TrustRadius Insights for Studio 360 (discontinued) are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Comprehensive and versatile eLearning authoring tool: Users have found Articulate Studio to be a comprehensive and versatile eLearning authoring tool, with a wide range of features that cater to their needs. It has been praised for its ability to create engaging and interactive courses through built-in interactions and templates.
Time-saving import feature: The option to import royalty-free images and drawings directly into the software has been highly appreciated by users. This feature saves them time and effort in sourcing external media resources, allowing them to focus more on content creation.
Streamlined feedback process with Review 360 app: The Review 360 app is highly valued by users as it allows clients to give feedback on each slide. This streamlines the feedback process, resulting in a clean finished product.
We use Articulate as our primary e-learning solution. The ease of use and ability to get up and running quickly meant that a mid-size company like ours could easily implement computer-based trainings without the need for a ton of dedicated employee hours going towards developing those trainings. Instead, we were able to quickly deploy Articulate and get a handful of managers and super-users up and running and in the same quarter, we deployed 25 CBTs throughout our firm. We are looking at deploying even more as we refine our processes and utilize learning from those trainings to be able to aid our continuous improvement initiatives.
Pros
Presentations
Computer Based Training
Templates
Cons
Old UI
Slow render
Limited Support
Likelihood to Recommend
Articulate Studio is extremely well suited for replacing all your legacy PowerPoint based training decks. The UI of Articulate Studio is pretty dated as it's essentially a clone of PPT but that does mean that everyone who is familiar with that platform is able to easily transition and develop their training decks in Articulate.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Finance and Accounting (51-200 employees)
As a consulting agency, I work with different companies to create their e-learning programs. Articulate Studio 360 not only allows me to publish their e-learning programs in one of the suite's applications (Storyline 360), but also to provide feedback in another of the suite's applications (Review 360). In addition, there is an application that is mobile-first for the web publishing of e-learning projects (Rise 360) which some clients prefer. Additionally, many features that have been requested by users have been incorporated into new ways of producing e-learning with features and dedicated applications such as Content Library 360. This suite, when purchased by the client, allows them to also make modifications to their programs as necessary, but it is a bigger and grander version of Articulate Storyline 2 and its features.
Pros
In terms of e-learning, there is nothing I can imagine that Articulate Studio can't do; the features are all-encompassing in terms of what they allow a creative author to make.
New features that are part of Articulate Studio are game-changers in the amount of time and effort saved by having dedicated and integrated applications performing specific functions such as dedicated graphic imports of royalty-free images and drawings that I would normally pull from the web. Additionally, there are tons of characters with multiple poses and expressions that help to add storyboard characters which can be added/changed to illustrate stories. Separately, this capability was time-intensive and costly.
Just having the Review 360 app is a unique game-changer in and of itself. I can't tell you how many different ways that clients prefer to give feedback to e-learning projects: email, Word docs, PowerPoint comments, teleconferencing live comments, etc. and they are all wastes of time compared to using Review 360 where feedback is given on each slide, replies are sent by email and each piece of feedback can be acknowledged and comments removed leaving a clean slate finished product.
Cons
If you're in love with SVG graphics like I am, with their small size and super-high resolution at any scale, then you'll be disappointed to know that you can't directly add SVGs. This is a functionality that the web is embracing and it's sad to see Articulate not incorporating such a feature.
One pet peeve I have had of Articulate is their "support" which consists of a community board with searchable questions and answers and comments which is often very useful. It is also staffed by support personnel from Articulate. Unfortunately, they can't open a support case or ticket on your behalf and they give the impression they are first-level support and do provide some guidance but not beyond the level of a power-user even though their profile says they are with the company. It's woefully confusing and disappointing compared to most companies that sell software with support.
Articulate's products are enormously easier to use than their rivals at Adobe, but Articulate is often in the habit of ignoring many long-term problems which can be found by searching their "support" boards. Strange and weird bugs, if a bit obscure, are never fixed even though they would make an already awesome program that much more stellar.
This program is VERY expensive compared to offerings from their chief rival Adobe, but it really does not seem to phase the leadership at Articulate that they may easily quadruple their number of users if they would just cut their cost in half and they do not seem prepared to even experiment with such an offer.
Likelihood to Recommend
Articulate Studio is constantly surprising in terms of what it can do. It is like a "Swiss Army Knife" of functionality. I've used it to build portfolios, whole interactive websites, authoring videos and I often discover novel ways to make it useful on a pretty regular basis. What would be a situation where you would not want to use Articulate Studio? Well, even though you can use it to author video and to publish websites, it's not a replacement for a video editing package or a web platform like WordPress, but there are times when it will do certain things in an astoundingly simple way superior to other tools.
