eLearning – Page 9 – The Logical Blog

September 23, 2015

Adobe Captivate 9: Effects Made Easy

by Kevin Siegel

You can also apply special effects to Captivate slide objects without ever leaving Captivate. All you have to do is right-click an object and choose Apply Effect. From there, you can use the Effects area on the Timing Inspector to add, remove, and control the timing of several effects that come with Captivate.

I needed to add an effect to a text cation. I selected the caption and, on the Timing Inspector, Effects area, I chose Entrance from the third drop-down menu. From the bottom of the Entrance Effects, I clicked the move right icon (>) and chose Fly in From Right.

On the Timing Inspector, the Effect was been added to the Applied Effects List. If I needed to delete the Effect, I could easily do so by clicking the Trash icon to the right of the Applied Effects List drop-down menu.

On the slide, I noticed that an FX had been added in the upper right of the selected Text Caption. In addition, there was a red line starting on the Pasteboard and ending up on the caption.

I went on to add a second effect to the object. Upon previewing the effect (via Preview > Play Slide), I noticed that both effects occurred at the same time (I wanted one to occur and then, after a brief delay, the other). That was easy to fix via the Timeline.

I clicked the arrow to the left of the caption containing both effects…

… then I dragged one of the effects right on the Timeline, and then changed its timing.

Changing the timing of an effect

What I love about this is that if you know how to use Captivate's Timeline, adjusting the timing of an Effect is no different than changing the timing for any slide object.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

September 1, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Recording Narration to Multiple Slides

by Jennie Ruby

The best practice when recording a voiceover script to narrate a series of slides is to create a separate audio recording for each slide. But when you are recording directly into your Captivate project, it can be quite tedious to open the Audio menu, choose Record to > Slide, record the slide, save the recording, close the Slide Audio dialog box, and start the process over for the next slide.

Instead of closing the Slide Audio dialog box between every recording, you can record to multiple slides in one session.

Before you start, make sure you have typed or pasted the voiceover script for each slide into the Slide Notes pane.

To start the multiple slide recording process, choose Audio > Record to > Slides (notice the plural word slides).

The Record from Slide dialog box opens. Choose the range of slides you want to record and click the OK button.

The Slides Audio dialog box opens. Notice that on the waveform area, a marker for each slide has already been set.

To display your slides as you record, select the Preview check-box below the audio waveform. Use the blue arrows to navigate to the first slide you want to record to. (When you are on the first slide, the Previous slide arrow is grayed out.)

To display your slide notes, which contain your voiceover script, click the Captions & Slide Notes button at the bottom left of the Slides Audio dialog box.

Your slide notes for the active slide are displayed. Use the A tool at the upper right to adjust the font size for ease of reading.

After calibrating your microphone (refer to my Calibration article to learn how), ensure that the Continuous Play check-box is NOT selected.

The Continuous Play option advances the slides automatically as you record–whether you have completed the specific narration for a particular slide or not. By deselecting it, you retain control over when you move on to the next slide.

Click the Record button to start recording. After the countdown, record your narration by reading it from the Captions & Slide Notes window. When you finish the narration for your first slide, click the Stop Recording button.

To advance to the next slide, click the Advance Slide blue arrow below the waveform area.

The slide advances. The Captions & Slide Notes display window disappears, presumably to allow you to see the Preview of the next slide. Once you click the Record button, the Captions & Slide Notes window reopens automatically, displaying the notes for the next slide.

Click the Record button and record the next slide, then click Stop recording.

Continue in this way through all of your slides. The timing for each slide is automatically extended to accommodate the amount of time your narration requires.

After you have recorded the narration for the final slide, click the Save button at the lower right of the Slides Audio dialog box.

On the Filmstrip, each slide you recorded to now shows a speaker icon, indicating that your slide audio has been saved.

Once the narration has been recorded, you can preview the audio for each slide by clicking that speaker icon and choosing Play.

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Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online Captivate classes.

August 30, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Knowledge Check Slides

by Kevin Siegel

Last week Adobe announced a major update to Adobe Captivate: Adobe Captivate 9. While similar in appearance to Adobe Captivate 8, version 9 offers several enhancements that I'll cover over the next few weeks. This week: Knowledge Check questions.

