Articulate Rise versus Qollab
We discuss the differences between the eLearning tools Articulate Rise and Qollab
At Splintt, we have a proven track record of creating e-learning courses that are interactive, fun and well-tailored to our clients’ needs. How do we do that? Apart from relying on the expertise of our content development team, we make use of a variety of authoring tools. In this article, we will look at two of these: Articulate Rise and Qollab.
Articulate Rise and Qollab are both cloud-based platforms that allow creating content directly in your web browser, with no requirement of installing an application on your machine. They each come with a web interface containing pre-defined layouts that you can customize and structure according to your course outline, adding images, text, video and audio. Both Rise and Qollab can build responsive courses that can be viewed on any type of digital device. They also allowtranslating your courses into various languages, as well as easily exporting them as LMS-compliant packages that can be distributed to learners.
While Rise and Qollab offer similar solutions for e-learning development, and they are both easy to use, there are a few differences to be considered when deciding which one to use. Read on to find out what the main differences are between these two authoring tools.
Access package
Rise is developed by Articulate, one of the top players in the e-learning software industry. It is currently being offered as part of the Articulate 360 product suite, which also gives access to the powerful Storyline 360 desktop app for building courses, as well as to Articulate’s Review 360 platform, which allows stakeholders toprovide feedback on courses, and to a content library with photos and illustrations ready to be used.
Qollab is developed by a Dutch company, and it presents as an integrated platform that gives access to a content builder interface with options for translating courses, adding media, and downloading courses for use on an LMS.
Content building interface
Qollab’s content building interface works based on easy-to-use pre-defined templates and layouts that you can choose from and fill in with your own content. Customisation options are limited, however. For example, the text editor only allowsbold and italic formatting, with no option for underlining or aligning text, limited indentation for lists, limited options for renaming navigations buttons, quiz questions with automatically randomised answers that cannot be manually reordered. In addition, the quiz chapters do not allow you to use question types other than those pre-defined in the template you are using. The editing interface is very simple, but it does not allow a clear picture of what the final content will look like unless you preview an entire page.
On the other hand, Rise uses a wider variety of smaller blocks that can be combinedwith a higher degree of customisation. Content block types include: various types ofparagraphs and quotes, bulleted, numbered and checkbox lists, various image placements, image galleries, video, audio and other multimedia blocks, charts, a wide range of interactions, such as scenarios, tabs and clickable graphics, knowledge check questions, as well as a highly customisable quiz functionality with several types of questions. At the same time, the editing interface itself is more intuitive and visually pleasing, allowing you to see what your work will look like as you edit.
Course-level settings
Rise offers a wider range of settings at course level. You can set fonts for titles and paragraphs, the colour scheme of your course, you can make navigation, course search and video playback settings, export and import translations, adding course collaborators and modifying permissions, as well as customising the labels of the main navigational elements in your course.
In Qollab, these settings come with the template you are using, and they cannot be modified at course level
Review capabilities
As mentioned previously, Rise comes with a separate review platform from Articulate called Review 360, which allows sharing courses with stakeholders for review, including the option to password-protect access to courses. Stakeholders can add feedback as comments for each part of the course, and comments can be resolved to keep clear track of the progress being made.
Qollab does not allow adding feedback directly on course pages. A link to the coursepreview has to be shared with the project stakeholders, and the review process has to be handled separately.
Versioning
Qollab offers a versioning page for each course, which allows previewing and reviewing each version, as well as comparing one version with another.
Rise does not have versioning capabilities.
Localisation
Rise courses can be exported for translation as XLIFF files, which are compatible with all major machine translation applications. These files can be translated separately using the translation software of your choice, then they can be imported back into Rise to create translated versions of your course for any language.
Qollab allows translation of courses into 38 pre-defined languages. Courses can be exported for translation as PO files or as Excel files, which need to be translated separately using compatible software. Once translated, the files can be imported back into Qollab, but the import and review interface is less intuitive than that offered by Rise.
Access levels
Rise offers three levels of access to courses, each with its own set of permissions forvarious actions that can be performed on the course. For example, course owners can perform all types of actions, such as editing, publishing, changing settings and deleting courses. On the other hand, course collaborators can only edit and publish courses, and they have limited access to settings.
In Qollab the access level is the same for all team members working on a course.
Conclusion
Splintt has been working with both Articulate Rise and Qollab for a few years, having created a considerable number of courses using both of these platforms. In our experience, we’ve found Articulate Rise to be a better-suited solution for our clients, as it allows us to create beautiful, engaging courses with a high degree of interactivity. Qollab can be a great alternative as well if you are looking for a simpler tool that can provide smooth-flowing courses with sleek design in a shorter amount of time.