Unison

I had an online demo of Rapid Intake's new online authoring tool Unison, and I must admit I was impressed. Unison has the flavour of a web 2.0 tool which, although not free, is pretty close. For as little as $49 a month you can work on up to three active projects, with free access to any number of reviewers (actually if you are only working on one project at a time and you can dispense with the reviewers, the tool really is free). The per month figures ramp up so, for say $499/month, you and an unlimited number of colleagues can be working on up to 40 projects at a time.

Unison is created in Adobe Flex, with an attractive Flash interface. It allows you to build e-learning applications using a wide range of built-in templates, including all the usual question types, plus audio, video and a selection of games. Users can build their own templates using Flash and XML and share them with the authoring community. The tool also includes a screen recorder which enables it to import software demos and PowerPoint presentations.

Some more features:

• tagging to help you locate assets;
• customisable skins;
• deployment direct from the tool or export to an LMS;
• facility for reviewers to log issues and debate them in forums;
• option to chat online with others working on the same project.

I intend to try authoring for real with Unison to see whether it lives up to its claims. In the meantime, I can't help thinking that this product is going to raise the bar for online authoring tools.