training – Page 3 – The Logical Blog

January 22, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Use Smart Shapes Instead of Text Captions

by Kevin Siegel

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.

December 16, 2014

Technical Communication: Don’t Wordpass on Passwords

by Megan Pitkin

During one of my recent Electronic Medical Records (EMR) classes, a student asked about best practices for creating a password. Many people use the same password for everything (and I mean everything… from accessing Facebook to logging into their online banking account). Believe it or not, passwords are often very easy to guess. In fact, here are the top three most common passwords in use today:

Common Passwords
Note: The image above features an avatar of Megan. If you'd like to create your own avatar, check out AJ's article.

Given the rampant reports about hacked accounts that have occurred in every industry, a strong password has never been more important. This is especially true in healthcare.

To create more secure passwords:

Use passwords with eight or more characters with characters of mixed types. (Keep in mind that common substitutions for passwords like Med1c1ne are vulnerable and random combinations are difficult to remember, like m%&5Bg$d.)
Use passphrases. Short words with characters or spaces separating are easy to recall. Rather than using common phrases, it is best to use random words as your phrase such a dog walk leash or sing_moon_jump.
Do not use the same combination of username/password for multiple sites.

Ensuring safety and protection for patients by properly creating and protecting passwords is critical. I found it surprising that the FBI's most wanted cyber hacker got arrested the same week this question was asked of me. Why was he caught? His cat's namewas his password.

I won't elaborate on why I felt this was ironic, but I do feel it is important to highlight this cautionary tale.

Patient information is precious and should be treated appropriately since healthcare workers are the majority of keepers and the first point of contact for the electronic medical records.

Note: If you're finding it difficult to keep track of your passwords (perhaps you're following my advice and you're using different passwords for every site), consider a password manager. PC Magazine has a nice list of some of the top password managers available.

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If you like Megan's articles, you'll love her live, online classes such as Train the EMR Trainer.

December 7, 2014

Technical Communication: Applying Lean Principles to Documentation

by Megan Pitkin

While I was working as a bedside nurse, my organization decided to adopt a new way of approaching patient care and improve workflow: Lean. As described in this article about Lean in health care, "Lean is an industrial managerial system that aims to eliminate process waste in the forms of transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, and defects."

While Lean was originally intended for industrial applications, the article describes the efforts of Dr. M. Peggy Hays, associate professor in the UAH College of Nursing, to bring industrial Lean practices in healthcare.

"Nursing staff today have more and more duties," said Dr. Hays. "How can they make their job more efficient so they can focus on patient care, which is why they got into the profession in the first place?"

According to the article, Dr. Hays said that "healthcare applications [for Lean] include unearthing greater efficiencies in emergency room waiting times, operating room use, use of nursing rounds, medication rounds, processing patient paperwork in administrative offices, and workflow of the staff."

The planning and assessment phase for my unit started with the team receiving Lean education and concluded with a list of probable projects and action items needed for the week. Because the main action item was patient wait times, data was collected for the time it took for call lights to be answered.

An initial assessment found that we walked over five miles each shift between patient rooms for medication delivery, gathering of supplies, locating equipment, and patient care needs. After streamlining workflows, reorganization of the medication rooms, and standardizing equipment processes, my walking was reduced by a mile for my first shift of the implementation week. With the improved processes and reduction in the amount of walking required for the nurses to complete their tasks, there was a significant decrease in call light wait times.

Seeing how successful Lean was in my unit and throughout the organization, I began to question if the Lean principals could be applied to the materials I used in my Electronic Medical Records (EMR) training classes. While adopting an industrial process in the creation of training materials may sound like a stretch, I'd like to illustrate one simple way that I applied the Lean principles to a PowerPoint presentation I use in my classes.

Since standardization is a key Lean component, I used my organization's approved fonts and colors on my first slide.

Applying Lean to technical documents.

I also organized my lesson plan sections and agenda using approved colors, and I used the colors in a very deliberate way. For example, in the image below notice that "Locating the Patient" is a dark purple on my agenda slide.

Applying Lean to technical documents (agenda slide colors).

I used that same dark purple banner on all of the slides in the "Locating a Patient" segment of the course. (One of those slides is shown below.)

