Creating e-learning with PowerPoint

From slides to real online courses

How can I create an e-learning using PowerPoint? That’s a question more and more trainers are asking.

After all, trainers and educators have been working with PowerPoint for years, and those slides often contain the entire content of a training course – text, examples and exercises. And while a linear presentation is easy, it is not true e-learning. In this blog, you will learn exactly how to create e-learning with PowerPoint: simply provide your PowerPoint as a PDF and let Collow Creator do the work.

Why trainers often start e-learning with PowerPoint

PowerPoint is familiar, quick to adapt and almost anyone can work with it. For many trainers, it’s the natural place to gather and structure knowledge. Plus, visuals, diagrams and slides you’ve already created are a huge time saver – you’re not starting from scratch.

Classic methods of creating an e-learning with PowerPoint – and their limits

Many organizations are trying to convert PowerPoint to e-learning by:

• Export slides to video;

• Use PowerPoint add-ins (tools that make slides “SCORM-ready“);

• Or load slides into an authoring tool and publish.

This often works for simple, linear courses – but it remains a “PowerPoint experience. Important functionality is often missing: real interaction, adaptive learning pathways, proper review and an optimal mobile experience.

The disadvantages of using only PowerPoint for e-learning

If you create e-learning with PowerPoint without an extra step:

• Is the training often linear and passive (less engagement).

• Are assessments limited or manual.

• Is progress measurement in your LMS difficult or inadequate.

• Doesn’t always work well on mobile or tablet.

In short, it’s a waste of your content if you don’t convert it into a learning experience that matches modern expectations of learners.

Here’s how Collow Creator turns your PowerPoint into real e-learning

Collow has developed a radically better method for converting your PowerPoints into e-learnings. Using AI technology, Collow Creator creates full-fledged e-learnings based on your input. Including multiple choice questions and quizzes. You first need to convert your PDF (possibly including the notes) to a PDF file.

A PDF is a universal, stable format that retains the formatting and images of your slides – regardless of fonts or effects used. By creating a PDF for each module or chapter, you create an organized input that Collow Creator can properly process. This avoids versioning problems and makes mass conversion easy.

With one upload, Collow Creator generates a complete training course: chapters become modules, key bullets become learning objectives, and practice questions and quizzes are automatically suggested. Then you can fine-tune everything manually – adjusting questions, adding additional interactions, or breaking down micro-learnings. Then you easily export as SCORM or xAPI, to publish it in your LMS. Or you use the Collow environment to publish.

Creating e-learnings with PowerPoint at scale: SharePoint linking

Organizations that manage many slides in SharePoint can automate this process. Put PDFs in a central SharePoint library and link it to Collow Creator: as soon as a new PDF appears, it is automatically converted and prepared for review or publication. This saves a lot of manual work and ensures that training courses are always up-to-date.

Practical roadmap for trainers (get started quickly)

• Step 1: Collect your relevant PowerPoint presentations.

• Step 2: Export by module/chapter as a PDF.

• Step 3: Upload one PDF per e-learning to Collow Creator.

• Step 4: Review the automatically generated e-learning and quizzes.

• Step 5: Adjust as needed and publish in your LMS or through Collow.

Want to see how this works? Try it for free!

Conclusion & call-to-action

Want to create an e-learning with PowerPoint without rebuilding everything from scratch? Use PowerPoint as your content source, export to PDF and let Collow Creator do the rest. In no time, you’ll have an interactive, SCORM-ready training course that is measurable and works pleasantly on any device.

Try it yourself: upload one PDF and turn your PowerPoint into an interactive e-learning in no time. Leave a PDF and ask for a free demo.