CourseAvenue Studio FAQs: Answers to Common Questions

Is CourseAvenue Studio an Authoring Tool? [Top]

CourseAvenue Studio is used to create eLearning courseware - so in that respect "authoring" is a piece of the product. However, it is not a an "authoring tool" in a traditional sense. In a product review, Learning Strategist, Josh Bersin termed CourseAvenue Studio a "collaborative rapid eLearning tool".
What are the main differences between CourseAvenue and typical "authoring tools"? [Top]

Here are some of the key differences:
- "Authoring tools" are almost exclusively desktop tools - CourseAvenue content is managed and created via a web interface - no software to install on the desktop. As a result, one can manage courseware anytime, anywhere from any web browser.
- The vast majority of authoring tool content ends up stored on local hard disks, in email in-boxes, or maybe a shared "network drive". In the worst case, the media and supporting "learning objects" are kept by a 3rd party (courseware builder) consultant and any updates to the course must be executed by this person.
- By contrast, CourseAvenue courseware and media is:
  - Stored and managed centrally in one or more shared "media libraries"
  - Managed via roles and permissions (which can be as simple or complex as your organization requires)
  - Shared across courses and organizations (e.g. subsidiary companies)
  - Includes a "where used" facility, and a user definable meta-data dictionary
- Authoring tools are single-user products. CourseAvenue is a multi-user, team-based ("collaborative") learning development product.
What is "team-based" development? [Top]

Developing eLearning content requires input from multiple disciplines. These include instructional designers, graphic artists, subject-matter experts, and in many cases a formal review and approval process. In other words, it requires a team of people. CourseAvenue is built around this concept and allows an organization to dynamically assemble teams of people to come together and contribute their efforts directly to the development of the courseware.
We use outside consultants to create courseware - why would I use CourseAvenue? [Top]

The reasons are many. Firstly, one can use outside consultants and Studio together. Since Studio is web-based your "team" can consist of both internal and external contributors. In this situation, everyone has "real time" visibility into the progress being made on the course and can make comments, contributions, and decisions instantly. As opposed to waiting until the "course review" meeting - one can simply login and see how the course looks.

Secondly, many times the outside firm is required because one believes creating eLearning courseware is just too complicated. CourseAvenue Studio is as simple to use as PowerPoint. If you can cut and paste, and use common word processing tools - you can create courseware.

Another is that with CourseAvenue Studio you can control your learning assets. Did you ever wonder what happened to that image, document or presentation that was built into a course? Where did the "original" go? Can you re-use it? With CourseAvenue, 3rd party developers contribute their efforts to your media library allowing you to re-use, track and update media as you see fit.
How do you support internationalization of eLearning? [Top]

CourseAvenue courseware has been used to create eLearning in more than 19 different foreign languages. These include the "multi-byte" character sets such as Chinese, Korean, and Hebrew. Since the courseware development is web-based, by simply adding people capable of localizing the content to your team, they can perform the translation from wherever they are in the world.
We have a lot of content in PowerPoint - can we re-use it? [Top]

Yes. There are a number of different methods one can use to re-use PowerPoint content with CourseAvenue Studio. Options range from using a CourseAvenue PowerPoint plug-in to extract your text from slides, to putting the entire presentation (.ppt file) into a media library and delivering it as a "job aid" with a course, to a variety of options in-between.
We use Adobe (Macromedia) Flash to create learning interactions - can we still or do we have to convert everything to CourseAvenue Studio? [Top]

CourseAvenue is based on Flash technology. Flash objects (.swf files) are stored in a media library where they can be shared across your organization for use in any number of courses. Flash objects can be embedded in a page of content or presented in their own window.