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Who doesn’t like a free application that’s going to make work easier? Today, I’ll share three free applications that might come in handy as you work on your elearning courses.
Two of the applications come courtesy of a couple of screencast tutorials I saw the other day. And one comes from a need I recently had publishing a SCORM course. These three applications are a great complement to this post I previously shared on nine free tools to build better elearning.
Artweaver
Artweaver is designed as a “painting program,” but for basic graphics editing it’s more than capable and works great. It lets you control layers, create transparent backgrounds, add text, and apply filter effects. After making edits, you can save the images in all standard image formats.
So if you’re on a budget and looking for a free graphics editor, give Artweaver a try. Brian Batt has a couple of Artweaver tutorials: creating a transparent background andapplying a blur effect.
Karen’s Directory Printer
The other day I had to add a bunch of data files to a course that was already published to SCORM. Adding the files was easy because all I had to do was open up the data folder and drop them in. The challenge was adding the folder contents to the resource manifest which is a list of all of the files in the SCORM package.
Each file in the data folder has a line like the ones in the image above. Adding one line is no problem. But in my case I was adding almost ten multimedia elements which equated to about one hundred separate files. That would have been a lot of tedious work.
My challenge was to create a list of the all of the files I had in the separate data folders and then modify that list with the
That’s where Karen’s Directory Printer really came in handy. It let me create a list of the folder contents. I saved it as a .txt file and then did a quick Find & Replace to add the required
So if you ever have to create a list of the files in a folder, Karen’s Directory Printer is a great way to go. Here’s a quick screencast to show you how it worked for me.
Poladroid
Use the free Poladroid application to create a Polaroid™ image that you can use in your elearning courses. The application’s really easy to use. Basically, it opens a camera on your desktop. All you have to do is drag and drop pictures on the camera and then wait a few minutes as it develops. Click on this demo to see it in action.
Once you have the image you can easily use it in your elearning courses. It would work well with that folder template I shared a while back. If you do use the Poladroid application, be sure to look at these two tutorials to get ideas on dressing up the images:
- Create a page curl drop shadow by David Anderson
- Create a transparent tape effect by Stephanie Harnett
So those are three free applications for which you can probably find real-world practical uses when building your elearning courses.
What other free applications would you recommend to those who build rapid elearning courses on a budget? Feel free to share them in the comments section. Include a practical tip on how you’re using it.
Tidbits:
I’m in Orlando this week at the Learning Solutions Conference & Expo, swing by the Articulate booth and say “Hi.”
Be sure to check out these sessions:
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