Articulate 360: Bringing the E-Learning Development Process Full-Circle
December 15, 2016
Articulate 360: Bringing the E-Learning Development Process Full-Circle
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Articulate 360
We are in the process of moving towards Articulate 360 as our preferred platform for developing e-learning. At the moment, it is being used by our internal staff as we begin the process of moving clients to the new platform, with the goal being to have it across the entire organization in the future. We believe that Articulate 360 helps to better support mobile devices used by learners, enhance opportunities for collaboration during various stages of development with Review, and streamline the overall production process with features like the Content Library.
- Enhances support for mobile devices with the move away from primarily relying on Flash. The HTML5 engine has been rebuilt and now offers the option for specifying which type of output is published (HTML5 Only, HTML5/Flash, Flash/HTML5, Flash Only).
- The new Review tool makes it possible for reviewers to provide feedback which also shows exactly what was on-screen at the time they post each comment. This will greatly help alleviate confusion from vague bits of feedback now that developers can see exactly what happened.
- The lightweight screen-casting tools Peek and Preso help to better support our developers and answer client questions whenever an email simply isn't enough. Having the ability to quickly record my desktop screen, or annotate screens with my feedback, and upload it to Articulate 360 to share nicely streamlines my workflow.
- Having access to high quality templates, characters, and images (coming soon) will streamline the process for sourcing stock media in a way that better manages costs, since it's included in the price of the subscription.
- With the move from Flash to HTML5, there are a few bugs that still need to be worked out. But I think they'll be resolved quickly with the frequent release of updates.
- Currently, there is only a 1-size-fits all subscription that includes all of the tools at an annual lump-sum price point. It feels a little steep if you aren't actively using all of the tools, or compared to other subscriptions with monthly fees (e.g. Adobe Creative Cloud).
- Some of the issues reported in SL2 continue to be present in SL360, but there is a clear trend towards resolving even the peskiest of these legacy issues.
- There has been a positive impact for our support efforts with the addition of Peek's integration with Review. Specifically, it's reduced time to provide just-in-time support for our developers by being able to quickly record, upload, and share a screen-cast with our remote team.
- We have had some difficulty with upgrading existing projects to the new platform, but mostly due to them not being previously tested for HTML5/mobile. It's unclear whether or not this is due to underlying bugs in the new A360 software, or unidentified issues in the initial files. But having the ability to work with Articulate Support is making a world of difference.
- The new mobile player has better positioned us to offer mobile device support, despite not offering true responsive design. It strikes a nice balance between development effort and versatility for multi-device support.
- Lectora and Adobe Captivate
Articulate 360 takes a slightly different approach to multi-device support compared to other authoring tools. Instead of true responsive design, which requires at least twice as much time to develop, it strikes a balance with the addition of the responsive player. Although having a single layout for every device may not meet all needs, it helps to make development as efficient as possible while minimizing overall time/effort for turnaround. Where Articulate 360 really outperforms the competition is the inclusion of multiple tools in a single ecosystem—this allows for deeper integration between tools.