After a long wait, Articulate has finally released their latest installment of Articulate Studio.  Somewhat unusual among software these days, Articulate opted to wait four years before their next version.

While I can appreciate that they were likely taking a diligent approach, I am sure I speak for many in that it would be okay if the development cycle was cut in half.

As expected though, Articulate Studio ’13 looks pretty sleek. Just as before, it integrates right into Microsoft PowerPoint, but now it doesn’t seem so out of place with the latest PowerPoint version.

Links to both Articulate Quizmaker and Engage still exist on the dashboard, and it is still required to launch the two applications independently – a bit annoying and often the source of my headaches in the past as it was prone to crashing. That said, the styling, options, and overall presentation of all three programs (Presenter, Quizmaker, Engage) has been improved considerably.

Best Feature?

Now I know that there are many people out there who will be distracted by the shiny new objects and additional options – heck, I am too. But what I find to be Articulate Studio’s best feature – by far – is something a little less sexy.

Beyond all the glitz and glamour of the software, it all comes down to one thing: reporting. Most organizations that I have consulted care about reporting first, and design second. As such, it was imperative that the tools we used could offer this.

In the past, this meant SCORM 2004 (and version 1.2 before that).

Today, it’s Tin Can API (Experience API).

When going through the new program, I was impressed by the new features and improvements, but overjoyed that Tin Can API is now an option for course publication.

Articulate is a major player in elearning. If they have Tin Can API, then learning management systems everywhere will support it as well. As a result, the general masses will start to become more familiar with its benefits, and people will begin to ask for it as they see the value in what it can do.

Traction for Tin Can is starting to build, I am positive that this will only help. Now if only they can update their Articulate Storyline offering to publish to version 1.0 of Tin Can, all will be right in the world 🙂 .