Articulate Storyline - Beta Testing

Over the last two years I have been tinkering with an E-learning authoring software called Articulate Studio. With it you can create non-linear Powerpoint based lessons,quizzes and surveys. The software would publish your content in a flash based output.

With the surge of iOS and mobile computing, the company is evolving to publishing in iOS and HTML5 as flash is being relegated in the mobile computing world. I was fortunate to be invited to the Beta testing phase of the "evolving product" now called StoryLine (SL).

I have found it to be very flexible in creating custom made exercises/lessons for both the web(PC/MAC) and mobile devices. Rather than searching for the right free app to provide my students with the content I want them to know or I want to test them on, I simply build the presentation or quiz. The students in turn can access the material; through the web (posted link using dropbox/angel) using a PC/MAC/iOS or Android device; download the iOS Articulate player app to enjoy unlimited interactivity with the material using an iPad.

Here is a sample for an anatomy and physiology practice quiz I built:

1. For web browser click Web access
2. For unlimited iPad access first download the the Mobile articulate player, then iOS access

I envision a paperless class can be built entirely by using SL or Studio for cross-platform student access.

Let me know what you think and the possible potential applications to your course!?

WARNING: No wifi Ahead

When choosing apps, especially for the mobile classroom, apps that do not require wifi access 100% of the time are very valuable. Learning often happens outside the classroom. It happens in an outdoor lab, a class fieldtrip or just students reflecting on course material as they go about their day. Students may also want to digest some of the course material during some free time, but when they don’t have wifi access. The concept of apps started with smartphones, which are devices that are connected to the internet almost 100% of the time. However, 65% of tablets in general and 75% of iPads are wifi only. Apps specifically made for tablets seem to be aware of this and often provide “offline” content and functionality. The apple app store does a good job of separating iPad apps from iPhone apps so you can easily choose only apps designed for the tablet platform. However, the Android market does not make this distinction. This often makes it difficult to find apps that don’t require full time wifi access. We encountered this issue several times last semester, especially when using Google docs. However, a new update to the Android Google docs app now allows for offline editing. I’m sure this trend will continue as developers realize that users want to use their devices even when they don’t have wifi. Please respond to this post with any useful apps that you have found that don’t require wifi access.

Give an App!

You can buy apps and give them as a gift to other people. If you go into iTunes from a computer or the App Store on an iOS device and go to a particular app, one of the options it gives you is to "gift this app." You can give the same app to several people at one time by just typing in their email address. They will be sent an email with instructions on how to redeem the app. This is a great way to give students an app you want them to use in the classroom if it is not free. However, you will get charged for each email you send an app to, whether or not they actually redeem the app. Also, you cannot use iTunes credit to gift apps. You must use a "funding source," usually a credit card.

Ratings can be Misleading

When searching for an app on the iPad, I usually sort apps by “Customer Rating.” More often than not, if an app gets terrible customer ratings, it is not worth trying. However, some of the apps we are using in the classroom are bucking this trend. An example of this is the “Documents” app we have been using. This app allows you to view and edit many types of files including text files and spreadsheets. It can download and upload files to and from Google Docs and you can also attach a file to an email. Google Docs allows multiple users the ability to modify files in real time. This is great for some situations, but not for the classroom. First of all you always need internet access and second of all it is a pain to share documents with students because you have to create a separate document for each student or group. By using Google Docs to share files, we only have to create one document and share it with the entire class. This is easy to do once you have your students set up in a group in your contacts. Then the “Documents” app allows students to download their own version of the file and modify it without having internet access. Once they modify the file, they can email it to the instructor for grading. This is working well for our needs. However, this app gets terrible reviews in the app store. You can imagine why: what makes it useful for the classroom, makes it a pain to the individual user. In order to move documents from your desktop to the iPad, you need to first upload it to Google docs and then download it to the iPad. Then you need to reverse the process or email the document back to yourself to get it back on your computer. This process is not acceptable to the average user and thus it gets bad reviews.

Note: The “Documents” app does actually provide a pretty nice way to move files back and forth from the iPad. As long as you are connected to wifi the app will provide you with a URL to type into your browser that gives your direct access to the files on the app. You can upload or download files. This feature is not very intuitive so I imagine many users miss it.

Note2: There is a free version and a $0.99 version of the app. So far, one difference we have noticed between the two is that the free version limits a spreadsheet to 11 columns and 50 rows. The $0.99 version seems to be unlimited.