Category: e-learning

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Localization: Training and Development in Poland

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn

As we continue our journey around the world, let's explore some common cultural facts about Poles and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test Your Knowledge of Polish Culture

  1. The name "Poland" is a descriptor of the country's geography. Does it mean:
    1. The borderlands?
    2. The hill country?
    3. The flatlands?
  2. True or False? Polish businesspeople often speak German.
  3. True or False? Prussian is also a common language in Poland.
Quick Tips for Training & Development in Poland1:

  • Poland is a male-dominated society. Female trainers may find it hard to be taken seriously, even though women have been advancing into more predominant roles in recent years.
  • Polish is the official language, but many businesspeople speak German as well as English. Clarify language preferences before beginning your class. Just because most Poles can understand English does not mean it's the preferred language for training.
  • Catholicism is a highly predominant religion, with less than two percent of the population identifying with another religion. Approximately ten percent of Poles describe themselves as "nonreligious."
  • Security is a high priority for Poles, and they are determined to maintain their freedom after a difficult history with both Russia and Germany. As such, Poles tend to prize individualism and the contributions a person can make in larger groups as a whole.
  • Poland is a hierarchical society, and there is a tendency for decisions to be made at a higher level or by consensus of "privileged" individuals.
  • Truth is a combination of facts along with subjective feelings and personal relationships. An individual's religious ideologies also often come into play when making decisions.
  • Business appointments start and end on time.
  • Many Poles opt to not take a lunch break and to work straight through the day. "Work lunches" are often scheduled for around 4 or 5 p.m., and employees do not go back to work after taking lunch. Keep this in mind and clarify time expectations when determining your class schedule.
  • A local Polish advocate will go far when establishing new business relationships. Try to identify a champion of your initiative within the company or someone closely associated and respected through corporate connections.
  • Poles tend to be more soft-spoken than North Americans, and business attire is conservative professional.

Knowledge Answer from Above: 

  1. (c) Poland is mostly flat.
  2. True. Not much of a surprise, considering Poland's location along the German border.
  3. False. While once used, Prussian became extinct in the 1700's.
     
References:
 
1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.
 
***
Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions. And if you love Jen's articles, check out her new Localization mini courses.
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Articulate Storyline: Recolor Art

by Sally Cox Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
One of my favorite hidden gems in Storyline 2 is an obscure feature called Recolor Art. It allows you to alter the color of an object within Storyline-not affecting the original art, but merely "recoloring" it within the project.
 
In my workflow as an Instructional Designer, I create my own artwork in Adobe Illustrator and export as transparent PNGs. This works out nicely, but there are times when I need to create rollovers from icons or buttons. I want to avoid returning to Illustrator to create separate versions. Enter "Recolor Art."
 
In the image below there are a few examples of icons you might use in your eLearning project. I'll demonstrate how to use Storyline's Recolor Art feature to alter the Hover state, creating a rollover.
 
 
To begin, select your artwork (remember, transparent PNGs work best) and open the States panel by selecting the word "States" at the bottom of the Storyline window.
 
 
Click Edit States, click New State, choose Hover from the drop-down menu, and then click Add.
 
 
You've created the Hover state; now you'll alter the appearance. With the Hover state still open, select the object on your slide. Then right-click and choose Format Picture.

 

 
Choose Picture from the menu at the left and then click the arrow next to Preset.
 
 
You'll find a number of options for recoloring your art, and you'll see the categories listed above the icons. No Recolor means you see your original image. Color Modes and Dark Variations are the ones that give the best result, for me. Experiment with Brightness, Contrast, and Transparency for different effects.
 
These are limiting however, so if you want more, go to Blend.
 
Choose a Color from the Blend section and apply a Blend Mode. These behave just like Photoshop Blend Modes and give you a variety of effects based on the color you choose.
 
 
If you don't like what you've done, you can click Reset Picture, or use Storyline's Undo command.
 
When you're done with Recolor, click Close. Lastly, and most importantly, click Done Editing States in the States panel to save the changes.
 
Here are examples of before (left) and after (right) applying the Recolor feature to an icon. It can always be removed later, and edited as needed. Any way you cut it, it's a real timesaver!
 
