I wouldn’t disagree with people who say that Captivate is a very easy program to learn and use. Compared with programs like Adobe PhotoShop, they’re right. Captivate is easy. In fact, you’ll have it pretty much figured out in two-days or less (that’s the time it should take you to finish my Captivate workbook).
However, there’s a whole development process you need to go through if you intend to produce effective CBTs. And Captivate mastery is only a small part of that process. Getting a handle on the CBT development process isn’t easy. It takes a lot of practice, experience, and above all, patience. I’ve outlined my CBT development process below. While this list is by no means complete, it will give you a nice overview. And I’ve included a power scale that demonstrates the skill level necessary to get the job done. The scale goes from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating a potentially difficult process.
Write It: If you’re not a writer, you’ll need someone to write the step-by-step instructions (also known as a script or storyboard) necessary to record the project in Captivate. You’ll typically find technical writers doing this kind of work. And I’d consider this the most important process. Without a good script, you don’t have a movie. Think I’m kidding? What do Battlefield Earth, Barb Wire, Godzilla, Heaven’s Gate, Popeye and Ishtar have in common? (Power Scale: 10)
Rehearse It: Take the completed script and go through it with the software you’ll be recording in front of you. Don’t skip any steps. You’ll be able to see if the steps you wrote are incomplete or inaccurate before you attempt to record the movie in Captivate. (Power Scale: 2)
Reset It: After rehearsing the steps, be sure to "undo" everything you did. Few things are more frustrating than recording your movie only to find a step you intend to demonstrate has already been performed. (Power Scale: 1)
Record It: If rehearsals went well, the recording process should as well. (Power Scale: 1)
Clean It: This is where you add all of the interactivity in Captivate including highlight boxes, captions, text entry fields, buttons, question slides, etc. If the project contains 70-80 slides and each slide needs your attention, you should budget 7- 10 hours to get the project perfected. (Power Scale: 8)
Publish It: While not a difficult task, if your project is large this could take a great deal of time. You cannot do any work in Captivate while your project is publishing. (Power Scale: 1)
Test It: This task isn’t difficult, but it could take time. If you find a problem, you’ve got to go back and clean it, publish it and re-test it. Some people argue that this step belongs above the Publish It process. I cannot argue with that logic. However, after testing the project, you’ll still need to Publish it and then, if working with a Learning Management System (LMS), upload it and test again. Maybe it should be Test It, Publish It, Test it. See how easy I am? (Power Scale: 2)