Item: Articulate 360
Rating: 10
Author: Guido Roessling

Overall Satisfaction with Articulate 360

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Articulate Storyline for training my students in various areas - using the editor they will be using for developing software, explaining basic programming concepts, and others. Another somewhat different and highly interactive course addresses how a teaching assistant or teacher can deal with a case of plagiarism.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Storyline is highly flexible, regarding its support for layers, the powerful yet easy to use concepts of triggers and helpful interactive elements such as lightbox slides and markers. These make creating interactive and attractive content easy and even fun!
The use of variables allows for another great deal of freedom in designing a course. Whether you only want to store the user's name and gender, or want to keep track of decisions or score is up to you. Storyline also lets you modify the content of slides based on the values of the variables, so you do not have to duplicate content but can simply vary it (hiding, showing, or modifying content) based on the value of some variable(s).
The integrated photographic character (more can be bought) and the sketched characters are highly flexible, provided in different poses and facial expressions. Adapting them to look as you want them to is done in a snap - and can, again, be changed based on a variable that tracked what the user has done before.

Cons

The main drawback for me personally is that there is no Mac OS X version of Storyline, forcing me to start up a VM (which slows down the computer) whenever I work on my content. I understand that developing a Mac version would be a lot of work - but having one would make my life that much easier.

Return on Investment

It is easier to engage students in a "show me" video with Storyline, as this can easily be spread out over multiple steps, or converted into "let me do it myself" interactive "video" - with nearly no effort.

Usability

"if you can use PowerPoint, you can use Articulate Storyline" (perhaps not its more advanced features, but enough to get going)!

Alternatives Considered

I have also examined Adobe Captivate. Storyline has won easily for me for the following reasons:
- ease of use
- flexibility (variables, adaptable characters)
- support for internationalization
Also, since I am not normally a user of Adobe software such as PhotoShop, it was far easier to become familiar with Storyline - which is loosely based on PowerPoint UI-wise - than Captivate, which seems to be more patterned after PhotoShop and other Adobe products I am not really familiar with.

Likelihood to Recommend

Windows (native or in a VM) is required and thus a hard criterion. If you are interested in developing e-learning content - or showcasing your product - with ease, high flexibility, the chance for relevant interactivity, check out Storyline's three day demo and its huge support including tutorials and free content on their web page.

Using Articulate 360

Users and Roles

Support Headcount Required

1 - If the users master PowerPoint, they can work with Storyline. However, to teach users how to achieve goals with Storyline and think outside the (narrow and restricting) box of "what I can do in Powerpoint", a more hands-on assistance is required. This means outlining features, hinting (often) towards the great online documentation, and giving ideas on what can be done.

Evaluating Articulate 360 and Competitors

Products Replaced

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Prior Experience with the Product

Storyline is easy and even fun to use, making the challenge of creating useful e-learning content a task to be (mostly) enjoyed, not a labour that "needs to be done, even if there is little fun in it". The high flexibility also makes you want to experiment with additional features to improve your course.

Articulate 360 Training

Online Training

The online training options given by the online tutorials, forums, and "E-Learning Heroes" community are simply awesome. Examples galore, easy to understand descriptions including step-by-step guides, images, occasionally videos, and the "Articulate Insiders" sub-community give you more materials to learn about Storyline than you are likely to be able to read.

Articulate 360 Support

Support Rating

The online community and the folks at Articulate are both incredibly helpful. Many possible questions do not even need to be asked, as the answers can already be found in the "E-Learning Heroes" community that supports the products and their users. This includes lots of examples, free content, and "show me how X is done" tutorials.

Articulate 360 Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Articulate Storyline: try it out, and you will stick with it!

Modules Used