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A
Anonymous
March 27, 2012
Answered

Is Captivate the right product for me?

  • March 27, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 2540 views

I am a college student, albeit an older one and I have previous IT experience as a network admin. I only say this so you know I'm not a total noob. So what I would like to do is become a course designer/creator for an adult/corporate audience. I am trying to teach myself various things as my school doesn't offer any classes on this sort of thing. I am pretty adept at Power Point animations and I have also been using a cloud-based service called Prezi to create a US citizenship informational class (more of a presentation, really). My goal is to make a few classes as a sort of e-portfolio for after graduation using 3 or 4 platforms. My next project is an English as a Second Language (ESL) class.

There are SO many different Adobe products that all look awesome in their own ways but of course they are expensive and I will be buying any software out of my own poor pockets. Additionally, I want to attend some instructor-led training at an Adobe training center in order to learn whatever product I use correctly. So, before I go to all that expense, do you guys think Captivate is the way to go? I mean, there's Authorware, the e-learning suite, Dreamweaver by itself, Presenter, etc. Based on my description of my goals, which product should I focus my time and money on?

Thanks for all advice.

- Roberta

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer AndyKingInOC

Thanks, Rick. Can you post a link?

Has anyone ever taken the instructor-led training? I feel like my learning style plus my desire to get up and running quickly (plus the lack of any help on my campus) are all leading me to some in-person training. I don't mind paying for stuff that's worth it!

Thanks.

- Roberta


I'm a big fan of lynda.com's course, but it's geared mainly towards people who are new to captivate (at least the Cp4 course).  Not sure what your knowledge level is, but you can view a few of the chapters for free, and usually they have a 7 day trial so you can knock out a good portion (if not all) of that course if you have the time to commit.

it's pretty inexpensive even including the exercise files.  My suggestion to people is always get the basic stuff you can learn on your own as cheaply as possible, then pay for the 1:1 training for the advanced stuff.

1 reply

Lilybiri
Lilybiri
Legend
March 27, 2012

Hello and welcome to the forum,

Since you are a college student, for the moment I do think you can have Adobe software at an educational price. If not, please use the possibility to download fully functional trial software for 1 month. Captivate also exist with a monthly subscription fee as well.

You are referring to tools (except Authorware that is not upgraded or enhanced anymore - too bad) that are mostly presentation based. If you are serious about creating interactive tutorials, software trainings/assessments and want branching possibilities Captivate is a better tool IMO. Its learning curve is steeper than Articulate suite's. Even better is the eLearning Suite where Captivate plays its central role but that has great Adobe software on board that integrates with Captivate: Photoshop, Audition, Acrobat, Flash are my favourites, but you'll get Dreamweaver, Adobe Media Encoder, Presenter (plugin for PPT), and Device Central as well. And some integration possibilities (like the awesome roundtripping with source file in Photoshop, and roundtripping with Audtion for audio clips) only exist in the eLearning Suite. I'd recommend to download the suite and try it out for one month.

Hope this isn't making it more confusing,


Lilybiri

    A
    Anonymous
    March 27, 2012

    Thanks, Lilybiri<http://forums.adobe.com/people/Lilybiri> for the information.

    Yes, I am pretty sure I can get academic pricing but then the instructor-led training session I want to attend through one of Adobe's education partners is over $800, so all together, it is an expensive endeavor. I don't mind this, I know education isn't cheap, but I just want to make sure I aim my resources and time in the right direction.

    Your explanation was very helpful and I'm feeling a little less ambivalent now... thanks! I also appreciate your comment about Articulate. I had considered learning it first, but in the basic research I have done it does seem like the industry favors Captivate. Would you agree?

    Does anyone else have any thoughts on the suitability of Captivate for my situation?

    Thanks again to all for any advice.

    -  Roberta

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    March 27, 2012

    Hi again,

    I never spent one dime for training, couldn't afford it as well. There are quite a lot of free resources around (on-demand seminars, Adobe TV, blogs - I'm blogging as well). And I learned most by visiting this forum.

    In the latest reports of eLearning Guild Captivate is still number one, not Articulate. There are also new applications available (zebrazapps) or sorting soon (Storyline). Really recommend you to have a look at this report and at a recent discussion on Linkedin about elearning software (group eLearning Guild).

    Lilybiri

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