When adding question slides to a project, you can insert graded questions, survey questions (questions that do not have a right or wrong answer), Pretest questions (questions with right and wrong answers that can be worth points, but are not graded along with regular question slides), and now, Knowledge Check Slides.

Similar to Pretest questions, Knowledge Check slides do not count against the overall quiz score. While knowledge Check questions aren't worth any points, they can provide a higher-level of feedback to the learner than Pretest questions.

To insert a knowledge check question, choose Quiz > Knowledge Check Slide.

As with all question slides, Knowledge Check slides appear on the Filmstrip. However, you'll notice that these slides include a graduation cap icon not seen with the other question types.

Once added to a project, Knowledge Check slides behave like any other question slide with a few notable exceptions. As mentioned above, Pretest questions can be worth points, Knowledge Check questions are not. And in the image below, notice the Actions tab (on the Properties Inspector) for a Pretest question. You'll notice that there's very little in the way of Actions.

Compare the Actions you see above with those available for a Knowledge Check slide. Simply put, there's more opportunity for you as a developer to ensure your learner is grasping a concept with a Knowledge Check slide than with a Pretest slide.

If you'd like to see the Knowledge Check feature in action, watch this YouTube video created by Adobe's Dr. Allen Partridge.

Important Note to Windows Users: Adobe is no longer supporting 32-bit operating systems. Captivate 9 will only work if you have Windows 64-bit . If you are using an older computer or OS, you won't be able to use Captivate 9 at all. It's a good idea to check out Captivate's new system requirements prior to upgrading to Captivate 9.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? We've got you covered with an awesome collection of full-day courses, 3-hour mini courses, and mentoring/consulting services.

August 20, 2015

eLearning: Working with Numbers

by Sally Cox

When eLearning courses contain lots of numbers (such as statistics or sales figures), it can be a challenge to keep things looking interesting and fresh. If the client is committed to displaying data in tables, there isn't much you can do to make the data more visually appealing. In that case I concentrate on enhancing the overall slide design. However, if I am given the opportunity to bring the raw data into Storyline, for example, I can do some creative things; let me show you a few ideas I have for numbers.

Monospace vs. Proportional

When it comes to fonts and numbers, there are two main categories: Monospace and Proportional. Monospace fonts have the exact same width allotted for each character. This makes it perfect for aligning columns of numbers. Notice in the image below: the sets of numerals on the left are in a Monospace font and are perfectly aligned. However, in the example on the right, the "1" and the "2" are closer together than others in the column, showing that it's a Proportional font.

It's better for design but not good if the numbers need to align. Note that the yellow box shares some common Monospace fonts for both Mac and Windows.

Tips for Designing Numerical Data

There are two types of numerical data you can display in your eLearning courses: Statistical data (first image below) or Sets of Data (second image, used for measuring or analytics). Most people find it easier to remember approximations than actual figures. For example, you might find it easier to remember which entrée on the menu is most expensive, as opposed to memorizing all the entrée prices.

As a designer, I always try to add graphics or shapes when possible to help tell the story. In the image below, to demonstrate that 20% of the staff had completed the Compliance Training, I used color to help tell the story. The light blue represents the 20%, and I also used it on the "20%" text, for continuity. This is much more effective than just reading statistics in a paragraph of text.

Instead of just saying "sales increased 50% in the first quarter," why not illustrate it? In the image below, I used an icon of a chart with an upward arrow and the 50% is larger. This is much more effective than the simple two lines of text in the example on the left.

An icon of a chart with an upward arrow and the 50% is large

Use graphs to display numbers. I often create graphs in Adobe Illustrator because it has options for different types of graphs. You can even create a custom graph using your own graphics. Sometimes I create my graphs directly in Articulate Storyline using shapes (in the image below, that's exactly what I did using lines, text, and simple shapes).

A chart created directly in Articulate Storyline

Pictograms are another great way to display data. In the image below, you can see how many donuts were sold at each location and compare locations at a glance. Pictograms help learners compare content and retain what they have learned.

These are a few of my ideas for making numeric content look more appealing. You can watch my YouTube video on this topic here.

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Looking to get started on your eLearning project? Not sure which eLearning tool is best? Perhaps you're stuck trying to create a template in Captivate or Storyline? Maybe you've been tasked with creating accessible eLearning but aren't sure how to get going? Check out our vast array of eLearning mini courses.

