Articulate Storyline is an eLearning tool that can be utilized by online education content developers. The software tool allows you to create courses using a single program. One of the neat things about Storyline is that it is easy to use for those with little to no programming skills and it has numerous tools to help content developers create engaging courses. Although there are numerous capabilities within Storyline this review will only focus on a few of the cooler capabilities.
The interface for Storyline is setup to make it easy for the user to navigate. There are a number of tutorials at the front when Storyline is launched so that the user can quickly review a video to understand how to use the various capabilities of the software. Storyline comes with options for using existing PowerPoint charts, videos, or even record your screen as you create something that you can then edit. You can also use existing templates in Storyline to create new content or use Quizmaker to insert quizzes into the course.
One aspect of Storyline that is interesting is that the editing interface is a lot like PowerPoint which makes it very easy to navigate because most users will have had some exposure to PowerPoint. The toolbar in Storyline allows the user to set numerous preferences and also has the key Undo and Redo buttons. The user will create scenes using PowerPoint slides, images, videos and so on to provide a cool visual experience to the student. One key aspect of Storyline is that it enables the developer to create complex branches within the scenes so that the student can go down various paths depending on their selections.
Content developers can create layers on the PowerPoint slides that will then appear or disappear based on triggers. The Triggers in Storyline are basic and their behaviors are pre-programmed, however, developers with the skills to add JavaScript can actually define the behaviors of the triggers themselves.
Another interesting tool within Storyline is the ability to add characters to the course. The content developer is able to insert an illustrated character, choose the character's pose and expression and insert it as needed.
Content developed using Articulate Storyline is extremely mobile, and can be output to HTML5 and Flash, or view in Safari or the Articulate Mobile player app for iPad users. One of the downsides to the Articulate Mobile app is that SCORM can't be tracked.
The bottom line for Storyline is that it is very easy to use and allows the content developer a lot of flexibility in experimenting with the organization and flow of a course. Content can be divided into scenes and allows for complex branching ultimately resulting in engaging course content for eLearning. Unfortunately Storyline is only compatible with Windows users. There is a workaround for Mac users if they setup a virtual Windows machine but this is the biggest drawback to Articulate Storyline.
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