Articulate® released Articulate Storyline®, its eLearning authoring tool designed to support both beginner and expert eLearning authors. With Articulate Storyline, eLearning authors can create interactivity, software simulations, and a wide range of assessments. Articulate Storyline includes one-click publishing to Flash, HTML5, and Articulate Mobile Player, a new iPad app that provides for viewing of e-learning content on the iPad.
“Articulate Storyline is the only eLearning software that grows with you,” says Adam Schwartz, Articulate’s founder and CEO. “If you’re a beginner, you can get started with Storyline without training. It takes just minutes to build amazing interactivity. Then, as your skills grow, you can take advantage of Storyline’s incredible power to create anything you want. Your imagination’s the limit. For the first time ever, you don’t have to sacrifice power for simplicity.”
Calling features such as slide layers, triggers, and states in Articulate Storyline “innovative,” Articulate allows eLearning authors to creative interactive learning without any programming knowledge. Slide layers make it possible to build multiple interactions on a single slide by overlaying objects, rather than duplicating multiple slides. The triggers feature controls which activity occurs when learners take certain actions, and combining simple triggers creates increasingly complex interactivity. The states feature “makes objects feel alive.” For example, eLearning authors can set an object to change color when it’s visited or a character’s expression to change from happy to sad when a learner answers a question incorrectly. Storyline also includes variables for creating conditional interactivity.
Combining form-based authoring with slide-based editing, the quizzing features in Articulate Storyline allow eLearning authors to create 20 types of questions. ELearning authors can also use free-form question types to rapidly build assessments from any objects on a slide using drag-and-drop interactions. Advanced quizzing features in Articulate Storyline include question pooling, randomization, and the ability to score a learner’s progress at multiple points in the course.
The software simulation and screen recording capabilities in Articulate Storyline let e-learning authors create simulations by recording a screen session once and inserting the recording as step-by-step slides. They can then choose View mode to demonstrate a task, Try mode to let learners attempt the task, or Test mode to assess a learner’s ability to complete the task. Storyline then simplifies subsequent editing or changing modes without the need to re-record.
Storyline includes section 508 support for accessibility to learners with disabilities. It also supports right-to-left languages, including double-byte character sets required for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Courses can be published with a single click to multiple formats, including Flash, HTML5 and the Articulate Mobile Player, a native iOS application that optimizes the viewing experience on iPads.
Articulate Storyline pricing is currently set at $1,398 USD, and the company offers a 30-day free trial. Articulate Studio ’09 customers who purchase Articulate Storyline receive a complimentary bundle of eight photographic characters.
Articulate has more than 28,000 customers in 120 countries authoring eLearning content. Articulate’s e-learning community offers hundreds tutorials, free course downloads, and expert advice on building eLearning content. Visit the company website, or view the entire press release.
