Month: August 2017

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ONLINE TRAINING & ELEARNING: Are You Helping to Save the World?

by AJ Walther, COTP

If you're using eLearning or attending your classes online, you just might be helping to save the world… without even thinking about it. How? Believe it or not, you are drastically helping to reduce CO2 emissions by not traveling to an onsite class.

"My youngest daughter asked me what a ton of carbon dioxide looks like," said high school science teacher Dave Ames. "It was a great question–and one for which I had no immediate answer. All I could tell her was that CO2 is odorless and colorless–but this reply wasn’t particularly useful for a seven-year-old looking to visualize a ton of gas. So I did what I do best: research! Fifteen minutes later I had discovered this great image, which helped both of us enormously."

Photo source: http://www.sustainablemilton.org 

How many of these cubes of CO2 can be saved just by not traveling to receive training? Let's compare a 17-person onsite class with a 17-person online class. The onsite class will be held in a centrally-located city in the U.S.: Topeka, Kansas.

To attend the onsite class, all 17 people will have to fly in from cities all across the country (and a few from outside the country). The instructor, who lives locally, will drive to the training facility.

So let's start with the instructor. She lives 35 miles away from the training facility and drives a 2004 Toyota Camry. Her roundtrip travel carbon emission for the day: .03 metric tons of CO2.

Now let's talk about the students. There's someone from Maryland, California, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, and North Carolina. There are two people from New York and from Colorado. Additionally there are three people from Minnesota. But that's just the United States. There are also students from the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and Quebec. The roundtrip Domestic travel carbon emission: 7.12 metric tons of CO2. The roundtrip International travel carbon emission: 4.9 metric tons of CO2. Total: 12.05 metric tons of CO2 (or 26,565.43 pounds). That's 12 of those cubes pictured above. And that's not including travel incurred by students to get to their respective airports and from the airport to the training location. 

I've just added up the CO2 requirement for one hypothetical onsite class. A training company can easily run 15 classes each month (we do… and that's 180 classes a year). Given the fact that many students will take the courses from home (the rest will attend from the office), it doesn't take a math wizard to see the dramatic CO2 savings online classes can provide each day and each year.

Want to help save the world? Consider teaching your classes online! Not sure you're ready? There's no better way to prepare than getting certified as the best in the field. Join a session with the International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals and get certified in two days (and, of course, it's all online!). Click here to learn more about ICCOTP and register to get certified. 

Carbon footprint calculated using: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

AJ Walther, COTP, is IconLogic's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a seasoned online trainer, eLearning graphic designer, and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." AJ made her own interdisciplinary studies major, focusing on writing and art. Her combined expertise in PowerPoint, graphic design, and writing allows her to bring a unique skillset to the eLearning community.

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ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Updated Images in a Snap

by Kevin Siegel, COTP

You've imported your corporate logo into your project, and you've used the logo throughout the project (on both master slides and Filmstrip slides). 

One day, and without much fanfare, your marketing department updates the logo. Did anyone bother to tell you? Well, yes… there was that memo. However, your project was just about done; and now you're going to have to scour through the project, delete each occurrence of the logo, and replace it with the new one. Unless, of course, you can learn a better way. No worries, I've got you covered.
 
First, if you're intending to use an image multiple times in a project, don't use the Media tool and insert the image (that could take thousands of years and cost millions of lives). Instead, display the Library and use the Import tool.
 
 
Imported images will appear in the Images folder on the Library.
 
 
Next, drag and drop the imported image from the Library directly onto any slide.
 
 
In the image below, you can see that I've used the logo on several slides.
 
 
Remember that memo you received about the updated logo? It's simple to get the updated image. On the Library, right-click the image and choose Update to open the Update Library Items dialog box.
 
 
Click the Update button and every instance of the image throughout the project will instantly update.
 
 
 
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Looking for Captivate training? Check out these live, online classes.
 
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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.
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MADCAP FLARE: QR Codes

by Neil Perlin

QR (Quick Response) codes are an expanded form of a bar code. Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave created them in 1994 for parts tracking during manufacturing.

What makes QR codes interesting for technical communicators is the spread of smartphones with QR readers.
 
If you look in Flare’s Multimedia section of the Insert ribbon, you’ll see the QR Code option. You may not be familiar with QR codes by name, but you’ve seen them if you’ve ever seen something that looks like the image below.
 
What can you do with QR codes? You can use them to help potential customers get to your web site. If you've got a QR code on your mobile device, scan the code above and you'll end up on my web site at http://www.hyperword.com.
 
Here are some other ways to use a QR code, first for traditional technical communications:
 
  • Let field service techs open a complete online service manual without having to carry it, just by scanning a QR code on the product casing.
  • Let any users jump to your web site from a PDF or print manual by scanning a QR code that you add to a manual.
  • Created “extended” quick reference cards with QR codes that link to the full online help system on a server or to web pages with videos showing how to perform tasks described in the card.
 
And depending on how you define “content marketing” and tech comm’s role in it, you can also use QR codes:
 
  • As a sales tool for times when prospective customers can’t write down your contact information because they’re driving or hanging onto a strap on a subway. (I saw a QR code on the back of a delivery truck. If I was interested in the service, I could have simply scanned the code to get the company’s URL.)
  • As a brand differentiator that says that you’re much cooler than your competitors.
  • For any case where it’s inconvenient to type a URL. (I have large hands and find it difficult to type on a smartphone keyboard, virtual or real. I’d find a QR code a helpful substitute.)
How do you create and use QR codes in Flare? It’s like inserting a graphic, the difference being that you can actually see Flare’s QR code generator create the code.
 
