In this session, the speaker will look at what is possible when today's technology is focused on helping design and build advanced, unconstrained, instructional interactivity. New authoring system requirements can be identified by first dissecting award-winning e-learning applications, then reflecting on contemporary design processes. You'll be invited to participate in defining the tools we need, and in a sneak preview of tools in development.

Empower e-learning designers with the ability to design the kinds of engaging learning experiences they've always aspired to create, and you'll have delirious designers in search of a means to get their impassioned designs developed within an acceptable time and budget.

Use of general tools, as powerful as they have become, requires learning ever more complex skills and provides designers no assistance in making good design choices. Use of rapid authoring tools, which often achieve speed and ease of use through templates, becomes frustrating as the need for adaptation, customization, and flexibility inevitably become apparent. While these tools may seem to provide design assistance, which often comes simply through a menu of "expertly designed" templates, they often recommend poor and/or inappropriate instructional paradigms for the specific content and target learners at hand.

Some experts are now recommending that we abandon the ideal of active e-learning and turn to using technology for the much simpler dissemination of information, perhaps coupled with various forms of instructor-led training.