Tool Review: SmartBuilder

[Update: 20/04/2012] We haven’t reviewed this tool for a while and since the SmartBuilder team heard our initial criticisms they’ve made some significant efforts to address them. We are conducting our own review of the latest version, but in the meantime, if you’ve tried it out recently, let us know what you think.

SmartBuilder – Getting Smart for a Test Drive

On the authoring tools front, we've been hearing a lot about SmartBuilder from Suddenly Smart, particularly for creating branching eLearning. So what’s it all about?

From their website blurb, SmartBuilder indeed promises a lot :

“SmartBuilder combines the power of robust authoring tools like Flash, with a rapid development timeline...It is the only robust course authoring tool that does not require scripting. And with its intuitive point-and-click interface, SmartBuilder has a learning curve that's measured in days, versus months for Flash.”

The words ‘intuitive’ and reduced ‘learning curve’ suggest that a first-time user should find it pretty easy to pick up. The promise of a quick to learn, powerful scenario-creation tool is appealing. So, a classic opportunity for a Kineo test drive.

In a nutshell

It’s certainly powerful. If you want to create branching scenarios that think for themselves (with variables and consequences), it can offer quite complex solutions without needing Flash skills.

The catch? There always is a catch of course. Well, as you will see, it doesn’t quite live up to the ‘intuitive’ claim, though to be fair we did dive straight in with no training. This is how we got on.

The user interface

After logging in, you are presented with the chance to watch an introductory tutorial. It takes just under 10 minutes to go through the basics of the interface and the branching features. This is a good investment.

The interface loaded in a few seconds and provides a clean but quite stark working environment. SmartBuilder is rather utilitarian in its approach to user interfaces.

The icons have text prompts – necessary because it’s not totally clear at times what each one does.

There’s no immediate access to item features. Instead, you have to navigate to either the bottom or the right side of the screen to access and change parameters. Mind you, you’ll have plenty of those to change and customise!

The interface – not straightforward for a beginner – is on par complexity-wise with Flash. Not for the technologically faint-hearted.

It is a page-based layout using basic editing functions. There’s a top bar, a left bar with tools and items, a right panel with a hierarchy window, and underneath all the parameters for anything you click on. At the bottom of the screen you get the Action List, the Flow Chart and the Variables panels and properties. More on these later.

It is not particularly well designed for the ‘dive in’ types that are pretty common in the training technology world. Do take the tutorial to start with!

Creating pages and adding graphics

You can start by creating a new page... easy enough. You add some text... Also easy enough. But then you want to do a simple task like adding a graphic... not so easy. In fact, not easy at all. Inserting a graphic will add a placeholder to your working area that will remain there until you click twice on it. Then you will be taken to a “media select” window that serves as a library. Then you have to upload your graphic to that library via a window that will ask you to browse for your file. Once you have chosen the file you want to upload and have uploaded it, you can then select it – and it will appear where the placeholder once was. As in other server-based tools on the market, it would be much, much easier if the process was reversed and anything uploaded were added to the library automatically.

If you need to add any effect to your graphics, the selection is decent but limited and can only apply one at a time. So no bevel and shadow at the same time!

Adding shapes is easier than adding graphics. Just choose one of the six pre-selected categories at your disposal, or browse the library for a basic selection of other shapes. These are not editable, so if you want an arrow with a specific angle in the tip, you can’t get it.

Adding audio

If you want to add audio it has to be in the allowed MP3 format. Not terrible, but it means you’ll need to convert your other formats if you want use them. For the audio you get a small player with some controls: play/pause button, forward button, speaker icon and a slider. The slider won’t go at the same rate as the audio. After playing only 25 seconds of the 4-minute+ song I uploaded, the counter was almost half way to the end. I didn’t get the chance to find out what happens when the music or speech are advanced, though, because when you touch the slider, it rewinds all the way back and you have to start again.

Skins

The program comes with a series of templates and skins that you can apply to your modules and courses, and you can create your own – although this process is quite complex, so you would probably find yourself sticking to their existing skins.

The power of branching

So, there are some limitations. However, it is clearly a tool that (rather like those Italian super cars), doesn’t bother too much about standard controls – but has a very powerful engine. When you get to the branching side of things, you can see just how powerful it is.

With the right knowledge, actions that control what happens when the learner does specific things can be created very easily. Everything on the working space has a little arrow icon on the top-right part of it that gives you access to a 'create action' sub-menu, and another that will determine which actions can affect the object. Selecting either will give access to different sub-menus, selection screens, variables and a long list of options that will send your mind boggling.

There are quite a few things SmartBuilder does very, very well. The flowchart view of the branching is absolutely terrific. It visually provides you with a very good overview of your scene options, scenario flow, functionality, conditions attached to each stage, etc. It also has a very good set of tools for performance measurement. For example, if you need a graded scenario where good responses and bad responses have an impact on the outcome, SmartBuilder will indeed offer you all you need. If you need to link several scenarios to create a complex walk-through, you’re in luck as well.

Translations

SmartBuilder is also very good at translations. If you have to deliver your training in more than one language, you have a good set of tools to make your work extremely easy. In essence, you can create a clone of your existing project, then you’ll have, side by side, all the text in it – from instructional text, to descriptions, button labels and so on. Change the words in the appropriate column and the clone module will take on the translation without changing the layout. Make any amends in the layout of the original module and the translated one will be changed accordingly. Very nifty!

Kineo Scorecard

The bottom line

In essence, SmartBuilder seems to have been designed with hardcore builders in mind. So, it’s not straightforward but it’s very powerful and can do a huge amount of interactivity. It’s very efficient at it too and it has been solidly built.

Like Flash, it offers a lot of possibilities but it is not as intuitive as some other applications in the market and it could difficult if you are a first timer and timescales are tight. Overall though it is certainly worth a look and including on your shortlist.

Do you agree with our review? Let us know.