy features that allow you to track student activities, grades, and even course completion.
iSpring Learn
A cloud-based tool, iSpring Learn, is an excellent solution for educators that comes with several useful features. Namely, the system allows educators to upload as many study materials as necessary, assign them to students, and track the results. If you like to create your own courses, you can use iSpring Learn’s built-in smart tools to prepare and share simple and unique interactive courses. Enhance your classes with interactive quizzes, dialogue simulations, or an exciting video lecture. iSpring Learn has proven itself to be an exceptional tool for blended learning.
LearnUpon
LearnUpon is another effective LMS tool that’s geared toward students, but also designed for employee training. LearnUpon is complete with a user-friendly interface and a variety of useful features, tools and other teacher resources. Specifically, there is an opportunity to create diverse learning portals for several groups of students. These learning portals are very convenient when working with one class that is split into two separate groups. They’ll also make your life easier if you’re a freelance teacher who collaborates with people in different countries.
Authoring tools and platforms to consider
Authoring tools and programs were designed with the aim of allowing educators to create their own e-learning content such as lessons, lectures, and courses using both textual and non-textual items. It should be noted that, in most cases, the content people generate using authoring tools is then used for LMSs.
Consider some of the following authoring tools:
Articulate 360: A complex program that provides you with several handy tools — nine to be precise. The instrument’s features allow you to create advanced slides with video and/or audio narration, screen recordings, quizzes, and even some animation, making courses based on author slides very interactive. If you’re running short on time, keep in mind that you can always make use of ready-made visual assets. To do so, simply visit Storyline 360’s library and choose from a variety of stock videos, photos, catchy backgrounds, and intriguing cutouts.
Camtasia: This is one of the most popular e-learning tools at the moment. If you are into creating video content, then you’ll love this software. Camtasia is equipped with several useful tools, including the ability to take screenshots and add webcam footage. Users can also make use of audio recordings, preserving their lessons and course material and storing them in the program’s library. Similar to Articulate 360, Camtasia provides users with a tool suite suitable for a variety of different purposes. Use Camtasia to diversify classroom activities and enhance the audio-visual memory of your students.
Udemy: Another extremely popular digital learning platform, Udemy has proven itself to be an excellent solution for online learning for many years in a row. On their website, you can chat with over twenty thousand experts across diverse fields. You can also browse their course catalog and download a course on virtually any subject you can imagine. Educators can use PowerPoint, PDF files, video, and audio files to make their lectures more appealing and effective.
Teachable: Although Teachable is an excellent platform for teachers from all over the world, keep in mind that this service has certain limitations regarding an educator’s role. For instance, all course pricing is non-negotiable. Furthermore, a tutor is simply a tutor – they do not know a thing about their students’ personal lives. The rules and terms of the platform are all laid out clearly in a downloadable e-book, which also covers how to create different types of learning material.
We have only covered a fraction of the top e-learning platforms that are designed to make both educators’ and students’ lives easier. Presently, finding a tool that is suitable for a diverse range of teaching styles is not a problem, however, you don’t want to waste valuable time on an instrument that is difficult to use or outdated. For this reason, all of the platforms and solutions that we have covered in this article have proven themselves, time and again, to be the leading solutions on the market, trusted by both educators and companies, worldwide.