10 Things Adobe gets Right about Mobile Learning with Captivate 8 [Review]

by RJ Jacquez - www.rjacquez.com

“When comparing the two big players in the rapid eLearning market, Articulate,

and Adobe, they approach mobile learning design very differently.”

“Articulate, for example, has gone the native app route for deploying learning projects to tablets and HTML5 for

smartphones like the iPhone. They have a good app called Articulate Mobile Player, which initially was only

available for the iPad and now is also available for Android Tablets. The challenge with this native app

approach is building and maintaining native apps for a myriad of mobile operating systems, screen sizes, and

resolutions, which is a tough task and this strategy may not scale moving forward in my opinion. For the learner is yet another app to download to their smartphone and then there’s the issue of installing apps inside certain IT corporations. Also while the experience of consuming an e-learning course on Articulate’s Mobile Player on Tablets is great (better on iPad vs. Android), this same course on

a smartphone via their HTML5 output is practically unusable and leaves a lot to be desired.”

The challenge with this native app approach is building and maintaining native apps for a myriad of mobile operating systems, screen sizes, and resolutions.

For the learner is yet another app to download to their smartphone and then there’s the issue of installing apps inside certain IT corporations. Also while the experience of consuming an e-learning course on Articulate’s Mobile Player on Tablets is great

(better on iPad vs. Android), this same course on a smartphone via their HTML5 output is practically unusable and leaves a lot to be desired.

The challenge with this native app approach is building and maintaining native apps for a myriad of mobile operating systems, screen sizes, and resolutions.

For the learner is yet another app to download to their smartphone and then there’s the issue of installing apps inside certain IT corporations. Also while the experience of

consuming an e-learning course on Articulate’s Mobile Player on Tablets is great (better on iPad vs. Android), this same course on a smartphone via their HTML5 output

is practically unusable and leaves a lot to be desired.

Captivate 8 is simply better than Articulate Storyline!

“I actually think that Adobe, by embracing Responsive Design principles in Captivate 8, is going in a better mobile learning direction, because it helps users design flexible and fluid m-Learning, that can be consumed on desktops, tablets and smartphones, without the need for installing an extra app.” - RJ Jacquez

Responsive Learning DesignOne URL. Single Content. One Code. CSS3 Media Queries. Multiple Devices!

One Web. One Learning. rjacquez.com

“This is how we should view the future of learning design and consumption, we should focus on designing learning that

is flexible and fluid across multiple screens; intelligent learning, that always

points learners to a single URL, and avoid at all cause the need for installing different native apps for different mobile operating systems, in order for learners

to access the learning.”

– RJ Jacquez

“And this is why in my humble opinion, the future of mobile learning design looks

brighter for Adobe, and I see Captivate 8 as a great first step toward this vision.

With Captivate 8, Adobe commoditizes the creation of best-in-class mobile learning, without having to know much about the technology behind the scenes, and to me this is a game-changer in the transition

from e-Learning to m-Learning!”

Having said that, here are 10 things Adobe gets right

about Mobile Learning with Adobe Captivate 8:

1. Responsive ProjectsSingle Project. Multiple Screens. Desktop.

1. Responsive Projects (cont’d)Single Project. Multiple Screens. Tablet.

1. Responsive Projects (cont’d)Single Project. Multiple Screens. Smartphone.

2. Relative positioning vs. Absolute“If your design calls for absolute dimensions, you have already failed!“

3. Mobile Gestures“For too long now we have been designing learning for the precision of the connected mouse and keyboard, however,

we now must design for the not-so precise finger or more accurately, for the ergonomics of the thumbs.“ - RJ Jacquez

4. Responsive Project Preview“there’s a slider you can drag left and right to get a preview of how the various break points

will work across multiple devices with different physical sizes and resolutions“

5. Device Preview with Adobe Edge“There’s something pretty special when you starting thinking about mobile and you can actually

touch your work on a smartphone or tablet, and this is where Adobe Edge Inspect comes in.“

6. Geolocation-based Learning“This could be used to provide personalized learning based on where learners are located at

the time he or she takes the learning.“

7. Responsive Interactions“The ‘Catch AlphaNums,’ interaction is game-based and it takes full advantage of the mobile

device’s accelerometer in order to tilt the device for playing the game.“

8. Responsive Screen Capturing“Adobe Captivate will detect screen activity in the recording window and automatically pan around

those areas in order to create screen capture that is optimized for the tablet and smartphone.“

9. Importing HTML5 Content“Adobe has a product called Edge Animate that allows you to create animation in native HTML5

format, which you can then import into your mobile learning projects in Captivate 8“

10. Monthly Subscription“I do like the idea of renting Captivate 8 for ongoing mobile learning projects and by now it

should also be clear that cloud-based subscription are the future of software.“

Conclusion: Captivate 8 is the best tool for designing Mobile Learning!

“I actually think that Adobe, by embracing Responsive Design principles in Captivate 8, is going in a better mobile learning direction, because it helps users design flexible and fluid m-Learning, that can be consumed on desktops, tablets and smartphones, without the need for installing an extra app.” - RJ Jacquez

– Learn More

Adobe Captivate 8 Home Page

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