Don't Forget About Articulate Studio Users

Hi Katherine.

Firstly - I can sympathise with the "...feeding frenzy..." comment  

It's always the way with new technology, and I think (technology) companies typically get it wrong.

Feature and functionality comparisons are OK, but as you say, many lay-people do not understand these.

Have you seen this page - http://www.articulate.com/products/studio-preview.php?

For me, from what I know...here's the main difference:

If you rely on PowerPoint as your core "data", and you want your interactions to be "pre-built", go for Presenter.

It seems that much of Storyline, (except variables, states and conditions) will be available in Studio '12 (**NOTE - THIS WOULD NEED TO BE CONFIRMED, THAT IS JUST WHAT I REMEMBER FROM FORUM CHATTER), the underlying Player "engine" is the same and a lot of features are shared, (the wonderful Timeline, character packs etc.)

If you want to be able to build yourself, and do, (within reason...) pretty much anything, go for Storyline.

I have to say that I am excited about the new Studio '12, as I think will offer incredible power to the "Powerpoint-based" rapid eLearning community.

I see it as almost "Storyline Lite", but I would like to see a lot more comparisons articulated (excuse the pun) in "WHY" terms rather than "WHAT" terms.

A lot of the choice will be based upon your business, your course development plans etc. These are typically things that people may not associate with "...the thing we use to build that online learning...", but I think that you may need to do a bit of explanation and conceptual selling to your "powers that be".

Hope that helps somewhat.

Bruce

I'm in exactly the same boat as you, Katherine. The biggest thing I think will convince my managers to include the purchase of Storyline in next year's budget is being able to easily build "drag and drop" activities. At least I hope so!

Regarding this original discussion about the community forum, unless I am searching for a particular issue or want to view a tutorial, I have always just gone to the main community page and looked immediately at the "Site Activity" section to see the latest conversations. Your eye is naturally drawn to that area. However, I took Phil's advice early in this thread and decided to click on the Presenter forum. That was much easier to follow and I felt more "in the loop," since that's the tool I'm using. So now I don't feel so frustrated with all the emphasis on Storyline. Thanks, Phil, for your suggestion!

...also available in Studio '12

Cool! Thanks, Bruce. Maybe I'll be happy with the upgrade to Studio '12 instead. I wish I could take advantage of the free trial of Storyline so I could try it out, but that's a no-no at our company. It's like getting through Fort Knox to get new software installed. (Licensing requirements, staging, yadda yadda yadda.) I know why they do it, but it gets frustrating.

Donna,

Articulate are very clear that there is product seperation - however, as you say I think they need to be very clear and issue strong messages in order to reduce the "marginalisation" issue.

If any of the staff thought marginalisation was occuring, I am sure they would be personaly gutted and upset that a situation had occurred, however, I can see how this perception may grow.

This is where I think that a complete emphasis on business differences between products should occur.

You can always PM Dave, Jeanette, Tom or even Mark if you think there's something that could be done differently, they DO listen, and as members of these Forums we do have a remarkable chance to influence the way things are.

Bruce

We could always convince Bruce to post more about Studio and BAM, we'd instantly have tons of posts about Studio '09.  Haha. Just kidding. (You rock, Bruce!)

But seriously, in terms of the 'mix'; to me, it's like Studio '09 has a ton of content already contained in the forums and Storyline is just catching up.

As to the "which do I get" - I'd like to add my name to the list of confused potential buyers, haha.  I convinced the powers-that-be to get me a Storyline license and I LOVE IT!  But, I think that *gasp*, it may be too much for some of the folks that I work with.  Not that they wouldn't be able to handle using it; more that they currently use Studio '09 and, therefore, Studio '12 might be an easier transition for them.  Some people don't need branching and triggers and everything cool about Storyline.  Some folks need to convert Powerpoint presentations into flash presentations (with a couple of extra features).

Just my two cents.

LOL

I think Colin makes a VERY valid point...certainly worth 7 cents.

No matter how many times Tom shows us how to create fabulous eLearning, and despite the fact that it is within the bailiwick of an instructional designer to try and up the game of every e-Word we create, some folks DO just need to convert Powerpoint presentations into flash presentations (with a couple of extra features).

This may or may not be right, but it IS a business reality. Perhaps these folks are just at the start of a journey, and sometimes we have to take them along that road of exploration.

Here's a secret, (well....maybe not much of a secret...), this type of course can still be done REALLY WELL.

Take Tom's concepts of "Intentional Design", and "The Frankencourse". If these 2 concepts were just explored with the simplest of "Articulation" placed on top, our industry would be a million times better.

Now...it may be that some of us are now used to "Hub-menus" which are driven off "Next Triggers" and States, but these things are not necessary. There will no doubt be some Studio '12 Guru entries that knock spots off an "average" piece of Storyline construction.

Had never considered that Storyline is just catching up with Studio '09 posts - haha! 

When Studio '12 is out I am sure I will be making lots of useful (?) posts on it.

Bruce

@ Bruce: Thanks so much for the link...It did help explain the differences better. But from what I can tell, Studio 12 is a combination of SL and Studio 9. It is better suited for people who still primarily want to work in Powerpoint. I think that Studio 12 offers everything that Storyline does but with a PPT foundation. Is that right? The one thing I don't care for in SL is  the limited animations. After we learned how to perfect them with S9, now we can't use them here (well limited). Will Studio 12 be an answer to this? When will it come out?

 I wonder is the Articulate leadership would be willing to host a webinar on the different products, so those of us who need to get in proposals for next year's budget can have a clear idea of the differences.

Hi,

I think that's about right.

The limited animations in SL are, I believe, being addressed for a later release...

Studio 12 will still (I anticipate), be able to use everything that is in Powerpoint - as that's one of the differences. Studio is currently an "add-on" to Powerpoint, Storyline can (if you want it to...) import (some) Powerpoint functionality, but it is designed to be standalone. I could still create a stonking course with nothing but SL installed on my PC. I would of course need a few other things such as an operating system...but you know what I mean....

Studio 12 will come out, I suspect, "...when it is ready", (Articulate-speak...), but my hunch is it will be released in 2012

Loving the idea of a sales-webinar

Any takers...?

Bruce

+1 for the sales-webinar.  Or, at least a comparison-webinar, aka, "if you could only have one, buy this one."

Exactly Colin! I need to be sure that I am recommending the best product for my entire group.

I agree 100% with your sentiment.  Articulate is a company that offers two different products - Studio and Storyline.  The current buzz on the blogs and forums seems to be Storyline, which I don't use.

Please don't forget about us Articulate Studio customers.  We love to hear from Tom, Ron, et. al. with cool ideas and tips.

I think there is some irony in this post.  If you look at the responses, you will find somebody posting a Storyline file as an example.  This is exactly what the original post was concerned about!