Microsoft released a free community edition of its e-learning authoring tool, called LCDS. They will not get the creativity award for the name of the product, but after a first look, the tool seems very useful.
Some highlights:
- runs on Windows XP and Vista (needs to be run as administrator), requires .Net framework 2.0
- development is “template-based” according to the traditional instructional design (read, watch, interact, tryp, play)
- supports multiple languages (including Dutch, yes!)
- creates native SCORM 1.2 compliant content by default
- includes a “player” for stand alone viewing outside an LMS
- interactions, simulations can be created in Flash and… Silverlight, what were you thinking 🙂
I followed quite some e-learning courses on the Microsoft Learning platform, and they were probably created with this tool. Very consistent, not very Flashy, but clear, concise and to the point. My kind of courses 😉
I hope to get some time soon to create a course, and share it with you. “Brandjes blussen, the sequel” (inside joke…)