 
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Looking for training on Articulate Storyline? Check out our live, online instructor-led Storyline classes.
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Learning and Development: Effective Videos, Part 2

by Matthew Pierce Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
In last week's article about creating effective eLearning videos, I wrote about video viewership and the ideal length for a video. This week, it's all about keeping viewers interested and the best information to present.
 
Keeping viewers interested

One of the prime reasons that viewers turn off to video is because the delivery of content doesn't engage or appears as boring. The TechSmith Viewer study dug into what makes content uninteresting. There are many ways to be considered boring, just a few of them include: 

  • A dull or monotonous speaker
  • Content is by nature boring
  • The pace of delivery is too slow
  • The information is a repeat from earlier delivery of material
  • A bad approach has been decided and taken
Overcoming some of these hurdles can be challenging. Audiences can be subjective and depending on your audience size, you may need to determine what is the least problematic approach, without letting the video become too generalized or plain–which will also cause viewers to stop watching.
 
What is the best information to present?
 
Some participants in the study indicated that they actually wanted different information from what was provided in the videos they had seen. This can be subjective as we can't always deliver what they want versus what they need, but we should keep in mind that viewers, especially learners, do tend to have a good gauge of whether the information achieved its objectives. When viewers wanted different information, we found that they were missing details. If the content was instructional in nature, they found there wasn't enough step-by-step instruction. Also, on many occasions the content of the video was not accurately reflected in the description, which can lead the viewer down the frustrating path of starting a video only to discover that it doesn't meet their needs.
 
Finally, viewers indicated that instructional and informational videos were not specific enough. It's easy as a content creator to assume how much any one of your viewers may already know. And since it can be difficult to pre-assess knowledge and deliver just what is needed, testing and being open to feedback from your audience is critical to success.
 
Conclusion
 
As we move into a digital era where video content is becoming king, technical communicators need to find a fine balance between creating videos that achieve their purpose and understanding how their viewers will best consume their content. One cannot exist without the other.
 
The best video will be created by a person who has considered the content, how it is delivered, the amount of details, and even the amount of time to ensure it does not fall flat with viewers. In comparison to entertaining videos, instructional and informational videos need to work a little bit harder to win over audiences; but through a variety of settings, and interesting approaches viewers can stick to your content like glue.

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If you'd like to learn more about eLearning, check out IconLogic's eLearning basics mini course. And if you'd like to learn TechSmith Camtasia Studio, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, or Articulate Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.

See also:  Learning and Development: Effective Videos, Part 1

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Articulate Storyline: Trim Videos

by Kevin Siegel Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube
 
You can easily insert videos into Storyline from just about any video format. All you need to do is click the Insert tab on the Ribbon. From the Media group, click Video drop-down menu and choose Video From File.

Articulate Storyline: Video from File.

I was working on a project recently and inserted a video onto one of my Storyline slides using the step above. Upon previewing the slide, I saw that a portion of the video needed to be trimmed. Fortunately, trimming a portion of a video is just as easy as inserting a video… and you don't have to leave the Storyline application.

First, select the video on the slide. Next, click the Video Tools Options tab on the Ribbon.

At the left of the Ribbon, click Edit Video to open the Articulate Video Editor. 

 Articulate Storyline: Edit Video. 

Once you're in the Video Editor, click Trim.

  

By default, the first and last half-second of the video is selected for Trimming. All that you need to do now is extend or reduce the Trim Start and/or Trim End markers as needed to specify the areas of the video that need to be trimmed.

Articulate Storyline: Extending the trim area.

When you're done, click Save & Close and the video is trimmed. It can't get much easier than that. 

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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 Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, or Articulate Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you. 

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Mobile Photography for Creatives (Live, Online, 100% Interactive Mini-Course)

iPhoneography and Mobile Photography offer an endless array of apps to edit and enhance your images, as well as combine them and create artwork that can be posted online or printed and framed.

During this class, you will learn tips for using your phone’s camera and for getting better shots. Then we will explore some of the best apps on the market for creative photography, available on a variety of platforms including iOS and Android.

Who Should Attend?

  • Amateur photographers who just want to take better mobile photos
  • Creatives looking to learn more about what apps are available and which ones offer the best features and interface
  • Designers who want to create their own graphics using mobile photos

More information or to register.

