Re: Flash as e-learning authoring tool?

>>Given the specs listed above I'm wondering if you
have any software
suggestions for replacing AW [Authorware]? 

Hey Dave, if you don't mind, I'm going to keep this on the
Flashnewbie
list so others can chime in and since you cannot get to the
Yahoo Flash
Tiger list.  Regarding your questions of Flash can do the
following:

- Section 508 compliance  - Yes Flash can do this - through
manual
design.  not many tools do it automatically and those that
do, are
mostly templatized tools not capable of much customization
- dual CD and web distribution  - Yes - you can publish as
.exe and it
doesn't require the Flash player.  For more custom hard
drive access,
use a product like Zinc for Flash, or Adobe AIR.
- read/write to a customized LMS via ASP - Yes.  
- read/write bookmarking files on user's local HD - Yes -
via writing
Shared Objects.  Very very easy to do.
- downloading of plugins strongly discouraged (downloads
prohibited in
many cases/locations) - Flash ActiveX/Plug-in is a download,
but it
sounds like your organization already pushes it out, so no
problem
there.

Thanks, and yeah, family is great! They recovered from my
3-day outing
to Max, so that was good.

Jason Merrill 
Bank of America  
GT&O Learning & Leadership Development 
eTools & Multimedia Team 

________________________________

	From: Vaughn, David (Contractor) (J6B)
[mailtoavid.Vau
ghn.ctrdla.mil] 
	Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 8:30 AM
	To: Merrill, Jason
	Subject: Oct 10

	Jason, 

	Sorry to write direct. I wasn't sure how much you were
checking
the Flashnewbies list. Due to security restrictions I cannot
join the
Yahoo group at this time (all chat rooms and message boards
are
"filtered" here). Hopefully that will change soon
as I'd hate to lose
such a great resource!

	Anyway, as you know, AW has been discontinued by Adobe.
Our
government clients are asking that we find another software
quickly and
I was wondering if you had any suggestions. We have some
fairly rigid
specs that we must meet, including:

	- Section 508 compliance 
	- dual CD and web distribution 
	- read/write to a customized LMS via ASP 
	- read/write bookmarking files on user's local HD 
	- downloading of plugins strongly discouraged (downloads
prohibited in many cases/locations) 

	In addition to those specs there are *many* other features
that
our client and our ID want, but I won't go into all that
here. We
develop a LOT of software simulations so anything we select
has to be
good at doing that. Also, we would have to create new
courses and also
convert older AW courses as well.

	Some of our leading candidates are Flash, Dreamweaver and
Director. Of those three we know Flash best, and have Flash
8 in house.
The Flash plugin is almost universal at our location so that
shouldn't
be a huge issue. We have a very old version of Director but
no one here
has ever used it. Dreamweaver is used by the web developers
but again,
we have no hands on experience with it.

	Flash gives us a considerable of flexibility (except for
the
Ctrl key issue) and user support and we would likely upgrade
to Flash
CS3 if it were to replace AW. Director has many of the same
features as
AW, including ability to read/write files locally, but
Director requires
plugins and the government is very anxious to eliminate
plugins if at
all possible (most users will not have admin rights). Also,
the future
of Director is in question beyond the upcoming release. We'd
hate to get
trained in it and convert our AW courses to Director format
then have it
discontinued as well. Dreamweaver requires no special
plugins and runs
in a standard browser, but I'm certain it wouldn't have the
flexibility
of creating sophisticated interactivity like AW does. Plus,
if a user
clears out their browser cache then all the bookmarking
cookies would
disappear as well.

	Given the specs listed above I'm wondering if you have any
software suggestions for replacing AW? 

	Hope all is well with you and your family. 

	Regards, 

	Dave 

	________________________________________
	David Vaughn
	Northrop Grumman Information Technology
	p: 269.961.7158 
	e: david.vaughn.ctrdla.mil <mailto:david.vaughn.ctrdla.mil> 

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Re: Flash as e-learning authoring tool?

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