How do you ensure continued access to your e-learning courses developed in Flash ?

After more than 25 years, the Flash plug-in was abandoned by web browsers on December 31, 2020, which represents a major challenge for hundreds of millions of e-learning courses that were only readable by this system. All these educational resources are no longer accessible via the Flash plug-in and must be converted to HTML5.

Converting educational resources to HTML5 has 3 major advantages:

• Unlike Flash, the HTML5 format is compatible with a multitude of devices, including computers, tablets and smartphones. In addition, for certain simulation exercises, users had to download the Flash Player; a format that often comes with a fee, which discourages consumers.
• HTML5 allows for exceptional portability as students can access their online training whenever and wherever they want. This format is advantageous and engaging for consumers because of its accessibility and convenience.
• HTML5 is the future of e-learning because of its ease of use and borderless portability. It will allow students to take courses without worrying about downloading plug-ins so they can progress freely.

For professionals, here are some key steps to transition from Flash to HTML5:

• Verify that the technology used by the e-learning courses is Flash (test the module on a browser without the Flash Player plug-in installed to validate the non-functional elements). Be careful because it is possible that only part of the module (an animation or a specific page in .swf format) is in Flash, so you must explore the entire module.
• Check for new versions of the authoring tool. In other words, check if the author has not already developed a new version allowing you to directly create the modules in HTML5.
• Conduct an audit of the online training courses to ascertain the amount of time and energy the conversion process would require.
• Create a database that will host all the e-Learning content before conversion.
•      Convert the content to HTML5: Keep in mind that a successful HTML5 conversion will depend on the level of complexity of the Flash files and the ability to interconnect with other elements on your digital platform.

R. Frisch, web editor