Articulate Rise and Storyline 360
Back in 2009, Articulate Studio (Presenter, Engage, Quizmaker) let ISD’s author training courses in MSPowerpoint
The majority of training content before this time was almost always created in PPT and then converted into either Captivate or Camtasia to add interactivity and produce a customized video player used for the delivery in the classroom or LMS. When most authoring companies were eschewing PPT, Articulate wisely decided to invest in PPT as a foundation for their course development along with coining the term, Rapid eLearning Development, which basically means how fast can you convert our legacy training information in PPT and turn it into an interactive training course? With videos, and assessments? And give us metrics too??
Many of us found Articulate’s products easier to use than Captivate or Camtasia (although they have their strengths) but Presenter was also a bit cheaper and the learning curve was more easily surmounted, especially when you have a team of ISD’s and not everyone has the same level of experience. For a few years Presenter was eating up market share but we all agreed it needed more power and more advanced features to create what the online and on-time training market was demanding – more interactive, more gamified and dynamic learning tools to create more effective training resources. This level of course development (referred to as Levels III and IV) typically were created using a hybrid approach because just one authoring tool wasn’t around to do the job exceptionally well; Presenter for the learning theory and application structure (based on existing PPT content), Adobe Captivate for graphics and text, and I always opted for using Camtasia if there was any need for video as it has exceptional video editing and synching tools which were intuitive and played well with others.
“Until Articulate released it’s most powerful and robust authoring tool, Storyline 1, using all three or a combination of these three leading tools was a popular option up until just a few years ago.”
Back in 2012 Articulate announced the release of Articulate Storyline, the first eLearning authoring tool they claimed was simple enough for beginner’s and powerful enough for experts
The world of instructional design and Elearning authoring would never be the same – it’s that good in every respect. With Storyline, ISD’s can create interactivity, software simulations, and any type of assessments with speed and ease that had never been seen before – and there is no need for any programming or coding at all (I don’t really consider defining variables coding, but that’s the extent of the complexity in Storyline). It also provided options that include one-click publishing to Flash (a dinosaur today, but robust several years ago), HTML5, and the Articulate Mobile Player (a new iPad app giving the best viewing experience of eLearning on the omnipresent iPad.)
Features. Features. Features.
ISD’s live by the timeline and use it to time all elements on a screen, but moving elements around, up and down, turning them on and off – functionally layering them on the screen is one of the most time consuming and sometimes frustrating tasks of creating courseware. Taking cues from Adobe Photoshop, you can easily hide any element at any time and create slide layers that allow for multiple interactions on a single slide including adding videos and audio resources with one click. Overlay objects, and then add some triggers and you have user interactivity – the key to most effective online training. Captivate and Camtasia look very much alike these days thanks to the advancements spear headed by Articulate. Not to mention triggers, realistic characters, publishing in different formats including an MSWord version for easy markup’s and zip files to fire off to your LMS administrator.
Back in 2014, Articulate jumped the shark again and answered the need for HTML5 and Android support by launching Storyline 2
Shouting about 26 new features and enhancements, SL2 answers the need for multi-platform authoring and publishing and the latest craze to bring your own device to the classroom. As social media is driving OTT (on-time training), publishing options must also remain robust and SL2 once again makes it easy to create and customize interactive content with more animations and interactions including new motion paths and triggers not found in SL1. New options let authors create training allowing learners to manipulate data, explore cause and effect relationships, control objects, and experience navigation with new slider interactions. Templates, importing content from PPT, other Articulate products including questions for quizzes and assessments, and it’s even available in 6 languages. And the author support community is exceptional.
And Articulate have outdone themselves again with Rise and Storyline 360
I specialize in developing eLearning using Articulate Rise and Storyline 360, this combination allows me to develop and publish the most interactive, accurate, and effective eLearning and vILT courseware ever, hands down. Just a few of the highlights in the newest version of Storyline 360 include:
Boost Accessibility – Make your courses even more accessible with Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) support, tables, custom tab order feature, and skippable player navigation.
Distribute and Track – I can publish Tin Can API 1.0, SCORM, and AICC-Compliant content for your learning management system.
Optimized Effortlessly – The responsive player provides the best view of your course on every device. Unlike Adobe Captivate, there’s no need to tweak your course for various device breakpoints. The responsive player does all the work for you.
Mobile-friendly Playback – Designed to deliver an ideal learner experience, the player hides sidebar menus, eliminates browser chrome, and delivers mobile-friendly playback controls optimized for every screen size and orientation.
Touchscreen Gesture Support – Invites deeper interaction with your courses. The responsive player supports touchscreen gestures, so learners can swipe, drag, and pinch-to-zoom on tablets and touchscreens. Swipe left and right to move between slides. Pinch or double-tap to zoom in and out. Drag to pan and scroll.