Adobe Presenter is a PowerPoint plugin for converting PowerPoint presentations into elearning content. It allows for multimedia and interactive integrations and can be mobile accessible. Presenter can also integrate with standalone LMS products, including Adobe Captivate.
N/A
Coursera
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Coursera is a learning management platform from the company of the same name in Mountain View, California.
As I mentioned earlier, it's best used for "presentations," rather than bona fide "training." That's why we tend to use it when the information is relatively simple and/or doesn't need to be fully internalized or mastered (which would require providing opportunities for practice and feedback and a more engaging, interactive learning experience). However, it can be used as part of a blended-learning solution, with some information provided via an Adobe Presenter module first, and then some kind of instructor-led session as a follow-up, which would include more role-specific info, as well as practice and feedback opportunities. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Adobe Presenter Video Express is great for creating quick overview demos about a new system -- more of a "see what it can do" type thing than a "here's how you do it" thing (unless the "it" is very simple and the video is used more as a microlearning/performance support type of offering).
The Coursera platform can be a useful part of your overall learning content portfolio if utilized correctly. It's fantastic for asynchronous courses that don't necessarily need a dedicated faculty member (though I'd highly recommend at least having some discussion moderators/student workers) and for offering MOOCs. The ability for the learners to contribute translations really makes it ideal for the international learning community - I am always amazed to see a course we launched with 2-3 languages to quickly have 10-12 more added. This feature really helps expand the audience reach and Coursera has such a large following already that it can grow seemingly overnight.
Because it integrates with PowerPoint, it is possible to go from planning outline to storyboard to final output withing a single document and as part of a seamless and logical design process.
Its ability to create videos that capture screens along with web-cam recordings, then edit them within the solution means higher level training recordings can be created versus, say a recorded WebEx training session.
Presenter's ability to create quiz elements similar to Adobe Captivate, add interactions, and interface with Adobe's LMS means it is capable of functioning as a complete e-learning development environment. .
If up front cost is a consideration, Presenter wins hands down over many better known training development and e-learning solutions.
Interaction: the student learns by doing. For programming courses, this means programming!
Assessments: the courses I'd taken ask students to grade each others work with a rubric. This is hugely effective and permits tests and quizzes to be other than multiple choice.
Creativity and enthusiasm of the instructors. Some of the approaches demonstrated real out-of-the-box thinking by the instructors. For example, the Rice Python course was a self-contained website requiring no installation of IDE on one's computer, and the final project was a working version of Asteroids.
Low cost of entry: most of the course I enrolled in were free, with an optional fee for certifications. This really gives people the freedom to explore learning. It's almost like a Public Library of Learning.
Coursera forces a weekly discipline on the user with lectures and assignments and this really motivates one to put in the effort.
Some of the courses (very few) have some old information (more than 2 years), and in some areas like technology the information has to be very new and updated.
Some professors or people doing videos are not good in front of the camera, they should train their people a little bit more for those things.
My company is pretty invested in the Adobe ecosystem and is unlikely to change that in the foreseeable future. Also, Adobe Presenter is a very valuable tool and, with the new subscription model and the pricing we have, a relatively modest expense now. It's also fairly easy to learn and use, so it is starting to spread beyond the sphere of the various Learning & Development departments.
It is easy to access since it is an added tool to the Powerpoint program. We have not had complaints from faculty members regarding not having it available when they need it.
Due to the aforementioned issues with Flash, it can be discouraging to get to the publishing stage and begin receiving error messages. Once we are able to move past that issue, we have great success with the performance of Adobe Presenter.
I think I pretty much answered this earlier....premium support is extremely expensive and online support can be difficult to navigate. Although, to be fair, when it comes to Presenter (compared to, say, Captivate), there isn't too frequent a need for support, since Presenter is a rather simple tool to use
LMS365 and Adobe Presenter are not that much different, the major issue that we faced with LMS was that we had to integrate that with the SharePoint, for accessibility and that cases whole lot of confusions and keeping things clean as SharePoint was being used for file store and sharing within the company. Moving to Adobe Presenter was taken as it was independent platform and didn't have any dependency.
I think Coursera has the best overall interface. I think you will find that different platforms go in different directions, and have different specialities. For the most part the differences are more in the types of courses they offer than one being particularly better than the other, so it comes down to content for me.
The program still seems to rely heavily on Adobe Flash even though the online community is moving away from it. When publishing, users will experience error messages regarding Flash, which can make it difficult to complete your work.
It will be safe to say that overall impact had been positive in regards to ROI
Training costs have been reduced by a huge margin since we started using this tool.
Time consumed in training staff is also decreased, as with Adobe Presenter training can be done remotely and are able to train different groups at the same time.
The greatest benefit of Coursera is access to quality courses on various subjects that you can either browse or dive in deeply. Customizable, flexible and accessible.
Helps our department to recommend trainees courses on this website and gain important knowledge. Also, the courses are provided by big-name universities which helps students in their careers
