You know how it goes. You hear about a free authoring tool. You take a look. You can see why it’s free. Could there be a free online collaborative e-learning authoring tool that’s actually…good? Udutu might just fit the bill.

Udutu something to me…

Paul Johns, one of our tool experts, is well used to chewing up tools and spitting them out. He tried on myUdutu (which isn’t as odd as that sounds) and liked the look. Here’s his review:

MyUdutu is an online programming tool where you can enter your own content, rearrange it and change templates with ease. It’s aimed more at Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) who are not necessarily technical - and that’s no bad thing as myUdutu is very simple to use. Now I admit I don’t always read the instructions and love to dive straight in with software and with myUdutu it really is very easy to take this approach. Everything is nicely labelled and is very flexible when it comes to amending any screens you have created.

Getting started

There’s no nonsense getting access to it. It really is very easy to use, set up a free account and then start creating your first course. Choose one of the existing templates or create your own by uploading your own background images, logos or navigation buttons.

Once you’re into it, it’s hard to go too far wrong. There are three main tabs at the top, Workspace (To create your screens and course outline), Library (Check through any uploaded media) and Administration where you can change the look and feel of your course or add more users.

11 is plenty...

There are 11 types of basic screen ranging from ‘1 media 1 rich text’ to ‘1 media, 1 rich text with jump’. Not the most intuitive of names but you can figure them out pretty quickly. Choosing screentypes is easy. You simply select the screen you want from the icons available, personalise your screen with text and upload any media you need and finally preview it. You can add narration if you wish to or if you want to change the screen type simply click on another type of screen icon. We love our media. It doesn’t disappoint here. All kinds of media can be imported such as Flash animations, sound, video and any documents you want to upload.

There are some very nice assessment screens which you can add (again 11 of them – what is it about 11?) ranging from ‘multiple choice with an image’ to ‘order steps’. All quiz pages can be set to self-assessed or scored (one attempt only). The advanced screens are also very impressive as you can create image slideshows and rollover screens.

You can add several types of screen, basic, assessment, advanced, group, scenario, import PowerPoint or build a glossary.

Free really means free (for 50 screens)

You can publish a course which has 50 screens free of charge to the Udutu server. There is a watermark on every page however but this can be removed by simply clicking on it on every page (you’ve come this far - what’s 50 more clicks?). You can add extra screens to your course starting at just $1 per screen/per month which is where myUdutu obviously make their money – there and through hosting larger courses. It’s still great value, the more screens you add the lower the price per page. One of the best features of myUdutu is the ability to export a SCORM 2004 or SCORM 1.2 course free of charge to run on your own LMS as long as the course has 50 screens or less, none of the screens are watermarked and you can achieve a good quality e-learning course. And honestly, who wants more than 50 screens….

Free doesn’t mean perfect

It’s a very handy tool but nobody’s perfect. So here are a couple of things that could be better:

• Some interface quirks: Even if you change the interface buttons you will see for a split second the old original buttons appear before the new amended interface displays. Seems weird, worth fixing. Also, I tried putting terms in the glossary but couldn’t get them to show. I kept trying to turn off the Mute button from appearing but despite unchecking this it always showed. In the end I cheated and uploaded a small white box for the different states so it wouldn’t appear. It’s ok to cheat a little.
• Supersize my course: When you publish a course the zip file can be very large, this is often because of all the course elements which have been added. Even if you don’t have some of the interactions myUdutu will still add them to the zip file which can inflate the size so it’s well worth going through the file deleting any elements which you don’t use. Our 9 screen demo is 3.1 MB as a SCORM zipped file. So your 50 screen course could be a monster. No wonder they charge for hosting over 50 screens…
• Don’t lose it: Remember to save your work frequently as a few times myUdutu seemed to be running very slow, so slow I had to close and start again. Maybe that’s because it’s very popular, maybe my connection at times – but you don’t want one of those oh no moments of losing your cherished screen because it didn’t save, so be careful here.

Considering myUdutu is free, these minor sins can be forgiven. As a starter tool for non programmers, it’s very easy to use. It may not be as glossy as Articulate for example but myUdutu can create good looking, instructionally sound courses at ease. it’s collaborative and given what you can end up paying for a server-based tool, it’s pretty impressive to get it for nothing.

See an example: we always limit ourselves to two hours when testing a new tool to see what you can get done from scratch. Here’s what we did in myUdutu.

You can also see examples and find out more on the myUdutu site here.

Kineo Rating: Highly Recommended

This authoring tool is capable of creating very solid e-learning and you can’t argue with the zero dollars.

myUdutu: The Full Road Test

Ease of use: Very good

Very easy to get started, a wide range of templates, simply click on the type of screen you want and fill in the fields, upload some media and preview the screen.

Instructional design flexibility : Very Good

Creating Assessment questions allows you to add a wide range of feedback for Correct Answer, Wrong Answer, Partial Answer and Show Me. Very easy for non-programmers to start creating e-learning.

Ability to incorporate existing content: Very good

Can load in existing animations or graphics, Flash files or import existing myUdutu courses.

Ability to handle variety of topics: Very good

You can easily create a basic linear course or create several different sections to your course where the user can jump from one slide or section to another very easily. Not designed for systems training though, you would have to import a SWF for this purpose.

Support for all major types of graphic, sound and video formats which are automatically optimised by myUdutu for web delivery.

Ability to publish SCORM/AICC compliant courses: Good

Very easy indeed, myUdutu allows you to run your courses free of charge (for less than 50 screens) from their own server. The pages are watermarked but it’s very useful to test your course on their LMS for testing purposes. Once you are happy export and use the SCORM zip file on your own LMS.

Technical support available: Excellent

The online PDF guide will help you with any problems you might have, there is also a friendly forum where staff and users will happily solve your issues.

Knowledgeable support team: Excellent

Very impressive team of technical staff who can help you with any issues.

Conclusion:

myUdutu is a great free tool for creating impressive e-Learning quickly and easily. It has an impressive range of templates and can create very professional results.

Tried myUdutu? Agree or disagree with this review? Let us know.

Got an authoring tool, and need get some help in making the most of it? Kineo’s Rapid E-learning Design Team can help. Contact Kineo. Kineo has accepted no payment or reward of any form from any tools company for this independent review.