July 28, 2015

Adobe Captivate or Adobe Presenter: Which One Is Right For You?

by Jennie Ruby

Adobe Presenter and Adobe Captivate have some overlapping functions. Both can create eLearning lessons that can be uploaded to and report results to a learning management system (LMS). Both can work with PowerPoint. Both can create interactive quizzes. And the list goes on. But what are the key differences that tell me which of these programs to buy? Or, if I already have both, which to use for any given project? Let's take a look.

Adobe Presenter is a PowerPoint add-in, and is marketed by Adobe specifically to educators. It is the easiest path from PowerPoint to eLearning. You can use it to take existing PowerPoint slides, add voiceover narration, optionally record a self-video while presenting the lesson, add eLearning scenes and characters, add interactive elements, add a quiz, and publish the lesson to an LMS. Presenter lessons can be used to "flip" the classroom–the homework is to watch the lecture, and then practice assignments, worked problems, and the like are done in the classroom with the teacher's help.

Presenter is designed so that eLearning features are easy to add. But, as is typical with any kind of software, the easier the software is to use, the fewer choices you have about certain things. In Adobe Presenter, this is a good thing. This software allows you to focus more on the content than on eLearning functionality. With this software, the feeling is that you are designing your content, and the software handles the work of deciding things like how the learner advances to the next slide. Your energy goes into your content.

For example, if you want to create a scenario, where the learner chooses options and receives feedback by traveling down various "branches" after decision points, you can click a few buttons, choose between pre-designed options, type your content on designated slides, and let Presenter take care of which button takes the learner to which slide. Your choices are somewhat limited, but getting a functioning scenario lesson up and running is fast and easy.

Adobe Captivate is powerful, stand-alone eLearning development software. It can import PowerPoint slides as the background and basic content of a project, but from that point on, the file is a Captivate project file. You are no longer in PowerPoint. In fact, using PowerPoint is just one of many options for how to create a Captivate project.

Arguably Captivate's greatest strength is the ability to create software demonstrations and simulations by simply recording screen actions as you do them. You can create still shots of each screen or record a live video of a procedure. Captivate can add text descriptions of the actions automatically. But after recording, you can edit the recorded steps to add highlights, additional captions, voiceover instructions, hints, feedback messages, and much more.

Rather than having a lot of automatic presets (although there are plenty of predesigned themes for colors, backgrounds, and fonts), Captivate puts you in control of the details of your lesson's appearance and functionality. What will the learner click to advance the lesson? You can create a button or make any part of the background a clickable object. Want a button that does multiple actions? You can create that. Want to add a screen character or multiple characters? Captivate lets you do that, too.

Want a branching scenario? You map it out, you add scenes or characters, you create the buttons that take your learner down the various branches. You have complete flexibility as to how the lesson proceeds. But you are on your own. You have to remember to add that "back" button that keeps your learner from reaching a dead end. You have to create all of the links and make sure they go in the correct sequence. You have all the power, but you also have all the work of making the eLearning project function.

So which should you use for what?

If you need software simulations: Captivate
If you need flexible, responsive lesson sizes for various learner devices: Captivate
If you have existing PowerPoint slides and want to record your lecture with them: Presenter
If you just want to focus on content, and want the rest to be mostly automatic: Presenter
If you want detailed control over sophisticated branching, interactions, timings, and functions: Captivate

Budget

Captivate is a highly advanced, fully functional eLearning software development tool, and its cost reflects that:

$999 to purchase
$29.99/month to subscribe, with a year's subscription minimum
Student/teacher edition: $299

Presenter is a PowerPoint add-in that gives you a lot of eLearning pizazz for a lot less development work and costs significantly less than Captivate:

$499 to purchase
$14.99/month to subscribe for a year
$24.99 month-to-month subscription available
Student/teacher editions upgrade: $149

Are you using one of or both of these programs? Give me your opinion. Which do you use for what?

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If you'd like to learn more about Captivate, come hang out in my just announced Adobe Captivate Quick Start mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, TechSmith Camtasia, Articulate Studio, or Articulate Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.