Applying Lean to technical documents. More color coding.

Lastly, I color-coordinated the supporting training materials, like pocket guides, so that they match the colors used in the presentation.

Applying Lean to technical documents. Pocket guides.

As a nurse, it is encouraging for me to see more hospitals doing an excellent job of implementing Lean tools that manufacturing has been evolving for more than half a century. As an Instructional Designer, I have been pleased with the overwhelming positive feedback I have received by adopting these Lean philosophies into the creation of materials for EMR classes.

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If you like Megan's articles, you'll love her live, online classes such as Train the EMR Trainer.

December 5, 2014

Adobe Captivate: System Time Variables

by Lori Smith

Last week I showed you Captivate's date variables. This week, let's take a look at the Time variables, the System Information variables, and a handy little variable called cpInfoMobileOS.

Adobe Captivate: Time Variables

Specifically, I am going to address the variables listed in the table below using 2:15 PM and 32 seconds as my example.

Adobe Captivate: Time Variables

Perhaps you do not like military time (24 hour) and instead you want to use 12 hour time. A little advanced action can easily convert military time to 12 hour time. I have also created two user variables to help out: am_or_pm and myHour.

Adobe Captivate: Variables in use.

When added to a text caption as shown below, the variables will display 2 PM.

Adobe Captivate: Variables added to caption.

Now let's talk about the cpInfoEpochMS variable. It can be used to determine the play time for a lesson (or part of a lesson). By subtracting the value of the variable at the beginning of the lesson from its value at the end of the lesson, you can calculate the lesson's play time down to the millisecond. In the image below I have created a couple of Advanced Actions that make use or CpInfoEpochMS and a few user variables that I created:startTime, endTime, and timeElapsed.

First, you need to capture the lesson's start time using this Advanced Action:

Adobe Captivate: Lesson start time Advanced Action

At the desired point in your project, capture the time and calculate the timeElapsed.

Adobe Captivate: Time elapsed Advanced Action.

Last but not least, let's cover the cpInfoMobileOS variable. It's only job is to indicate if the learner is using a desktop computer of a mobile device (iPhone, iPad, etc). If you have certain elements or slides in your project that you want to behave differently depending upon the learner's device, you can use this variable in a conditional Advanced Action to create the desired behavior.

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Looking to learn Adobe Captivate? We offer several Captivate classes. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your training requirements.

December 2, 2014

Localization: Training & Development in the Netherlands

by Jen Weaver

Ah, the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Today let's explore some common cultural facts about the Dutch and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test your Knowledge of Dutch Culture

True or False? Another name for the Netherlands is Holland.
True or False? The Netherlands ranks among the top 12 trading nations in the world.
True or False? The Netherlands is part of NATO.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in the Netherlands¹:

Guard your words carefully. The Dutch highly value honesty and will take your statements at face value. Avoid exaggeration or misinformation as well. Make sure every point is substantiated by real data.
While Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, English is also widely understood. Find out from your in-country contacts if translation of your training materials is preferred.
Outside information is often perceived as risky and viewed with caution. Greater importance is given to facts over emotion. Subjective arguments are not accepted as valid reasoning for decision-making.
Decision-making is slow and involved, but resolutions are final.
While it's difficult as a perceived outsider to form relationships with the Dutch, you'll find friendship and mutual respect go a long way in gaining buy-in from your students and local contacts.
The Dutch favor hierarchy with clearly defined roles and structure.
Compliments and accolades are paid to the group as a whole, not to individual participants. In the same way, individuals are not singled-out for mistakes-rather, issues are attributed to a faulty system or failed oversight. If you must address an individual's achievements or shortcomings directly, do so in private.
Consistent with their structured culture, punctuality is of great importance to the Dutch. Planning is a key component of daily life, and time must be used efficiently. In fact, people who arrive late may be assumed to be incompetent or untrustworthy since they are apparently unable to manage their time.
Spontaneity is not a virtue.
Dutch communication is straightforward and professional, with preference given to efficiency over pleasantries.
In some industries, employees with higher rank may dress more casually than lower-level staff. Executives may dress in jeans and a button-up shirt while support staff are in suits.

Knowledge Answers from Above:

False. Holland, which includes Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague, is only a part of the Netherlands.
True.
True. It's also part of the European Community.

