Rapid drag and drop authoring

Rapid development tools are by definition going to adopt a position towards the 'easy-to-use' end of the scale, even though this usually means compromising on functionality. One feature that I find I really miss is the ability to include drag and drop activities. Here's why:

• Drag and drop is great for testing whether learners can identify the parts of something, e.g. the bones in the body, the parts of a machine, an area on a map.
• It's also great for having learners put objects into a sequence.
• Not to forget matching up pairs.
• It has a game-like feel.
• It's fun.

When I bumped into Tony Lowe at the ALT-C conference in Leeds, he told me about a tool he'd created called Dragster. Now I've finally had a chance to try it out, I can see how this might just fill the gap.

Dragster is a versatile online tool for creating stand-alone, Flash-based drag and drop activities. You can use text boxes as the draggable elements or images. Using the default parameters provides an easy way to generate a decent end result, but just about every aspect of the activity can be customised if you wish. The tool outputs the activity as a zip containing an HTML file, an XML file, a Flash movie and the various images. These can then be deployed as a simple web offering or as a SCORM object, although in many cases you'll want to integrate the activity into a larger piece of work you are creating in another authoring tool - they provide instructions for Articulate Presenter, eXe and CourseGenie, although I'm sure it can be made to work in many other tools too - perhaps event the Rocket Course Builder :-). You pay £45 (around US$70) for an annual license, which seems fair.

If you want some inspiration for your own drag and drop activities, I'd take a look at the Dragster examples.