I have worked in the accessibility field for nearly a decade now, but I am pretty new to the world of developing online courses. Since I started at CPM in December 2018, I’ve learned a few things about the Adapt authoring tool. If you have questions or feedback about Adapt, you can reach out to our team using the form on this page.
The Very Basics About Adapt
Adapt is made up of three distinct layers. Two layers come from Adapt: Adapt Framework, or the foundation of the system, and Adapt Authoring, or the tool that we use to build the courses. One layer is developed by CPM: CPM’s Extensions, or the features that expand what we can do with Adapt itself, like different types of questions and themes we can use.
Reasons Adapt is Great
Accessibility
The tool is accessible. It already works well with screen readers, and improvements are already in the works to fix the known issues Adapt has.
User-Friendly
It is easy to view, work with, and navigate by keyboard. Learners can easily follow the flow of the course. Course designers, even ones with no previous experience working in Adapt, can follow our helpful Adapt user’s guide to quickly learn how to make amazing courses. Updating courses is easy to do within Adapt, and the updated files can be quickly downloaded and then uploaded to your learning management system (LMS).
It looks good
Adapt is clean, simple, and the themes are pleasing to the eye. This makes it easy to view and follow. Side note: the themes are built with accessibility in mind, so they meet color contrast guidelines.
It is comprehensive
CPM developers have created a lot of features for Adapt, so it has nearly any component needed for your course. If you don’t find what you need from our available options, our developers are happy to work with you to find a similar option. This gives instructors and course designers the ability to make an interesting course that meets their teaching needs.
It is constantly improving
The software is open source. This means that people around the world can give input and help fix any issues they find. Read more about what Adapt has planned to get an idea of the great things to come. CPM will upgrade to the newest version of Adapt in the next few months. That gives everyone the best possible functionality for their online course needs.
CPM extensions are many, with more to come. CPM has already added over 40 extensions to the original design. We currently plan to add at least one new feature per month. To date, our developers have added about the same amount of code as the Adapt Framework itself has. In a year, this amount will be far greater than the main project itself!
It is SCORM compliant
The SCORM files you create in Adapt can be used by nearly any LMS out there. That means if your department changes the LMS, you don’t have to go back and start over on a new file.
It is low cost
Adapt itself is a free tool, which is always a win. This saves CPM and our clients a lot of money. Our developers create the themes and new components and other things as needed. And we offer the product to other organizations for a nominal fee. This includes product support with direct access to speak with our developers. It really can’t get better than that!
See you next time!
Our next post is set for February 27, 2019. Be sure to check back then to read about creating accessible materials!