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Adobe Captivate: Use Smart Shapes Instead of Text Captions

by Kevin Siegel Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube
 
I've written about Captivate's Smart Shapes a few times since Adobe first introduced them. If you want to know what they are, check out this article. If you want to learn how to use Smart Shapes as buttons, I've got you covered. This time I'm going to cover how you can use Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions in just about every development scenario. 
Since Smart Shapes are far more flexible (when it comes to formatting) than standard buttons or text captions, I'd love to see Adobe completely replace text captions and buttons with Smart Shapes down the road (perhaps Captivate 9… 10?). As it stands, standard text captions are used whenever you record a software simulation or enable feedback captions for interactive objects (you can use Hint, Success, and Failure captions for Click Boxes, Buttons, and Text Entry Boxes).
If you'd like to use Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions during the Software Simulation recording process, open Captivate's Preferences dialog box (Edit menu if you're using Windows; Adobe Captivate menu if you're using a Macintosh).

From the Recording group at the left side of the dialog box, select Modes. Finally, for each mode you'd like to use, enable Add Text Captions and Use Smart Shapes instead of Captions. You can select the type of Smart Shape you want to use via the Smart Shape Type drop-down menu.

Adobe Captivate: Use Smart Shapes instead of Captions. 

When you record your next Software Simulation, the standard Text Captions will automatically be replaced with Smart Shapes.

As I mentioned above, you can also use Smart Shapes instead of standard captions when adding Hint, Success, and Failure captions. It's a simple set up (assuming you're using Adobe Captivate 8.1), reopen the Preferences dialog box. From the Category list, select Defaults. Lastly, from the General area, select Use Smart-Shapes for SFH Captions instead of Text Captions.

Adobe Captivate: Use Smart-Shapes for SFH Captions. 

The next time you enable Hint, Success, or Failure captions for an interactive object (via the Properties Inspector), the feedback captions will automatically be Smart Shapes.

Adobe Captivate: Display Success, Failure, and Hint feedback. 

If you'd like to change the shape of the Smart Shape, it's a simple matter of selecting the shape and, on the Properties Inspector, using the Basic drop-down menu.

Adobe Captivate: Change the appearance of the Smart Shape. 

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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.

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Articulate Storyline: Adding Buttons

by Kevin Siegel Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube
 
Buttons are the most common form of interactivity that you'll find in just about any Storyline project. Using Triggers, you can control what happens should the learner successfully click a button (such as Go to the next slide or Show Layers).

Over the next few weeks I'm going to teach you how easy it is to add buttons to any Storyline slide, how to add Triggers, and how to control Button states.


Add a Button to a Slide

  1. Open or create a Storyline project and then open a slide.
  2. Select the Insert tab on the Ribbon.
  3. From the Interactive Objects group, select Controls and then select Button 1.
    Articulate Storyline: Controls lead to Buttons
    Articulate Storyline: Button 1 
  4. Draw a button on the slide as you would any shape.
    Articulate Storyline: A button added to a slide.

Label and Name a Button

  1. With the button you just drew selected, label the button by typing directly into the button. (The text should be short and sweet and clearly indicate the button's action to the learner.)
    Articulate Storyline: A labelled button
  2. On the Timeline, double-click the name Button1 and give the button a common-sense name. (In the image below, I'm working on a slide containing multiple buttons. Each has been labeled and named.)
    Articulate Storyline: Named buttons.

    The Label will be seen by your learners when they work through your lesson. The Name is never seen by the learner and serves as a development tool for you when you begin working with Triggers. 

    Note: If you are not happy with the appearance of the button, you can always change the way a button looks just like any other shape in Storyline.

Add a Trigger to a Button

When you add a button to a slide, it's begging to do something… anything. You can add a Trigger to a button easily via the Triggers panel. The Trigger can result in any number of actions. For instance, a Trigger can jump a learner to a different slide, open a web page, show or hide a layer, or change the state of an object.

