Course authoring software products allow organizations to create engaging and interactive multimedia content for educational purposes. Course authoring software is used to develop training courses and content that can be consumed in either a corporate or more traditional educational setting. Learning content management systems (LCMS), which are course authoring tools built specifically as a tool for educational institutions, are currently included in the scope of course authoring. Organizations use course authoring tools to prepare educational material that can be administered with learning management system (LMS) or corporate LMS software to create unique educational programs for employees or students.
Course authoring solutions are commonly implemented in HR departments and at educational institutions, enabling administrators to create educational content with no programming knowledge. Course authoring solutions can be either cloud-based or installed on-premise, and many follow the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) as a set of standards and specifications for integrating content with LMS software. Additionally, many course authoring products are built on top of presentation software to provide users with a familiar format for creating course content.
To qualify as a course authoring solution, a product must:
Allow organizations to create multimedia content for educational purposes
Provide a system through which users can create interactive multimedia content
Allow users to publish course material to third-party or built-in learning management systems
