If you want to create digital learning content, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the number of creative tools on the market. Today, we present to you 19 tools that e-learning expert Claudia Grajek recommends for creating content for online courses. From general design tools to image databases to video and audio file editing. With an infographic available for download!
Recommendations exchanged: Our selection of creative tools for creating learning content
Experienced trainers and coaches know: If you want to digitize your learning content, it’s not enough to just unpack the scanner. You also shouldn’t upload multi-page slides from presentations 1:1 into your online course. In e-learning, your participants sit alone in front of their screens and can quickly get bored if they have to click through text documents.
Today, the choice often falls on a colorful mix of media, including videos, quizzes, images, audios, and – yes, occasionally text documents. To create such media content, there are a plethora of tools to support you. For example, Canva, Filmora, various PDF converters, and many more. You likely have a few tool providers in mind as well. However, it feels like new creative tools are emerging daily, some with exorbitant prices or hidden subscription traps. The server location and GDPR compliance are also important criteria for many customers.
Everyone knows different tools and exciting ideas for use in digital training. Therefore, blink.it success trainer and e-learning expert Claudia Grajek conducted a survey asking: What are your tool tips for e-learning? The results can be divided into two categories:
Tools for creating digital learning content
Tools for interactive online learning
We will present the first category in this article – Part 2 will follow next week!
Claudia Grajek
Claudia is a freelance consultant for social media and previously worked as a success manager at blink.it. She regularly speaks with people who are digitizing and disseminating their knowledge and content. In one of her webinars, she exchanged helpful third-party tool suggestions with trainers and coaches – the results form the basis for this article.
These 19 tools help you create digital learning content
Based on Claudia's recommendations, we have created an infographic with 19 tools that can be categorized into five categories:
General Design
PDF
Image Databases
Video
Audio
Disclaimer: Of course, the selection of tools mentioned here is subjective and incomplete. They only reflect Claudia's and our experiences, and we have no affiliation with the respective software providers.
Quick Access: All Links to Tool Recommendations for Online Content
Tools for General Design Applications
Tools for Converting and Creating PDFs
Digital Databases for Images and Videos
Tools for Video Formatting
Camtasia (Link leads to a third party)
Losslesscut (Link leads to a third party)
Tools for Audio Formatting
Interview: Extra Tips for the Tools from Claudia Grajek
Claudia, 19 tool tips are quite a lot. What are your top 3 tool recommendations for creating content for online courses?
Clearly, Canva is in first place. I do so much with it and always show it to my clients. In second place would be Filmora, because you can quickly and cheaply edit videos with it. And in third place is Loom: In the free basic version, you can record screencasts in the browser. For advanced screencasts, I recommend the pro version, with which you can also record other screens and have additional features like a pen tool.
Which tool do you think is worth spending a bit more money on?
I am simply a fan of Canva, which also costs money in the pro version [Link to Canva's pricing page]. When it comes to video editing, Filmora works for many purposes. However, if you want to create many explanatory videos with screencasts, I recommend the more expensive video tool Camtasia. And of course, investing in blink.it is worthwhile, as it offers online courses where creating content is enjoyable because it's so easy.
Are there tools you would personally advise against?
Not fundamentally, no. Every use case is different, and every tool can be reasonably useful in different contexts. However, I am not a fan of the expensive Adobe world, like Photoshop, etc. If you are not a designer yourself, there are numerous tools that are easier to use and, above all, much more affordable.
Thanks to Claudia for the little interview and the great tips on creating learning content!
All the tools presented can be excellently combined with an online course – as e-learning or blended learning. Start creating an online course with blink.it now and fill it with a colorful mix of media including videos, quizzes, and much more!
