Image used to represent Adobe Flash.

Have you incorporated interactive materials in your courses? Do you know what format they were created in? In this blog post, we explain the implications of the end of Adobe Flash on your existing teaching materials.

What is Adobe Flash?

Adobe Flash is multimedia software used for the production of:

  • Animations
  • Mobile games
  • Embedded web browser video players
  • SCORM packages

It allows audio, video and other forms of interaction with the end-user.

Files made using Flash are .swf files. (You may also encounter Flash video files .flv). (Read about other related file formats here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWF) These files can be played using Adobe Flash Player. Flash Player can either be a standalone player or a web browser plugin.

What’s happening and why?

  • In July 2017, Adobe announced it would end support of Flash Player and the Flash plugin at the end of 2020
  • There were security issues
  • Apple’s iOS platform (iPhones and iPads) does not support Flash
  • Android does not support Flash
  • It was inefficient
  • HTML5 has now become the new standard for modern websites
  • Most modern content creation tools (such as Articulate 360) export in HTML5 format

What could I do next?

  • Identify Flash content that you use in your teaching
  • Decide which content you can discard, and which is still required
  • If the content is still required, you need to consider whether to create something bespoke or whether alternative content is already available

It can be expensive and time-consuming to create eLearning resources. You need to clearly identify what the purpose and audience are for the resource as well as having a plan for its future maintenance.

Further reading:

The demise of Adobe Flash

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