Jesus DiazLearning Resources CenterAlamo Colleges

Adobe E-Learning Suite E-Learning suite contains several programs and is

geared to high end course content creation by instructional designers.

Software Included: Captivate, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, Acrobat, Presenter, SoundBooth, Device Central and Bridge.

SoftChalk 5 Stand alone product for course content creation by

average user.

Site License Required Due to increased demand for online and

hybrid courses at Alamo Colleges, it is important that all faculty have access to a lesson authoring tool that will allow them to easily develop content for online delivery

Computer Processor: Pentium 4, 2GHz, or Better

Hard-Drive Space: 8 gigs of free space (for lesson creation and storage)

RAM: 1 gig of RAM Display Size: 1024 x 768 or better Optical Drive: DVD ROM

Operating System: Windows XP or better

Java 1.6 or better Flash Player 9 QuickTime 7.4.5 LMS: Blackboard Vista 8 compatibility

for SCORM 1.2

Presentation Simulation Tutorial Demonstration Quizzes

Expectations Strongly Agree

Agree Disagree

N/A

Directions are clear and easy to follow

X

Easy to start and exit X

Resuming work is easy X

Program is stable and glitch free

X

Positive overall user experience

x

Good user interface X

Can be used on Mac OS X

Tasks are intuitive with simple workflow

X

Advanced features easy to find and apply

X

Good internal help system X

Strong user community on web

X

Pros Cons

Import PowerPoint Slides Steep learning curve

Built in interactivities Interface not intuitive

Built in assessments Difficult to use for beginners to many features to learn

Includes wizards and templates Advanced features require strong technical expertise

Export to Standalone lesson Cost prohibitive no site license

Package for CD lesson

Built in Screen Capture

Build in Voice Over

Closed Captioning

Highly Interactive Multimedia

Advanced programming features with ActionScript 2 and 3

Price per seat: $599 Support per seat: $175 (Must be

renewed yearly per 150 seats = $26,250)

Minor Updates: No Cost Upgrades per seat: $599 Startup Total: $116,699 (For 150 seats

no site license available)

Expectations Strongly Agree

Agree Disagree

N/A

Directions are clear and easy to follow

X

Easy to start and exit X

Resuming work is easy X

Program is stable and glitch free

X

Positive overall user experience

X

Good user interface X

Can be used on Mac OS X

Tasks are intuitive with simple workflow

X

Advanced features easy to find and apply

X

Good internal help system X

Strong user community on web

X

Pro Con

As easy to use as a word processor

Glitches with graded assessments in Blackboard Vista

Options for saving are easy and clear to understand

Multimedia and interactivities not as polished as Adobe Suite

Export to Standalone lesson

Package for CD lesson

Includes large selection of templates for user customization

Includes easy to embed interactivities

Includes access to creative commons and open source content

Site license available (can be used at home)

Strong online support and resources

Affordable customer support

Price : $10,000 site license Support : $ 3500 platinum support

(yearly) Updates: (Included in support) Upgrades: (Included in support) Total: $ 13,500

The software package that best fits the needs of a site licensed lesson tool is SoftChalk. The features and low cost of ownership and support clearly makes it the more cost effective product.

Additionally the ease of use and small learning curve makes it an ideal product for most faculty who to begin offering web enhanced, hybrid or online courses, but want to go beyond what is offered by BlackBoard Vista.

Adobe E-Learning Suite http://www.adobe.com/products/elearningsu

ite/

SoftChalk http://www.softchalk.com/