Articulate is a leading software company that specializes in e-learning development tools. It provides a range of solutions designed to help instructional designers, educators, and businesses create interactive, engaging, and professional-looking online courses and training materials.
Articulate is known for its user-friendly products that require little to no programming skills, making it accessible to both beginners and advanced users in e-learning development.
Key Products by Articulate:
Articulate Storyline:
What it is: A powerful, feature-rich desktop application for creating interactive e-learning courses.
Features:
Similar to PowerPoint in its interface, but with advanced e-learning capabilities like branching scenarios, triggers, and variables.
Allows for highly customized and interactive courses.
Supports SCORM, AICC, xAPI (Tin Can), and cmi5 formats for LMS compatibility.
Offers timeline-based animations, quizzes, and interactive elements.
Best for: Users who want complete control over course design and need complex interactions.
Articulate Rise:
What it is: A web-based tool that allows users to create responsive e-learning courses quickly and easily.
Features:
No programming required; users can create courses using pre-built templates and modular blocks.
Courses are automatically responsive, meaning they adapt to different screen sizes (desktop, tablet, mobile).
Easy to add multimedia like videos, images, and quizzes.
Focuses on rapid development and modern, clean design.
Best for: Users looking for quick development of mobile-friendly courses with less complexity.
Articulate 360:
What it is: A comprehensive suite of e-learning tools that includes both Articulate Storyline and Rise, as well as additional tools for collaboration, media, and review.
Features:
Includes Storyline 360 (for custom courses), Rise 360 (for responsive courses), Review 360 (for stakeholder feedback), and Content Library 360 (for pre-built assets like templates, characters, and images).
Provides a complete toolkit for the course creation process, from design to stakeholder review.
Includes access to Articulate’s online community and support.
Best for: Teams and individuals looking for a complete e-learning creation platform with ongoing updates and support.
Articulate Review 360:
What it is: A collaborative review tool included in Articulate 360.
Features:
Allows multiple stakeholders to review and provide feedback on courses in real-time.
Streamlines the review process by allowing users to comment directly on specific parts of a course.
Best for: Teams that need to gather feedback from multiple reviewers efficiently.
Key Benefits of Using Articulate:
User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive tools that require minimal technical skills, enabling fast course creation.
Responsive Design (with Rise): Automatically adjusts content to fit any device, ensuring a consistent learner experience.
Interactivity: Offers a variety of interactions such as quizzes, drag-and-drop activities, and branching scenarios, which enhance learner engagement.
SCORM and LMS Integration: Compatible with SCORM, xAPI, and other e-learning standards, making it easy to track learner progress on any LMS.
Community Support: Articulate has an active online community that shares templates, tips, and best practices.
In summary, Articulate provides a set of powerful, easy-to-use tools for creating e-learning content that ranges from simple, responsive courses to complex, highly interactive learning experiences.
Learn to Create Powerful SCORM Courses Using Articulate
Creating powerful SCORM courses using Articulate involves understanding both the technical aspects of SCORM and the instructional design principles that make e-learning content engaging and effective. Articulate offers several tools, with Articulate Storyline and Articulate Rise being the most popular for creating SCORM-compliant courses.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:
1. Understand SCORM Basics
What is SCORM? SCORM is a set of technical standards for e-learning software products. It allows courses to be packaged in a format that can be shared and run on various learning management systems (LMS).
Why SCORM? It ensures that your course content can be reused, transferred, and tracked across different platforms.
2. Choose the Right Tool: Storyline vs. Rise
Articulate Storyline: Ideal for custom, highly interactive courses. It’s similar to PowerPoint but with more advanced e-learning features, including timelines, triggers, and variables.
Articulate Rise: Best for responsive design and rapid development. It’s a web-based tool that’s easy to use and produces modern, clean courses quickly.
3. Plan Your Course
Identify Learning Objectives: Define what learners should know or be able to do after completing the course.
Structure the Content: Organize the material logically. Break it into modules or sections.
Design Assessments: Plan quizzes, tests, and interactive elements to evaluate learner understanding.
4. Create the Course in Articulate Storyline
Start with a Template: Use one of Storyline’s built-in templates or create your own.
Add Content: Include text, images, videos, and audio. Use triggers and layers to create interactions.
Build Interactions: Use drag-and-drop, quizzes, and branching scenarios to engage learners.
Use Variables and Conditions: To customize the learning experience, use Storyline’s variables and conditions to track learner actions and adapt content based on their choices.
Preview the Course: Regularly preview the course to ensure it works as expected and that the navigation is intuitive.
5. Create the Course in Articulate Rise
Choose a Template: Rise offers pre-built templates for various course types.
Build Modules: Add text blocks, multimedia, quizzes, and interactive elements like flashcards.
Use Pre-built Lessons: Leverage Rise’s modular lessons to quickly create content.
Customize the Design: Adjust fonts, colors, and the overall look to match your brand.
6. Make It SCORM Compliant
Publish in SCORM Format: In both Storyline and Rise, choose the SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 option when publishing your course. SCORM 1.2 is more widely supported, while SCORM 2004 offers more detailed tracking capabilities.
