Affordable e-learning authoring tools for developing branching scenarios e-learning courses every beginner should know. This article includes 3 most cost-effective programs we’ve found on the market now.
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Branching Scenarios e-Learning Course Example: 15 different ways to make 1 million dollar!
When it comes to e-learning, scenario-based e-learning courses provide more choices for learners to interact with the courses by their own opinion. These kind of courses are often more engaging than simple interactive e-learning courses. However, because of the complexity and time consuming issue, you need to build a very detail plan of what you’re going to show in the course. For example, select the right authoring tool, draft out your scenario tree and collect all necessary material prior to getting started.
In today article, I will share with you some of the most affordable authoring programs you can use to develop branching scenarios e-learning courses quickly. These are the most simple to use programs I tested recently. Hope that can help you save your valuable time.
Read also: Top 3 Professional E-learning Software For Windows
Top 3 Affordable Authoring Tools To Develop Branching Scenarios E-Learning Courses
1. ActivePresenter
The first and most affordable authoring programs you should use to develop branching scenarios e-learning courses is ActivePresenter of Atomi System. This is one of the most simple to use program I’ve ever reviewed. With ActivePresenter, you are able to produce a fully responsive course from scratch, preview the course in HTML5 and finally export it into SCORM or xAPI Tin Can.
ActivePresenter is free to use for non-commercial purposes. It’s available on Windows and Mac. If you want to use it for commercial purposes, you’ll need to purchase a lifetime license at $199 for Standard Edition and $399 for Professional Edition. Read this review to learn more about ActivePresenter.
Key Features in Professional Edition
- Advanced recording features: Full Motion Recording, Smart Capture
- Video editing: Cut, Crop, Join, Change Volume, Speed Up, Slow Down
- Multiple Audio/Video Layers
- Rich annotations: Shapes, Image, Zoom-n-Pan, Closed Caption, Cursor Path, Audio/Video Overlays
- Smart Annotation
- Themes & Templates
- Export to: MP4, WebM, MKV, AVI, WMV
- Export to: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML
- Commercial Use
- Advanced Audio/Video Effects: Fade In, Fade Out, Noise Reduction, Blur, Green Screen
- HTML5 Export
- Fully Responsive Design
- Interactivity & Branching: Variables, Conditional Actions, Javascript API
- Interactions: Button, Mouse Click, Text Input, Drag & Drop, Keystroke
- Quiz: 9 Types of Questions
- Report & Tracking in LMS (SCORM, xAPI)
2. iSpring Suite
At the moment I write this topic, iSpring Suite has been upgraded to version 9 which comes in with many powerful features that e-learning professionals may love to use such as more quiz types, built-in themes, course examples, characters and many things more to help you develop your e-learning content faster. If you have been familiar with MS PowerPoint, iSpring Suite is a great option to try. Compare to ActivePresenter, iSpring Suite has some advantages such as its built-in content library and capability to integrate with its own LMS. However, the license price is a little bit higher i.e $770 for lifetime. If you need technical support, content library and LMS integration, the package comes in at $970 per year. It’s still affordable compare to other expensive e-learning software we’ve reviewed.
To develop branching scenarios e-learning courses faster with iSping Suite, you can use its built-in scenarios based templates to get the work done faster. Take a look at this tutorial from Elearning Brothers to learn how.
Our team had tried this program and made a side-by-side comparison of iSpring Suite vs ActivePresenter to help you fully understand about these tools here.
3. Storyline 3
Last but not least, use Storyline 3 to develop branching scenarios e-learning courses can be quick, easy and cost-effective. This famous e-learning authoring tool of Articulate gives you all necessary tools to develop fully responsive courses with tons of interactions, tracking functionalities and LMS support. Though its license price, $1398 lifetime, is a little bit higher than above mentioned suites. However, this program has shortest learning curve and dozen of extra features you may love to use. Read our detail review of Storyline 3 in this article!
The bottom line
Creating branching scenarios e-learning courses can be simple or frustrated. It depends very much on which tool you are using. The best way to know if a program is suitable for you or not is to try it. Consider downloading free or trial version of all the above mentioned programs, make an example course to see how they work before making your purchase decision. If you need any further help, don’t hesitate to ask any time.
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Good luck!
Elearning Supporter 
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