Click in a topic where you want to add the code and choose Insert > QR Code. In the Insert QR Code dialog box, select the content type—text, URL, Email…, Contact Information, or SMS. The dialog box settings change accordingly. For example, if you select Text, Flare waits for you to start typing. But if you select Contact Information, fields appear for Name, Company, etc. Fill them out and you’ll see the code take shape in the Preview pane.
 
 
You can control the code size, useful if you create one with lots of content or one to be read in shaky environments. You can also set display elements like position, borders, margins, and background.
 
Is there a limit to how much you can put into a QR code? Yes, depending on the nature of the content—4296 alphabetic characters or 7089 numeric characters with some variations—according to this article. But this should still be enough for many uses. 
 
How to read QR codes on a phone? Easy! Get a reader app from your app store. I use one called QR Reader for my iPhone and Android phone. It works nicely and was free. Start the app, point the camera at the code, and wait a few seconds. The app reads the QR code and pops up the information on the screen or jumps to the URL. 

QR codes are a specialized but interesting feature with a range of possible uses, probably more than I mentioned above. But I can see many possibilities and they’re easy to try.

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Neil Perlin is MadCap-Certified for Flare and is a long-time consultant, troubleshooter, and trainer for the tool, going back to MadCap’s founding in 2004. He also has years of experience with older tools like RoboHelp and Doc-To-Help and now defunct tools like ForeHelp. He is also a certified app developer, trainer, and consultant for the ViziApps app development platform. You can reach him at nperlin@nperlin.cnc.net and at NeilEric on Twitter.

 
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eLEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Audio, Text, or Both?

by Kelly Barett, COTP

Over the years, I’ve taken a lot of eLearning courses; and at this point, I’ve seen it all. Some of the courses I’ve taken were clearly PowerPoint presentations and designed to be eLearning. The "courses" were usually  text-heavy affairs and visually boring. There was usually so much information on the slides that it was nearly impossible to retain anything. 

I’ve seen courses that included page numbers. Once I see a slide that says I’m on slide 1 of 80, I tend to immediately shut down. 

If the course is boring or too long, I admit that I tend to skim through the presentation or simply click the Next Page button until I get credit for the course. Did I learn anything from most of these courses? Nope. 

I’ve also seen eLearning courses developed with rapid development tools like Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline. Instead of a bunch of bulleted text, the slides contain text captions that pop up and then disappear after a few seconds. But what if I’m not a fast reader? After the text disappeared, it was replaced with a new one. And now I’m in a panic trying to find a pause or rewind button.

And I’ve seen courses that included voiceover narration but little (or no) text on the screen… just some very dated clipart.

When it comes to effective eLearning, should there be more text on the screen? Should there be less text but more images? Should there be voiceover audio combined with text and images? What should I do with my eLearning courses to ensure most of my learners actually learn?

According to Dr. Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer, the Modality Principle dictates that people learn best via narrated text instead of visual text alone. 

I’ve heard more than once that people are either visual or auditory learners. However, a study published in the Psychological Science in the Public Interest indicates that there is no evidence or scientific validity to support this commonly-accepted theory. In fact, the study says that most people learn best with a combination of audio and visual.

Why Developers Don’t Record Their Own Audio

If you agree that combining voiceover audio, text, and images leads to the most effective eLearning, why is it that people don’t include voiceover audio? These days, all the eLearning tools allow you to record and edit your own audio. And if you find that your eLearning tool does not have the audio editing power you need, there are dedicated audio editing tools like Adobe Audition. 

So why aren’t people recording their own audio? Simply put, many people don’t like the sound of their own voice.

Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself and thought, "that’s not me!"? There are many reasons for that, but mainly when you hear your own voice, you are hearing it from your vocal chords through the bones in your skull and then to your eardrums. However, when you hear others speak, there’s a direct sound wave straight from the speaker to your ear.

Another hurdle is people don’t know what audio equipment to buy or are unfamiliar with recording narration. Maybe they are intimidated by the complexity of editing their recordings. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Recording and editing audio is not as difficult as it may seem. Especially when you have the right tools, which includes the following:

  • USB Condenser Microphone. I don't recommend that you use your headset microphone!
  • Pop-Filter. Required so you don’t blow your listener’s ears out with your plosive “p” and “t.”
  • Sound Shield. Helps reduce or eliminate ambient sounds or echo.
  • Headphones. Allows you to hear more accurately what your listeners will be hearing.
  • Software. Adobe Audition CC is my tool of choice.

If you’d like to know specifics and learn some basics of using Adobe Audition for recording and editing your audio files so they sound as crisp and clean as possible, then I invite you to register for one of my upcoming audio mini courses where I'll demonstrate some basic voiceover techniques and offer suggestions on the ideal audio equipment to use for recording. I'll also offer some basic audio editing techniques in Adobe Audition that can help eliminate background noises like laptop fans, air conditioners, or other ambient noises.

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Kelly Barrett, COTP, is a veteran trainer and conference speaker. He is the founder and creator of Self-Help Online Tutorials (SHOTs), narrated microlearning videos. Kelly earned his BA in Electronic Media in 2003 where he first learned how to record and edit radio commercials and voice overs with Cool Edit Pro (later acquired by Adobe and renamed to Adobe Audition).