Allen
Communication unveiled version 3.0 of its popular training design and
planning tool, Designer’s Edge.
Among its enhancements are facilities for task analysis and report
customization, plus
consistent interfaces that are intended to increase user productivity, the
company reported.
“Designer’s Edge 3.0 really opens up the training design process beyond
subject matter experts and
designers,” said Steve Allen, CEO of Allen Communication. “It has become a
real group productivity tool with its combined interfaces, logical storage
structures and open formats. The ability to work
with individual pieces of the design project, rather than with the course as a
whole, supports the movement toward learning objects–or the creation of
training pieces that can be reused in multiple formats across multiple courses
by multiple groups for multiple purposes.”
An enterprise version of Designer’s Edge 3.0 has both desktop capabilities
and enterprise database support through ODBC connectivity, according to the
vendor. It can export
training titles directly to HTML and Java via the vendor’s Net Synergy
product.
Widely used by education, commercial and government/military training
professionals, Designer’s Edge is intended to deliver a step-by-step
process, which, said
the company, “speeds productivity, standardizes design processes across
organizations and facilitates effective design and development for trainers.”
Scheduled for availability in the fourth quarter of 1998, Designer’s Edge
3.0 runs on Windows 95 or NT, and costs $2,495 (desktop edition) and $3,995
(enterprise edition, single-seat
license).