eLearning: It’s Time for Some Reflection

Neither Captivate nor Storyline are available for mobile devices so creating software simulations directly on those devices wasn't an option. One workaround was to create screen captures of the mobile app, upload them to DropBox, and then use the images in Storyline or Captivate as backgrounds. At that point, it would be a simple matter of adding hotspots and text to the backgrounds to create interactive eLearning. Of course, going the screen capture route would have required potentially hundreds of images.

I'm betting you're wondering if there's an easier way to capture software simulations of mobile apps. And there is: mirroring. There is a ridiculously easy-to-use application (Reflector) that will project (mirror) just about any mobile device onto a desktop or laptop screen. From there, Captivate or Storyline can be used to capture whatever is being done on the mobile device.

Here are the steps I took to create an interactive a simulation of my iPad in Adobe Captivate:

To begin, I downloaded and installed the Reflector program to my MacBook Pro. (There's a free trial of the Reflector available. Once you determine that you like it, and I'm thinking you will, you can purchase Reflector outright for a paltry $12.99. You can also purchase group licenses.)

I made sure that my MacBook Pro and my iPad were on the same wireless network, then I started Reflector on my Mac.

I switched to my iPad and enabled AirPlay. (While most mobile devices support AirPlay, accessing the option varies from device to device and from operating system to operating system. My iPad is using iOS8. To enable AirPlay, I swiped up from the bottom of the device to display the Control Panel. I tapped AirPlay, scrolled down, and selected my MacBook Pro. I also enabled Mirroring.)

Like magic, my iPad was projected to my MacBook Pro. Anything I did on the iPad was mirrored on my laptop. The image below is my iPad's settings.

And here's what the mirror image of my iPad looked like on my Mac:

Any gestures, taps, or swipes I performed on my iPad were displayed at the same time on my Mac. However, any clicks I made to the mirror image displayed on my Mac had no affect on the iPad.

I started Adobe Captivate and recorded a Software Simulation. During the recording process, I targeted the iPad as the Application to be recorded. When I finished recording, the result was a Captivate project just like any of the thousands of projects I've recorded over the years. 

I was able to add interactivity, quizzes… the works… and then publish as SWF, HTML5, or both. Pretty cool, eh?

 

See also: More Reflection

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If you'd like to learn more about eLearning, come hang out in my next eLearning basics mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Captivate, Presenter, or Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.