Authoring tools for creating multimedia instructional content have come a long way since the early days of complex scripting and programing languages that required multiple Ph.D's in computer science to create even the simplest of learning objects. Today's powerful software tools such as Web Expressions, Adobe Captivate, Flash, Moodle, iLife and more have helped simplify this complex process, and have made it if not exactly easy, at least within the realm of possibility for even rather ordinary teachers (and let's not forget students) to create engaging and exciting digital content for the purpose of learning.
As toolbars, icons, menus, plugins, import, export, text editors and graphical user interfaces make it increasingly easier for users to work with such powerful tools, the real difficulty that emerges is deciding how the use of such tools will support student learning. Should teachers or student be creating the content? Do these tools support constructivist or "instructivist" learning? Which models fit with which tool and which combination will meet which curricular goals? With the technical barriers to authoring tools rapidly crumbling away, we can begin to focus less on how to use such tools begin to focus on the more important question: why?
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