  1. On the Triggers panel, click Create a new trigger to open the Trigger Wizard.
    Articulate Storyline: Create a Trigger
  2. From within the Trigger Wizard, select the desired options. In the image below, I wanted a Continue button that I added to the slide to take the learner to the next slide when the button is clicked. I selected Jump to slide as the Action, next slide as the Slide, User clicks for When, and the slide's Continue button as the Object.
    Articulate Storyline: Trigger Wizard
    If you're thinking that the Trigger Wizard looks overly simplistic based on the image above, you'd be correct. However, looks are often very deceiving in Storyline. As you experiment with different actions from the Actions drop-down menu, I think you'll be surprised by how much the options in the Trigger Wizard change to support the selected Action. The Wizard is actually very flexible and powerful and allows you to create some very complex interactions.

Next time: Button States. 

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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.

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eLearning: More Reflection

by Kevin Siegel Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube

Last week I wrote about how you can use Reflector to create software simulations and demonstrations from your mobile device.

I received emails from several people who, having read the article, downloaded Reflector and attempted to create a simulation using Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline. While most folks were successful in reflecting the mobile device onto the computer, several people reported that none of the actions they took on the mobile device were captured by the eLearning tool. 

As I mentioned in last week's article, the reflection of the mobile device you see on the computer is passive; you cannot control the reflection with the computer. Instead, you can simply see what's happening on the mobile device through your computer.

During the simulation recording process, if you're creating a software simulation, programs like Captivate and Storyline only capture the screen if you click your mouse (or manually create a screen capture by pressing the appropriate keyboard shortcut). Since you're not clicking anything on your computer (remember, the computer is simply showing you a reflection of the mobile device), neither Captivate nor Storyline will capture anything.Unless…

On your computer, start the recording process using Captivate or Storyline. Just prior to performing an action on your mobile device, click the reflection on your computer to create a screen capture. Next, on the mobile device, perform the action. Back on the computer, click the reflection again to create a second screen shot that shows the result of whatever it is you did on the mobile device. Continue this process over and over until you have completed all of the processes you wish to simulate on the mobile device.

If clicking over and over again to create a simulation sounds too difficult, all three of the top eLearning development tools (Camtasia Studio, Captivate, and Storyline) excel at creating videos. If you create a video of the reflected mobile device, everything you do on the mobile device is captured because the video isn't creating individual screen shots, it's capturing everything you do without discrimination. 

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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.
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Localization: Training & Development in Norway

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
As we make our way towards Scandinavia, let's explore some common cultural facts about Norwegians and their expectations when it comes to Training & Development.
  
Test your knowledge of Norwegian Culture

  1. True or False? Norway remained neutral during World War II.
  2. True or False? Norway is a monarchy.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Norway1:

  • As members of the least punctual culture in northern Europe, Norwegians often run 10 to 15 minutes late for appointments. Be prepared to wait, but always arrive promptly yourself. While it's common for meetings to begin a bit behind schedule, be sure to end your classes on time, especially if they run until the end of the workday.
  • While English is widely known in Norway, the official language is Norwegian and may be the preferred language for use in your training materials. Even when fluent in English, many Norwegians prefer written communication in their native tongue.
  • More analytical than emotional, Norwegians tend to view outside information cautiously, and they are often slow to make decisions.
  • Communication is typically blunt and straightforward, and it's the cultural norm to accept statements at face value.
  • Individual freedom and independence are highly valued. As such, any kind of debt is avoided, as it's viewed as an impediment to one's freedom.
  • Family units are perceived as a way to maintain stability and structure in life. Norway's social welfare system perpetuates this support as well and is a great source of pride for the Norwegian people.
  • Gender roles are greatly minimized in Norwegian culture, as both parents share childcare responsibilities and women have great freedom in behavior and personal or professional aspirations.
  • Norwegians are quiet people, so avoid speaking too loudly or boisterously.
  • Talking with your hands in your pockets is considered too casual for business interactions, and the American "okay" gesture is perceived as rude.
  • Although Norway is a very affluent country, gift-giving is not acceptable in business interactions due to strict anti-bribery laws.

Knowledge Answers from Above:

  1. True. Although it was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.
  2. True. It's a constitutional monarchy with the king as chief of state.
References:
 
1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.
 
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Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions. And if you love Jen's articles, check out her new Localization mini courses.