July 22, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Close Caption a Video

by Lori Smith

I received an email from a Captivate developer who was lamenting the fact that her Captivate videos didn't have closed captions. "Sure it's easy to add closed captions to a Captivate slide," she said, "but you cannot add them to a video." This was a real problem since she was required to create accessible eLearning.

Believe it or not, it's just about as easy to add closed captions to a video as it is a slide. (Easy, but not obvious.) Here's how:

Insert a video onto a slide via the Media menu. (When inserting the video, insert it as Multi-Slide Synchronized Video. Also, select Modify slide duration to accommodate video.)

On the Properties inspector, select Edit Video Timing.

On the Closed Captioning tab and click on a Timeline location to mark where you want to insert closed captioning text.

Click the + sign to add a closed caption and then type the closed caption text.

Lather, rinse, repeat! Once you have finished adding all of the closed captioning text, click the OK button to exit the editor. And that's it! One note: don't forget to enable the display of closed captioning via your skin editor.

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

July 10, 2015

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8: A Stitch in Time

by Kevin Siegel

If you select portions of a video clip on the Camtasia Studio Timeline and cut, you have historically ended up with multiple clips. At that point, it's possible to drag the split portions on the Timeline as needed or apply Visual effects. What you cannot do with multiple clips is apply an effect that spans multiple splits. I've always found that shortcoming to be an annoyance when working with Camtasia.

Fortunately, TechSmith addressed the issue in Camtasia 8 with a feature known as Stitching.

Stitching is enabled by default. You can confirm this by choosing Tools > Options. Select the Program tab and ensure that Enable auto-stitching is selected.

With Stitching enabled, I've selected a portion of a video on my Timeline and Cut it.

When cutting content in older versions of Camtasia, the cut portion of the video would be replaced by a split (two video segments). In Camtasia 8, instead of multiple segments you'll see a stitch between what would normally be two segments.

And here is where the Stitch feature pays dividends: I added an animation at the beginning of a video. In the image below, you can see that I've actually stretched the animation across the stitch itself (something that isn't possible when you're working with splits).

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Looking to learn all things eLearning? Check out these live, online eLearning mini-courses (including a 3-hour introduction to Camtasia).

June 24, 2015

eLearning: How to Pick an LMS

by Ashok Sharma

Picking a Learning Management System (LMS) to host your eLearning content is a crucial, but often overlooked, step in the eLearning development process. The problem is, there are several LMS vendors from which to choose. Which LMS fits best within your budget, your eLearning development software, your learner's technology, your training objectives, and your instructional design initiatives?

How to Choose the Right LMS for Your Business

Purchasing an LMS is a big decision for any organization. In fact, you'll find that the price for an LMS can range from free to $1,000,000. The first step in picking an LMS is knowing your organization. An LMS can be used for a variety of different tasks–internal training, performance tracking, compliance maintenance, policy awareness, and employee feedback. Ask the executive team what requirements they might need from the solution. Do you need the LMS just for training? Could the LMS be used for new employee orientations, site-specific safety training, internal policy management, and sign off? Identify the level of maintenance and internal staff that will be required to implement and maintain the service. Some systems are very easy to setup while others can require months to properly set up. Ensure you are aware of which one you are getting. When pricing an LMS, keep in mind that the number of users who will access the LMS will likely affect your licensing costs.

Your Content

One of the biggest factors that will influence your LMS choice is the content you'll be uploading into the LMS. Some eLearning courses use video, others use written materials. Things like file format (Flash vs. PDF, PowerPoint vs. Spreadsheet) can make a difference in what systems are a potential fit. Does the system accept SCORM courses? If so, what versions? Will the LMS work if learners are using tablets and mobile devices? Does the LMS support HTML5 versions of SCORM?

Compatibility

Some organizations already have training programs and background material; others need to start online course development from scratch. Be sure to ask beforehand what sort of authoring tools the LMS is compatible with, as it is recommended that you find a system that works well with all the leading tools like Adobe Captivate, Lectora, and Articulate Storyline.

User Experience

Training management software may often be advertised as user-friendly, but each system has technical requirements that invariably affect deployment. Check to see if the system offers an API (automated program interface) or SSO (Single Sign On) that complies with your existing systems. These communication protocols affect the exchange of information between your LMS and other programs, like payroll.

