Our recent rapid e-learning authoring tools survey showed you have an appetite for learning more about the many tools out there. So we’re going to put several of them to the test. To start the series, this month Steve Rayson sees how Articulate handles the rapid e-learning corners.

How Articulate are you?

Articulate was near the top of the list of tools mentioned by respondents in our survey, so I looked forward to taking it for a spin and see what it could do.

I downloaded the trial versions of both Articulate Presenter and Articulate Quizmaker. I really liked the fact you could download the full product for a trial period. It enables you to get a real feel for the product and how you can use it.

Articulate presenter installed easily and added an extra ‘articulate’ menu item within PowerPoint. At first glance it is very similar to Breeze Presenter - if you have used Breeze Presenter before then you will have no difficulty getting started with Articulate. If you haven’t – well, it’s still not hard.

Don't have time to read the full review, follow this link to see an example module developed with Articulate.

The Rapid E-learning Scorecard:

In summary, I rated Articulate as follows

OVERALL SCORE: 32

The price tag: Articulate is currently offering an e-learning package of Presenter, QuizMaker and a set of e-learning templates for $1,398. Learn more about Articulate's e-learning software.

Read on for the full review of the product and how I developed the example above.

Articulate: The Full Road Test

Ease of use: 5/5

I decided to see if I could produce a short e-learning module on the new UK Age Regulations in no more than two hours. Why two hours? No reason other than that was when the football started and it seemed like a good test.

It is incredibly easy to develop a series of e-learning screens using Articulate. Just develop them in PowerPoint, add the animations you want and use articulate to publish to a Flash file. There are more sophisticated presentation settings enabling you to let users advance the screens and to show the individual slide headings or menu as you desire.

Instructional design flexibility: 4/5

Articulate will allow you to use a range of instructional design models. However, there is a danger when letting subject matter experts loose with tools like Articulate or Breeze will simply result in long, boring narrated power points. However, in the hands of a designer, skilled SME or ideally a designer working with an SME you could produce some high quality e-learning very rapidly. To learn how Kineo can help make sure your e-learning designs don’t fall into this trap, contact ourRapid E-learning Team.

On questions: Articulate handles questions with ease. You have two options. The first is to use the question types available inside Articulate. These are quite limited, but do allow you to ask scored questions, provide a time limit, etc. The second is to develop more sophisticated questions in Quizmaker (a separate download) and then import them to your Articulate presentation. I tried both but finally settled on the Quizmaker option as I really liked the style and format available. You can see my questions in the middle of the e-learning I produced. Unlike other tools, where questions hang around awkwardly at the end like the last guest at the party, you can make questions the main event in Articulate including formative and summative questions.

Ability to incorporate existing content: 4/5

It’s built to handle anything that’s already in PowerPoint extremely well, including all your animations and transitions. It is also very easy to incorporate audio and flash files including video.

Ability to handle variety of topics: 4/5

Articulate is great for quick briefings, product knowledge and you can even generate nice scenarios with a bit of practice. If you want systems training then you may want to look to a screen capture tool like Captivate or Wink.

Ability to incorporate graphics/media: 5/5

It’s easy to drop in a Flash file. We inserted a simple counter which counts down the days to the new Age Regulations, which you can see at the bottom of the e-learning we produced.

It’s very easy to record a narration over your slides or to import audio. I wasn’t focused on quality (the football was looming) but you get the idea. Personally on a design point I think audio works best where it is used sparingly to add emotional appeal or to get across the views of an expert – who could easily author rapid e-learning using Articulate. I would strongly suggest you don’t simply narrate over 50 slides

Ability to publish SCORM/AICC compliant courses: 5/5

Having produced my e-learning with a few minutes left before kick off, I decided to test the scorm packaging. So I published my finished programme as a scorm 1.2 zip package, complete with manifest etc., and uploaded it to our Moodle LMS. Surely sorting this out would push me into extra time? To my surprise the scorm zip file uploaded first time and tracked my scores fine. I know that shouldn’t be a surprise – but I’ve had my expectations lowered by lost nights trying to make this work with inferior tools.

Conclusion:

Articulate performed well overall. It can certainly be used for rapid e-learning and it a great vehicle for simple content produced quickly.

Bought Articulate? Agree or disagree with this review? Let us know.

Got an authoring tool, and need get some help in making the most of it? Kineo’s Rapid E-learning Design Team can help. Contact us.


Next month: Mark Harrison takes Breeze around the track…

Kineo has accepted no payment or reward of any form from any tools company for this independent review.