Constellation West uses Articulate Studio to create training courses for several departments. Corporate compliance related courses such as Time keeping, Active Shooter, Insider threat, Annual Industrial Security refresher briefings and Initial Security indoctrination briefings. Articulate allows Constellation West to customize courses to fit our particular needs with out breaking the bank. Being able to create our own in house course and SCROM wrap them form deployment in our LMS (Learning Management System) is a game changer.
Pros
Ease of use
Compatibility
Cons
Registration loop error - keeps asking me to register
More course player options
Likelihood to Recommend
Small to medium companies on a tight budget cannot go wrong. Articulate Studio enables smaller companies to produce compliant professional looking training courses without breaking the bank. Additionally, the product is quite intuitive to learn and use. I myself had never used a product such as this but was able to produce course work with quizzes that impressed senior management.
We utilize Articulate Studio to create training courses for individuals that require training to become a travel agent. The courses allow for us to have quizes and tests that can be retaken, or causes a person to fail the course and retake the course from the beginning. We also use this software as way to train our internal staff in other departments duties, in order to have a good cross-department availability for when more people are needed in other departments.
Pros
They made it very easy to understand how to add new content to the courses, including images, videos or audio, of course, you are still able to do text-based content as well.
Creating quizzes has never been easier. The ability to add controls to each question and what actions each answer creates, whether an additional question or passing to the next section. Customizing these actions are very easy to learn and add to your course.
Being able to use your own scoring mechanism is awesome! I like SCORM but there are many options to use including a custom one of your own. This ability allows you to pass your students over to a proprietary system that enrolls them in the next course, or use the built-in utilities to provide the next course or quiz, the choice is yours!
Cons
The software is robust, it can be intimidating at first. Do not be shy, get in there and play around, you'll learn a lot in 10 minutes. What they could do better is provide a better introductory walkthrough when you first install. It could be a tutorial that allows you to pause and return later to the same point you were at. There are basic tutorials when you first open it but is very limited.
The integration of different scoring mechanisms could be improved in the GUI. This section of the GUI has limited information and causes a new user to search for much of the information online. For advanced users, you will know exactly what to do in this screen, but for the beginner you will find yourself scratching your head a bit. Adding a more user-friendly screen, that possibly has a toggle for the advanced mode, would be helpful.
I would love to see a more online version, where most of the controls or content is online and can be pulled in to your project, creating a smaller installation. I am the IT Manager, so storage is on my mind and the software is robust...meaning that it also consumes significant storage space.
Likelihood to Recommend
If you need to build courses that have quizzes and want to control the audience's attention to the course, rather than starting a course and watching YouTube while it plays in the background, or if you need to have the results go to a proprietary system that you control, then Articulate Studio will be a well suited software solution for you.
We use Articulate Studio to develop and improve upon all presentations. We are able to take PowerPoint presentations to the next level using the tools provided. Microsoft has some creative and neat ways to make PowerPoints more immersive and interactive but Articulate Studio gives that extra level of attention to detail and user interface tools make it a breeze to work with.
Pros
User interface, interaction, usability, adaptability
Diversity and escalating work projects to the next level
Fun and user-friendly
Cons
It's icing on the cake. It provides a lot of usability with its quiz-maker and presenter. The presenter can sometimes feel like an unnecessary add on. If it didn't come apart of a package, I don't think we would have purchased it outright.
Likelihood to Recommend
Fun to use. It guarantees mobile content made elegantly and in proportion. The presenter gives you next level powerpoints and the quiz-maker gives you good cookie cutter utility for engaged learning.
Articulate Studio is used for rapid deployment of eLearning content in my organization. It is primarily utilized by our eLearning department. The area the software really excels in is its ability to plug into PowerPoint with seamless integration. Most users of PowerPoint will be easily able to step right in. Eliminating the learning curve experienced with a lot of other eLearning Authoring Software.
Pros
Fast eLearning turn around time.
Eliminates a lot of the need to learn complicated eLearning authoring tools
Great interactions and templates built right into the suite.
Cons
It would be nice if Replay came included in this package for screen recording insertion.
More templates and interactions.
Integration with open source presentation software (OpenOffice, LibreOffice)
Likelihood to Recommend
Articulate Studio is fantastic for sharing information based eLearning content that can be developed quickly and easily by developers who are not well versed in programming, scripting or graphic design. It is less appropriate for eLearning that requires simulations or complex interactions as the bulk of the content is derived from templates.
Articulate Studio is used across various departments within the university by Instructional Designers, Multimedia Techs and in limited cases, by faculty members. It is used for creating staff and faculty facing training modules, as well as enhancing existing online course materials with a focus on making them more interactive and engaging for learners
Pros
Integrating very well with PPT
Allow authors to create ad-hoc video and audio clips on the spot
Easy to export SCORM formats for LMS integration
Supplies rich library of stock graphics, footage and 'characters' to allow for fast build out
Cons
UI is a bit dated, but it's parallel to PPT which puts some users at ease
Storyline is PC only, by far the biggest drawback
A big slow in rendering video content during export
Player is a bit rigid
Likelihood to Recommend
Very helpful for developing microlearning modules, non-linear PPTs, and basic staff training. Has been very useful in developing staff onboarding modules. Works well on mobile and tablet devices and it is easy to add extra accessibility features such as alt tags and captions. Great for in video/lecture knowledge checks. Not great for group or teamwork, users are very much siloed.
