HELP! Assisting Users Choose Storyline or the Articulate Suite

Hi Gerry, I took a quick look at your document. Good questions, however branching is what I do in Studio as well and mobile learning and translations is something I expect to be part of Studio'12... Rich media and creativity in design is still something I can do in Studio albeit I'd have to say you need to be pretty advanced in powerpoint and 3rd party tools.

For me the main questions are 1-2 and 4. I currently facilitate a 100 SME's with Studio and the ease of use right from the start does not compare to Storyline. I think Storyline is a tool for a more advanced, computer savy L&D person, not a random SME.

If you don't take into account the possibilities of studio'12 I'd say the mobile and translation questions are important to but then again, I manage Studio project translations just fine (Yes, I can't wait for presenter, engage and quizmaker to export and import captions as the copy-pasting does get tiresome) and have yet to experience a truly good mobile learning experience...

Maybe not to useful feedback but it's what popped into my mind...

Good luck,

Jeff

Studio will not do advanced branching and tracking (using variables)  I think this is and will be the domain of Storyline even after Studio 12 is launched (Articulate have said variable will not be in Studio 12).

There is a steeper learning curve with Storyline, but the single file, the fact that assets are imported not linked to in the end make it easier for new users with Storyline.  I facilitated a course with two people who had never used any elearning software and after two days they were building complex interactions without any need for me to intervene.

Just my two pence worth!

Gerry, this looks like a great start.  I tried to look at it from an end user perspective, and I found myself wondering things like “What if I create mostly linear content (Studio) but I also do a lot of software simulation (Studio)?”  There are some things that are deal breakers (e.g., if you want to publish to HTML5, you can’t use Studio, at least for now) but others that maybe could go either way (e.g., branching can be simple in Studio or more advanced in Storyline).

I almost wonder if some sort of simple flow chart/decision tree would be helpful…  For example, start with “Are you willing/able to take time to learn new software?”  If the answer is no, the rest won’t matter – they should use Studio.  If the answer is yes, then maybe it branches to another question.  I can see that quickly becoming unwieldy, but thought I’d mention it since it popped into my head…

Will also potentially rule out Studio '12 then, as it looks to be considerably different from current Studio '09, including many (but not all) of the innovations from Storyline!

Bruce

Not exactly the answer to your question, but we use a simple matrix to help folks make choices about which tool to use; this is the part of it that deals with Studio & Storyline, specifically.  Hope that it helps:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As5QTXC0Q-YpdENMbFFFLUJOSGxHeXdIaXk3Q1dwWWc

I would add some questions dealing with:

• Are you already very comfortable using PowerPoint?
• Are these PowerPoint animations must haves for you? List them: Wipes, fades, motion paths, etc.
• Do you consider yourself to be an advanced PowerPoint user?
• Do you consider yourself to be an advanced Presenter user?
• Do you  need to create screen recordings? Software simulations?

Just my 2 cents.

Hi there,

I am currently trying to make a similar decision - Articulate Storyline vs. Suite. I am used to PowerPoint and would not need to develop anything complicated with simulations.  At most drag and drops, quizes etc. Currently I am looking to build 'resources' for our website. We have a lot of content within the organization that we would like to package/chunk into easy to use resources, down the road build elearning courses. Which is the best option?

Question: With Articulate Suite would ipad users be able to view the elearning courses?

Great posts, thanks for all the wonderful ideas. 

Update--okay, we took the great feedback here and came up with a survey tool.  The latest version is below.

We would appreciate if folks could review and offer any suggestions.  Feedback welcomed and encouraged.

Thanks also to Mark and Gabe from Articulate who, in typical Articulate fashion, give us some great feedback when we asked for it.

Wow Gerry,

That's some survey! Nicely done.

In my experience, there is one other BIG factor that seems to come up with many stakeholders again and again... even though it's often not an obvious initial concern...

"Can you change the look of that part right there or how this works here?"

So many folks are visual nowadays and many companies have strong visual/branding standards for how things have to look/work. As a result, I've found one of the major decision points for authoring tool choice is the ability to truly customize things to create a unique and/or consistent look, versus ease of use and shallow learning curve.

You know the kinds of things I'm talking about....

• different look between PPT slide and Engage Slide with the header bar
• different navigation on Quizmaker slide vs PPT slide vs Engage slide (submit here, vs next there, etc). 
• "love the pyramid, but can can't we make the corners rounder to match the X thingie over here"  ... you get the idea

To summarize, I've found that it's the ability to customize look/feel and navigation vs the learning curve for authors, that often proves to be the key tradeoff for folks.

Hope this helps,

Bob

Gerry, this is FANTASTIC!  Thanks so much for sharing.

I would add.

Are you really happy using PowerPoint including wide range of animation effects. A yes would point to Presenter.

Do you want to easily achieve a customised look to your project? A yes = Storyline.

Mobile learning = Storyline.

Is accessibility/compliance an essential factor if yes I would opt for Storyline.

Personally I have used both and definitely prefer Storyline.  If someone has used authoring tools before then they will find Storyline a better fit as I think they will find the functionality Presenter offers limited.