Practicality

The final step in assessing which LMS is right for you is implementation and maintenance. Permissions, level of maintenance, and ability to make changes on-the-fly can all affect the cost of LMS implementation and the staff resources required to administer online learning courses.

Some systems, like open-source LMSs, may seem attractive because of low costs and easy customization, but they can be more complicated to use than software services that make support staff available. If you're frequently troubleshooting or making system adjustments, the money saved by using a free service can quickly be lost in maintenance hours. Commercial training management software may be pricier than open-source systems, but they are turn-key ready and frequently have dedicated staff to walk your administrators through maintenance and implementation issues-well worth the expenses. Perhaps your organization's learning requirements are seasonally variable? In this case, it may be best to choose a Software-As-A-Service LMS. These services allow you to define your service periods and store information on external servers giving you the external staff and storage resources to manage any required changes to course delivery. Many of the best LMSs provide free trial periods and open contracts to allow you to confirm that they work as advertised without locking you into heavy service fees.

Knowing your system, content, and staff requirements will play an important factor in streamlining LMS selection. Knowing your organization and system requirements will knock out most of the hard work that goes into creating a request for proposal. This means your organization can more quickly begin the demo process and start sampling the many LMSs out there without the worry of encountering technical snags late in the selection process.

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Looking to get started with eLearning? Check out our 3-hour mini courses.

June 10, 2015

Articulate Storyline: Glossaries Made Easy

by Kevin Siegel

I had a client recently who needed to include a Glossary in their Storyline eLearning course. Fortunately, this kind of functionality is simple to add to any Storyline project.

To begin, open or create a Storyline project. Click Player (located in the Publish group on the Ribbon). From the Data area of the Properties, click Glossary and then from the bottom left of the dialog box, click Add.

Storyline Player

Glossary

Add

In the Glossary Term dialog box, type a Term and Definition. When finished, click the Save button. Repeat the process as necessary.

Term and Definition

The final step is telling Storyline that you want the Glossary to appear in the published lesson. From the top of the Player dialog box, select Features. From the list of Player Tabs, select Glossary.

Enabling Glossary

Preview or publish the project to see the Glossary. In the image below, you can see the finished Glossary as a tab beside Menu that can easily be accessed by the learner.

Finished Glossary

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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.

June 4, 2015

Adobe Captivate & Articulate Storyline: Round-Tripping With Microsoft Word

by Kevin Siegel

How do you collaborate with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who aren't Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline developers? Specifically I'm talking about text content. How many times have you gone back and forth (and back and forth again) with your SMEs, changing a word on a slide here, removing a comma there. Maddening, right?

Wouldn't it be great if you could export the text from your eLearning projects into Word, get your SMEs to make their changes in the document (using Word), and then import those changes back into your project? That kind of workflow is a dream, right? Nope. The workflow exists today in both Captivate and Storyline and the process is simple.

Adobe Captivate

Open or create a Captivate project and choose File > Import/Export > Export project captions and closed captions.

In the Open dialog box, name the resulting document, specify a save destination, and click the Save button. (You will be notified when the captions have been exported.)

Click Yes to open the document in Word.

The captions will appear in a Word table. There will be five columns: Slide ID, Item ID, Original Text Caption Data, Updated Text Caption Data, and Slide. You can make any changes you want to the Updated Text Caption Data, but you should not change any of the other information. The Slide ID identifies which slide your edited captions go to. The Item ID identifies which caption goes with which caption data.

Make your editorial changes; then save and close the Word document.

The final step is to to import the edited text back into Captivate. Choose File > Import/Export > Import project captions and closed captions. Find and open the document you edited in Word. A dialog box will appear confirming the number of captions that were imported. Not only will the edited content be imported, but formatting changes made to the Word document, such as making text bold or italic, are also retained.

Articulate Storyline

The process of round-tripping between Articulate Storyline and Microsoft Word is just about the same as it is in Adobe Captivate.

Open or create a Storyline project and then choose File > Translation > Export. In the Open dialog box, name the resulting document, specify a save destination, and click the Save button.

In the resulting Word document, SMEs can make any needed content changes in the Translate this column area of the document and then return the edited document to you.

The final step is to simply choose File > Translation > Import and open the edited Word document.

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