AdamSchwartz founded Articulate in 2002 with a vision to transform the trainingindustry. The company has repeatedly pushed the industry forward by developingtools that radically simplify eLearning development. Known for itshigh-quality, easy-to-use apps, Articulate has won more than 60 product awardsand earned the trust of 60,000 organizations in 151 countries, including 93 ofthe Fortune 100 companies. More than 64 million learners have taken coursescreated with Articulate software.
Icaught up with Adam following the launch of Articulate 360 to ask him about hisvision and about eLearning today.
Adam Schwartz,Articulate
Bill Brandon: Adam, thank you for agreeing toshare your thoughts about eLearning with the readers of Learning Solutions Magazine. Let me start by asking: What are themajor trends in eLearning that you think are pushing the industry forwardtoday?
Adam Schwartz: In the last five years, eLearningcourses have evolved from fairly simple “click-next” PowerPoint-based trainingto richly interactive experiences. Tools like Storyline have made it possiblefor people without programming expertise—even complete newcomers to eLearning—tounleash their creativity in ways that simply weren’t possible before. It’sempowered course creators to incorporate more gaming elements, realisticscenarios, and even things like interactive video to engage today’s learners inmore meaningful ways. What’s exciting is that we’ve removed the technologicalbarrier to imagination and creativity. If you know how to use a computer andbasic applications like PowerPoint, you can build some incredible stuff ineLearning-authoring apps like Storyline.
The shift toward mobile is also clearlyanother force directing the eLearning industry today. The fact is that we livein a multi-device world. At home and at work, people expect a kind of fluiditybetween devices. If they start watching a video or reading content on acomputer, then switch to a tablet or phone to finish it, they expect theexperience won’t be degraded. eLearning experiences are no exception, but as anindustry we’re lagging behind when it comes to delivering exceptional mobileexperiences. We need to make it easy for course creators of all skill levels tocreate eLearning that moves seamlessly from device to device.
We’re also seeing a trend toward moreinformal online learning, often with video at the center. One of the largestlearning platforms in the world is YouTube, and that’s powered in no small partby short, informal instructional videos. To me, it’s significant that thishunger to educate others spans across every industry, role, geography, anddemographic. There’s a lot more we can do to nourish that impulse and removetechnological barriers to its expression.
BB: There’s a lot going on to beexcited about, but won’t there continue to be challenges to eLearningdevelopers even within these trends?
AS: Many of our customers are drawn tocourse development because they’re passionate about empowering others througheducation. They want to deliver the most effective learning experiencespossible. But despite the leaps forward we’ve made with authoring tools, overthe last few years in particular, they still face many challenges. Oftenhampered by limited budgets and tight project deadlines, they don’t always havethe resources and time they need. In fact, 45 percent of course creators wesurveyed said they wish they had access to templates, pre-built interactions,and course assets, and a full 65 percent said they don’t have enough time tocreate really high-quality eLearning.
Many eLearning developers don’t have allthe tools they need to create the different types of eLearning required intoday’s multifaceted learning landscape. More than a third—35 percent—said theycan only pick one authoring tool. That problem is compounded when you layer onmobile. Increasingly, course creators are asked to create mobile courses, yet73 percent say that it’s difficult to make sure courses look good on everydevice.
Course developers also report that theproject review process is often painfully difficult and time-consuming. Theyspend 40 percent of their time planning, prototyping, and iterating courseswith subject matter experts. This is time they could spend creating compellingcontent instead.
What’sclear is that creating and delivering different types of eLearning in today’smulti-device world shouldn’t be hard, but there are many aspects that still aredifficult.
BB: The launch of Articulate 360included a number of new tools and features. How will these help eLearningdevelopers overcome the difficulties of creating and delivering eLearning totoday’s diverse technology ecosystem on time and within budget?
AS: Articulate has always focused ondeveloping products that do the heavy lifting so our customers don’t have to.With Articulate 360, we’ve extended that same mindset to the entire coursecreation process. It provides tools that simplify every aspect of coursedevelopment.
Ifyou break it down, there are several key challenges eLearning developers facewhen developing courses. They need authoring tools that let them build once anddeliver to every device, without a lot of effort. They need compelling visualassets that won’t break their budgets. They need subject matter experts andother stakeholders to sign off on their projects. And they, themselves, needtraining to grow professionally.
Wespecifically address all of these challenges with Articulate 360. It’s a single-subscriptionoffering released last week that’s squarely aimed at supporting developerproductivity and empowering them to create any type of eLearning, faster thanever before. To answer your question, here’s a quick rundown of the apps,content, and services that are part of Articulate 360.
First,the authoring tools. Our new responsive authoring app, Rise, lets eLearningdevelopers create inherently responsive courses that adapt automatically toevery smartphone, tablet, and desktop device right from a web browser. We thinkRise will become the go-to authoring tool for many eLearning developers,especially those who need to deliver a lot of mobile courses. Articulate 360also includes the latest versions of Storyline and Studio. They both have newresponsive preview and player features that, like Rise, make it easier todeliver multi-device courses without requiring developers to manually tweakcontent. The final authoring tools part of Articulate 360 are Preso, Peek, andReplay 360, three apps for creating videos on iPad, Mac, and Windows computers.We believe video will continue to be a big part of eLearning, and these toolsgive developers what they need to create different types of video easily.
Inaddition to the authoring apps, Articulate 360 also includes content and appsthat boost developer productivity in additional ways. Content Library has anexpanding collection of professionally designed slide templates and images thatwill help developers create high-quality eLearning content faster. AndArticulate Review speeds up project reviews by letting developers share,gather, and respond to consolidated feedback on Articulate 360 content in asimple web app. Articulate Review provides screenshots of what reviewers were lookingat when they entered comments, preventing misunderstandings.
We’vealways focused on supporting customers with more than just great apps; we put alot of energy into our eLearning community. And with Articulate 360, we take ita step further by including live training webinars that will help eLearningdevelopers grow their skills.
We’vecovered a lot of ground with Articulate 360, and we think it will really helpeLearning developers meet their challenges.
BB: The field of eLearning has changed alot since you started Articulate in 2002. What is the most exciting part ofleading the company today?
AS: What’s most exciting to me about being in thisindustry is that there’s so much more we can do to democratize eLearning. Whilethere’s been some technological leaps in course creation, we haven’t reallyseen the eLearning industry profoundly disrupted yet. Legacy systems stilldominate in the enterprise. Developing eLearning in corporate settings is oftenin the hands of a few dedicated eLearning professionals. And course content istypically locked behind firewalls and paywalls. In the coming years, I expectwe’ll see disruption of these dynamics.
