Say what? An e-learning software company is telling me about something that’s free?

It’s true. We know how hard it is to make good e-learning, and how much harder it is if you are on a budget. And who isn’t on a budget these days?

Here are five free tools that can help you make better e-learning experiences for your learners. Oh, and since they’re all web-based, there’s nothing to install (and no need to get I.T. involved!)

1.    RadioJames Objectives Builder
Who doesn’t struggle with learning objectives, as at least some of the time? This easy-to-use tool will help you determine the learning objectives for your next e-learning project and help you refine them so they as effective as possible for both you and your earners. The introduction tutorial includes a good overview of learning objectives, some of the challenges people experience in writing them, and Bloom’s taxonomy.

2.    Collage
Collage by Vuvox is a neat tool that allows you to upload images and then assemble them into an interactive collage. It includes tools to help you position and layer images for design work, as well as cut out and masking tools. What’s even better, from an e-learning perspective, is that you can embed links right in the collage to give your learners access to further information, whether that’s other media files, or text, or even other websites. It’s a neat tool that helps you produces very professional results.

3.    Sketchpad
Ever need a drawing or an image for your e-learning and wish you had a quick way to get what’s in your mind out and into your e-learning project? Sketchpad, from Mugtug is an easy-to-use but feature-rich drawing and paint program. In a matter of minutes you can be using it to create that image. Not an artist? It’s still great for creating storyboard images to pass along to the real graphic artists for the project.

4.    Darkroom
Also from Mugtug, Darkroom is an online photo-editing program. Need a smaller version of an image? Maybe need to crop out half of that scene? Need to get rid of red-eye in that photo you took of your SME demonstrating that process? Darkroom is quick and simple to use for all of these.

5.    Myna
Myna, one of the great set of online tools offered by Aviary, allows you to upload and edit audio clips. You can record your own sounds and add sound effects, too. Cut them up and sequence them and you’ve got some neat opportunities to take that boring old narration and turn it into an audio delight for your learners. Never overlook the evocative power of audio to create mood and engage your learning audience!

Studies have shown that providing narration of identical on-screen text actually suppresses learning, rather than supporting it.

The reason, as explained by Ruth Colvin Clarke and Richard Mayer in E-Learning and the Science of Instruction, is that this situation sets up competition between the auditory and visual channels as we try to process the information.

We end up in a cognitive overload situation as we split our attention across the two channels, which means neither works as well as it should.

In the end, it is harder to understand the information – the opposite effect to what we’re really looking for in e-learning.

Michael Hanley has a very methodical approach to his blog, Elearning Curve, often creating serialized posts covering topics of relevance to elearning and instructional design in general.

He backs up most posts with references as well, pointing you to places to learn more.

The result is a blog that is almost an encyclopedia of elearning and instructional design topics, and a great place to turn to for an overview of a topic or concept.

Instructional Design by Example is a project started by one of our favorite bloggers, Janet Clarey.

The site collects examples of elearning projects, including descriptions and explanations of the decisions made, the features they offer, etc.

It’s a great place to visit for elearning inspiration and ideas.