Allow downloading for offline viewing with Presenter 13 and Litmos

May 06, 2014

I am pushing a rapid learning project to prepare our sales force for participation in a quickly upcoming tradeshow.

One of the features that I touted to our salesforce (read "road warriors") was the ability to download content when online and view the content when online access was not available.  I have been able to successfully deploy this with other content using our LMS, Litmos, with other initiatives using Storyline or Presenter '13 (I am using Presenter for this coursework) by publishing to Tin Can API, include HTML5 output, Use Articulate Mobile Player on iPad and Allow downloading for offline viewing.

  1. Users access the LMS with an internet connection, 
  2. User selects the course
  3. the course opens in Articulate Mobile Player, or the user is directed to download the player from the App Store
  4. User can select to download the course for offline viewing and the course downloads and is added to their library
  5. User can complete the course while offline
  6. Once a user is again online, the course completion status is communicated back to the LMS

I began getting reports from users about the inability to download content almost immediately.  Sure enough, the current content that has been published does not show the download ability in the Articulate Mobile Player app.

I tried a few of my older courses that I KNOW previously had the ability to be downloaded to the iPad for offline viewing, and this ability has disappeared.

I have searched the Articulate website for direction in this (difficult because the search feature is unreliable at best) and have come up with conflicting information:

 http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/publishing-a-presentation-for-lms-in-articulate-presenter.aspx   which states that downloading for offline viewing is supported, however, tracking is unavailable offline.

  • Allow downloading for offline viewing: This option lets learners download content to their Articulate Mobile Player, so that they can view it offline later. Currently, however, the Articulate Mobile player only supports tracking while online, so learners who attempt to view a presentation offline will be prompted to reconnect.

http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/publishing-a-presentation-for-ipad-or-html5.aspx also states that downloading for offline viewing is available, but 

How can I track and report on mobile learners' progress?

To track learners who view your iPad or HTML5 content, do any one of the following:

Deploy your presentation from an LMS that supports Tin Can APITin Can API is a communication specification that allows learning management systems (LMSs) to receive tracking data from mobile apps. When you publish, choose LMS as your publish option, and mark the box to Use Articulate Mobile Player on iPad

http://www.articulate.com/support/storyline/tin-can-api-content-doesnt-get-tracked-when-viewed-in-the-articulate-mobile-player states:

You may find that an Articulate Storyline course published for Tin Can API doesn't track as expected in your learning management system (LMS) when it's viewed in the Articulate Mobile Player app for iPad.

This issue was corrected in version 1.75 of the Articulate Mobile Player app. Install the latest update to resolve it.

I am using Articulate Mobile Player v 2.23 dated March 27, 2014.

I am using Articulate Presenter '13 v 2: 1402.2817

I am using Litmos as my LMS which (I believe) is using Tin Can .95

I will cross-post this question to the Litmos forums as well.  This is a critical component of our elearning deployment for this project and I have been bragging about how great the content looks on an iPad using the Articulate Mobile Player!

2 Replies
Janet Cecchettini

Update to this issue - I am frustrated beyond belief!!

I JUST received a definitive response to this question to the forum last week and also sent to support a couple of hours after the post having not received and feedback.

Having tested content per Articulate's request at SCORM-cloud, invited them to review the content there and on my LMS, forwarding the Presenter output file in zip format per Articulate's request, following up again because I hadn't heard from anyone, this is what I received:

Unfortunately, we did not get your file upload for theproject file.

Upon checking, the Available Offline switch won't workfor Tin Can API content. This would be a feature request. Here's moreinformation:

http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter-13/offline-viewing-isnt-available-for-tin-can-api-content-ap13

I hope that this information helps and let me know if youneed further assistance by replying to this email. 

One week to get confirmation that a feature that used to work is now a feature request?!?!?!?

I feel as if I am losing my mind!  Can anyone else confirm that this "used to be" functionality is not simply a figment of my imagination?

I have responded back to support to inquire as to when and why the change and if it is the result of a change to iOS, Tin Can API or Articulate.  This is a critical feature for some of my learners that spend a lot of time traveling.

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Janet,

I sincerely apologize for the delay and the frustration, as well as for any confusion. 

With Presenter '13, as well as Storyline, that's correct - Offline Viewing for Tin Can content isn't currently available. This wasn't the case for Studio '09, because mobile viewing isn't included with that version (Articulate Mobile Player and HTML5 output functionality were introduced with Studio '13).

This wasn't available in a previous version of Presenter '13, but the documentation for this functionality wasn't available until recently. We've also updated the tutorials related to this topic, so that there's less confusion.

As for the delay in response to your support case, I do see where the file was requested, but I don't see an upload to the case. With that being said, however, we should have communicated with you in a more timely manner and with more clarity. 

Again, I apologize for the trouble, Janet. We certainly want to make sure that your experience with us is a positive one. 

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Best,

Christine

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