There are almost limitless options when it comes to rapid e-Learning development solutions. There are plug-ins and stand-alones, development-heavy environments and the simplest of WYSIWYGs, each catering to the perceived needs of the target demographic.
Two applications which have recently come to my attention are Flypaper™ (http://www.flypaper.com) and SmartBuilder™ (http://www.suddenlysmart.com/smartbuilder.htm). These are competing products that simulate Flash® development, but neither requires any scripting. While the idea is not new, my preliminary research suggests that these are both better tools than similar, existing software. Which one you’ll want to use depends on your technical skill and development lifecycle. Another factor will be your LCMS situation.
Comparative analysis
Table 1 shows how the products stack up against each other.
| Features | SmartBuilder | Flypaper |
| SCORM Compliance | Yes | Yes |
| Template-based | No | Yes |
| Organization/Branching | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Vista | Yes | Yes |
| Windows XP | Yes | Yes |
| Mac | Yes | No |
| SaaS | $1,970/yr | $600/yr |
| Individual license | Contact company | $895 |
| Pro license | Contact company | $1,495 |
| LCMS | Yes | Will integrate with existing |
| Collaborative development | Yes | Yes |
| Reusable content | Yes | Yes |
| Review interface | Yes | Yes |
| WYSIWYG | Yes | Yes |
| Assessment functionality | Yes | Yes |
| Tracking functionality | Yes | Yes |
| Import media | Yes | Yes |
| Interact with imported media | Yes | Yes |
| .NET framework | No | Yes |
At a glance these appear to be basically the same thing, but there are some significant differences.
- Flypaper is template-based while SmartBuilder is object-based. I’m a bigger fan of SmartBuilder for this reason, but then I’m more of a developer type.
- SmartBuilder has its own LCMS. That is another huge win in my world.
- Flypaper requires a .NET Framework, and I’m a Mac guy when I can be so SmartBuilder comes out on top again.
- Flypaper and Adobe collaborated on seamless integration between the coming release of Flypaper and the anticipated Flash CS5. Wow – that gives Flypaper exponential points in my book!
Flypaper
My interest in Flypaper’s development potential led me to a conversation with Vincent Serpico, V.P. of Development at Flypaper. My main question for him was whether Flypaper could isolate all content in a FLA (whether on the timeline, in a symbol, embedded in ActionScript, or in an external XML). He explained that while this is not available in the current version, he’s been working in tandem with the Adobe Flash CS5 development team to ensure that Flypaper could open FLAs, convert them, and save them to the user’s so-called Flybrary. The other side of that coin is that you can open Flypaper templates in Flash CS5 and save them as FLAs. This marriage of technologies is possible thanks to open XML.
This is appealing for a number of reasons, the most compelling of which is technically seamless collaboration between e-Learning architects, developers, and trainers. The architects will likely approve the course's final design. That group may provide this design to the developers in a variety of ways including Word document overviews, image comps, Visio flowcharts, or other file types. The developers would work from the provided specification to build an application to the architects' satisfaction. Then the trainer would implement the course with end users.
Wouldn't it be great if all these groups could work on the same files and accomplish their tasks to the fullest of their potential? Flash CS5 and the new version of Flypaper would allow for that. Architects could put together a template in Flypaper. Developers could then open the Flybrary and convert it to a FLA. That would enable them to build the entire custom interface they want in the Flash environment, and they could do it in ActionScript if they so desire. The trainer would have the flexibility to import that FLA back into Flypaper for any final editing. I'm sure this never happens to any of us, but it may be that the trainer realizes post-delivery how a little tweaking here or there would really help.
SmartBuilder
SmartBuilder has its own LCMS. This is an enormous asset, allowing significant control of content directly in the development interface. If you are, let's say, a trainer responsible for doing all your own development, then this could be the best option for you. Depending on your development experience you may need to learn a few things about the toolbar and stage, but you will not need to figure out the scripting language to get the interactivity you want. SmartBuilder takes care of that for you.
Conclusion
In summary, Flypaper’s current version is good for template-driven development; Flypaper’s next version will be great for integration with CS5 FLAs. SmartBuilder is good for developers who want to avoid scripting while utilizing an LCMS. Both tools provide excellent solutions to the rapid development question, and promise to continue to make custom learning environments more attainable for all of us.
(Editor’s Note: Both of these products offer free trials. See the Web sites for details.)