We use Articulate Studio to quickly create eLearning courses related to our Release Training. Often, we have a matter of days to create a full training with the updates of all our products, and we create these at a rate of one every 4 weeks, if not more often. Articulate Studio, being an add-on for PowerPoint, allows us to develop slides quickly and narrate them to create an engaging course, complete with quizzing.
Pros
Easy learning curve. Just some button clicks for recording narration, syncing animations, and adding annotations.
They made some fairly recent improvements to how you sync animations and add annotations. With the timeline, you can manually move the timing around. Much better than the earlier task of having to just re-do it from the beginning and hope you get the timing right.
If you're using Studio in the Articulate 360 subscription, you can easily review the course before it publishes.
The included Quizmaker program is just great. Simple to use, but you can make a varied mix of questions, and the customization options are great.
You can add background music in slides, which is pretty great in certain situations.
Cons
The audio editor is awful. Sometimes when you cut a section, it actually takes a different section that you selected. Especially when in zoom mode. You have to then undo the action, and re-do. Also, scrubbing through the audio is difficult. If you're exporting audio, it can glitch during the process. I avoid using the audio editor whenever I can.
After all these years, it's still a buggy program. You can be doing your recordings, and a sudden message appears saying that something went wrong and needs to close. I've done re-installs, contacted support, and I constantly clear the temp folder. Still happens. Also, it's a good idea to export your audio, and there have been times the program freezes up on me, and the audio file (in the .ppta file) gets corrupted and all audio is permanently lost.
The program can get slow when publishing, previewing or opening the audio editor.
The included Engage program is pretty good, but it needs more customization options. And I think they can add more modules that provide a little more engagement.
Likelihood to Recommend
Studio is really a good program for turning PowerPoint into eLearning presentations. If you're comfortable in PPT, you can really spice it up with Studio. If you also use Storyline (also by Articulate), you will find it's not nearly as flexible or robust, but the learning curve is much easier and turning out finished courses is much quicker.
Just be aware that it's still somewhat buggy, and the audio editor is very frustrating at times.
Articulate Studio is being used to generate Rapid Learning content to support corporate education projects. It has been used by our development team, which include instructional designers. It is a great tool / method considering cases when development time is short, budget is low and/or content must be constantly updated. It does not demand programming or technical competencies, since most of the work is based on PowerPoint.
Pros
Easy to use. Articulate Studio is based on PowerPoint so no advanced technical competencies are required. It is a great tool for rapid learning content development.
Packaging and exporting. It does a quite good job while exporting the content in several different formats. So, if you need to publish it on LMS platforms compatibles to e-Learning standards (such as SCORM), Articulate Studio will do it for you.
Media and quizzes. It is easy to embedd media resources (such as video and audio) to provide a more engaging learning content. The testing feature is also interesting and provide simple but nice functionalities.
Cons
Interaction level is basic. Studio does not provide features to develop a high-interactive content. That's why Articulate released another tool called Storyline, which is much more sophisticated.
Pricing is high. I think Studio is overpriced considering other tools available (including Storyline). Articulate did not release new updates of Studio in the last few years.
Lack of evolution. There was not a new release or update of Studio in the last few years (since 2013). It seems that Articulate is not investing on this product anymore.
Likelihood to Recommend
Use it when your development time is short, your budget is low or when you know that the learning content will have to be updated soon or very often. I don't think it is the appropriate tool if you plan do deliver a high-interactive content, but it is possible to test it using the trial version of the product and then understand if Studio is the tool you need.
Articulate Studio is a training tool that engages users in interactive content. If a project is primarily just delivery of information, then Articulate Presenter is an excellent tool. When the purpose is to demonstrate that users understand ideas, Articulate Studio provides interesting ways to test their comprehension, and provide alternative content if a user does not pass.
Pros
Interactive questions and answers
Non-linear presentation
Deliver on multiple platforms
Cons
It has a higher learning curve than just presentation tools, primarily because it can do more. With more complexity, there are more things to learn. There are many things you can do without using advanced features.
Would like to see higher definition options for presenting on an HD monitor.
Occasional problems with publishing that require some time to resolve problems or find work-arounds.
Likelihood to Recommend
Interactive scenarios are Articulate Studio's forte, especially when non-linear delivery of content is useful.
It is less appropriate when a simple presentation is the best delivery tool.
