Articulate on iPads?

A better strategy would be to develop content that is based on standards. All idevices, tablets and toasters will probably support html5 and css3 within a short time span. E-learning authoring tools will have to follow, just look what Adobe and Microsoft are saying:

• Flash vs. HTML5: Adobe Weighs In
• Microsoft: Our strategy with Silverlight has shifted

In a hospital environment e-learing on a tablet would be great. Every does not have access to a quiet are with a pc, but with a tablet and some headphones they could take courses.

I find this article very interesting: "HTML5 And Flash: Why It’s Not A War, And Why Flash Won’t Die."

Interesting conclusion by the author and Flash's place with learning solutions:

"Flash has been misused and overused for the past eight years, spreading its tentacles too far into the fabric of Web design. But rather than getting beaten out of the picture by these practical new Web frameworks, Flash will retreat to its proper place: those niche areas where it belongs and can truly excel. The first niche is multimedia and learning solutions for the corporate space. Only time will tell if Flash finds its second niche on mobile platforms."

I think Katiebrings up an interesting point, and it's one that I have brought up with mymanager and team on multiple occasions: What is the value of mobile learning?Yes, my manager's eyes light up when I can put an eLearning course that I builton our test iPad, but my position is that this really does not add anyvalue.  Being able to take an elearningcourse that is designed for use on a computer over an ipad doesn't give youanything extra when it comes to retention learning. 

The value I seein iPads is not for click-through elearning, but more for performancesupport.  I work for a food manufacturingcompany.  My vision is that people on theline could pull up interactive process documents on an iPad that's velcroed tothe machine they are using.  How I buildthese process documents is the question. There are lots of ways to do it, but the reason I wish that Articulatehad HTML5 publishing options is that I'm already familiar and comfortabledeveloping in Articulate. Right now I'm playing with just publishing to PDF,which preserves internal hyperlinks but looses all other course navigation andLMS integration, etc.  See what I mean? 

Another challenge we are running into with iPad users is more related to our LMS, unfortunately...  Our LMS requires the use of pop up windows, but I have found it impossible to disable the pop up blocker in some of the iPad apps, such as Safari.

Echoing agreement with others, though, in the fact that I would love to see Articulate natively publish HTML5 compliant content.

Subtle hints noted...but, can you speed it up? :P

From a strictly business standpoint i think it makes more sense to deploy Android tablets if you are targeting training within your company. The initial cost is lower than an iPad, you have Flash support, and the OS is open source so you can customize it (security, etc.) to suite your needs.

If you are targeting an outside audience, then pubishing for an iPad may make sense. Personally, I don't see training on mobile devices being a big moneymaker except maybe if the installed base in the K-12 and college markets reaches critical mass.

Just my 2 cents.

Every organization will need to make decisions best for its objectives and overall goals.

However, @Jeff training on mobile devices is more than a question of "will it be a moneymaker" at first. It may cost more in the beginning, similar to the first Texas Instrument hand calculators (LOL).

But, after having attended The e-Learning Guild's mLearnCon conference on mobile learning June 2010 (San Diego), it was made very clear that training on mobile devices is happening and will happen more over time.

I steer away from the "which OS" and "HTML5 vs. Flash" debates because I want to design for mobile learning, in whatever OS and devices are available to our learners. Instructional design methods for mobile will be a growing, and needed, skill.

mLearnCon will be in San Jose this summer.

I hope to be there!

I agree with Ethan above. I think the real revolution in mobile devices will be performance support. We've been moving more and more of our course work to performance support that includes orienters and explainers for that "just enough" boost to get the job done.

A few of our efforts have used trackables, so we abstract the trackable elements into the LMS and everything else is right there in the EPSS. No log in. Easy to access. And all of the task guides and just enough training materials are right where you need them.

We've seen some studies in the military environment that indicate there are two schools of though surrounding the efficacy of mobile learning:

1. If the organization doesn't provide the equipment, most won't do it on their own.

2. After the initial innovation grace, acceptance drops way off.

Working the culture and making the device a part of the job can overcome these barriers. I really think that the newer devices really are far and away better than older devices in some of these studies. The thing that hasn't changed is the nature of people.

I only know that I don't want to custom tune a solution for a particular device. I just want to publish once and have it work reasonably anywhere. I don't think that's too much to ask:P

Hey, Brian!  There's always the lowtech way.  Keep the mobile content out of the LMS.  Then require they go to the LMS to pass a final quiz or to affirm that they have reviewed the content.

Excellent observations.