Set Completion Criteria: Define how a learner completes the course (e.g., viewing all slides, passing a quiz).
Export the Course: Save the package as a ZIP file that can be uploaded to an LMS.
7. Test the Course
Use SCORM Cloud: Upload your SCORM package to SCORM Cloud, a free testing environment, to check compatibility and track functionality.
Test on Your LMS: Upload the course to your LMS and verify that it behaves as expected. Ensure that tracking, reporting, and completion data are accurate.
8. Refine Based on Feedback
Gather User Feedback: After a pilot run, collect feedback from learners to identify any issues or areas for improvement.
Make Revisions: Based on feedback, refine the course content, interactions, and design.
9. Launch and Monitor
Deploy the Course: Once satisfied with the testing, make the course available to your target audience.
Monitor Performance: Track completion rates, assessment scores, and learner feedback to measure the effectiveness of the course.
10. Maintain and Update
Keep Content Up-to-Date: Regularly review and update the course content to ensure it remains relevant and accurate.
Analyze Learning Data: Use LMS analytics to assess the course’s impact and identify opportunities for improvement.
By following these steps, you can create SCORM-compliant courses using Articulate that are not only technically sound but also engaging and effective for learners.
Deliver Your Articulate Courses from an LMS
Delivering your Articulate courses from a Learning Management System (LMS) involves a series of steps to ensure that the course content is properly integrated, tracks learner progress, and provides a smooth user experience.
Here’s a guide to help you deliver your Articulate courses effectively using an LMS:
1. Publish Your Course for LMS
In Articulate Storyline or Rise:
Open your course in Storyline or Rise.
Go to the Publish settings.
Select LMS as the output option.
Choose the appropriate SCORM version (SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004), AICC, xAPI (Tin Can), or cmi5, depending on your LMS requirements.
Set the tracking and completion criteria (e.g., based on slides viewed, quiz results, or completion of specific actions).
Define the reporting and completion status (e.g., Passed/Incomplete, Complete/Incomplete).
Click Publish to generate the output file. This will typically create a ZIP file containing your course content in a SCORM package.
2. Upload the Course to Your LMS
Access Your LMS:
Log in to your LMS as an administrator or course manager.
Navigate to the course management or content area where you can upload new content.
Upload the SCORM Package:
Choose the option to upload a SCORM or content package.
Select the ZIP file generated by Articulate during the publishing process.
Follow the LMS prompts to upload the file, which may include setting the course title, description, and other metadata.
Configure Course Settings:
Set up any additional course settings, such as enrollment options, prerequisites, or availability dates.
Define learner access rules, like whether the course is mandatory, self-enrolled, or part of a curriculum.
Assign Learners:
Assign the course to the relevant learners, groups, or departments within your organization.
3. Test the Course in the LMS
Preview the Course:
After uploading, preview the course to ensure it loads correctly and all interactions, quizzes, and navigation work as intended.
Verify Tracking and Reporting:
Complete the course as a test user to verify that progress and completion data are recorded correctly in the LMS.
Check that quiz scores, completion status, and any other tracked metrics appear accurately in the LMS reporting tools.
4. Launch the Course to Learners
Announce the Course:
Communicate the availability of the new course to your learners via email, LMS notifications, or other internal communication channels.
Provide Instructions:
Offer clear instructions on how to access the course within the LMS, including login details, course navigation, and any deadlines or important dates.
Monitor Progress:
Use the LMS’s reporting features to monitor learner progress, quiz scores, completion rates, and other key metrics.
Identify learners who may need additional support or reminders to complete the course.
5. Collect Feedback and Optimize
Gather Learner Feedback:
Encourage learners to provide feedback on the course content, usability, and overall experience.
Use LMS surveys or other tools to gather structured feedback.
Analyze Course Performance:
Review the analytics and reports available in your LMS to assess the course’s effectiveness.
Look for trends in learner performance, such as common areas where learners struggle or excel.
Make Improvements:
Based on the feedback and data, make necessary adjustments to the course content or structure.
Consider revising the course and republishing it in the LMS if significant changes are needed.
6. Maintain the Course
Regular Updates:
Keep the course content up to date, especially if it covers topics that evolve over time.
Periodically review and update any multimedia, links, or external references to ensure they remain relevant.
Manage Course Versions:
If you update the course, consider versioning to track changes and ensure that learners are accessing the most current content.
7. Support and Troubleshoot
Provide Technical Support:
Ensure that learners have access to technical support in case they encounter issues with the course or LMS.
Offer a FAQ section or helpdesk for common issues.
Troubleshoot Issues:
If learners report problems, work with your LMS support team to resolve any technical issues related to course delivery, tracking, or completion.
By following these steps, you can effectively deliver your Articulate courses through an LMS, ensuring that learners have a seamless experience and that you can track their progress and performance accurately.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course development software that provides a drag and drop engine to enable most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.
We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.
If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.
Together, these features make the LMS Portals platform the ideal SaaS-based platform for our clients and partners that leverage Articulate for SCORM course authoring.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages
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