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.

November 16, 2014

Localization: Training and Development in New Zealand

by Jen Weaver

As cold weather looms in the United States, our friends in New Zealand are preparing for the summer season. Let's take a warm excursion to the Southern Hemisphere to explore some common cultural facts about New Zealanders and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

New Zealand Trivia:

True or False? New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote.
True or False? New Zealanders refer to themselves as "Kiwis."

Tips for Training & Development in New Zealand¹:

Truth is based on objective facts; emotions and hype are not deemed appropriate in business presentations. Stick to the facts when developing your training materials.
Business interactions are more formal until credibility and rapport are established.
Despite their proximity, do not confuse Aussie culture with that of the Kiwis. They are entirely different people groups.
The Maori tribespeople are the earliest known inhabitants of New Zealand, and Maori is still one of the official languages. But with English being the other official language, most Maoris speak English fluently.
Kiwi executives value individual achievement and are internally motivated. As such, many experience anxiety regarding professional growth or pending deadlines.
Expertise is greatly valued, so be sure to communicate your corporate and personal achievements to demonstrate aptitude in the subject matter you're training.
Tardiness is a serious faux pas; even social events start on time.
A first-name basis is common in New Zealand business interactions, but wait to refer to your counterparts by their first names until invited to do so-or at least until they set an obvious informal tone in your interactions.

Trivia Answer from Above:

True. In 1893.
True, and the kiwi–the flightless bird, not the fruit–has become a national emblem.

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.

November 11, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Embedding YouTube Videos

by Kevin Siegel

If you need to include YouTube videos in your Captivate eLearning project, the traditional technique was to insert a click box or button on a slide and, on the Properties Inspector, use the Open URL or File action to target the video's URL.

When the learner clicks the click box or button, the URL action will take the learner to the YouTube video in a web browser window.

The URL action works wonderfully, but I recently had a student in one of my Captivate classes tell me that she needed to embed the YouTube video on her slide. (She needed to include the video with other slide objects and animations.) This is the perfect use case for the new YouTube Learning Interaction.

To embed a YouTube video on a Captivate slide, first go to YouTube and copy the URL for the video to your clipboard.

From within Captivate, open or insert a slide and choose Interactions > Learner Interactions.

Adobe Captivate: Learner Interactions

From the Interactions dialog box, scroll down, select the YouTube interaction, and click the Insert button.

Adobe Captivate: YouTube interaction.

Adobe Captivate: YouTube URL.

On the Configure Interaction dialog box, paste the URL you copied earlier into the Video URL area.

There are several options in the dialog box such as AutoPlay and Loop, but I think the coolest option is located in the lower left: Particular time in the Video.

Adobe Captivate: Particular time in the Video

Using this handy option, you can take learners to a specific time in the YouTube video. In the image above, I've specified that the learner should go directly to the 1 minute mark of the video.

After setting your options, click the OK button and a placeholder for the video will be added to the Captivate slide. You can use the Properties and Timing Inspectors to control the position and timing for the object just like any other slide object.

Adobe Captivate: YouTube Placeholder.

And that's it… if you preview the lesson in a web browser, you'll be able to test the link to the embedded YouTube video.

Adobe Captivate: Embedded YouTube video.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

November 7, 2014

EMR Training: Are You HiTech?

by Megan Pitkin

I have a quick story to tell, but first I need to introduce the following acronyms: EMR, EHR, and HITECH. Each acronym deals with the healthcare industry. EMR stands for Electronic MedicalRecord–a digital version of a patient's paper chart. An EMR can contain the complete medical and treatment history for a patient. EMRs and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The act is designed to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology.

According to MedicalRecords.com, "The government wants to shift the health industry into the digital age and has provided reimbursement incentives and an electronic medical records deadline for those who adopt electronic medical records. However, as with all government benefits, this electronic medical records mandate comes with strings attached. For those who do not meet the electronic medical records deadline for implementation, the government has laid out a series of penalties.

"For physicians who either have not adopted certified EHR / EMR systems or cannot demonstrate 'meaningful use' by the EMR deadline in 2015, Medicare reimbursements will be reduced."

To comply with the HITECH requirements, healthcare organizations are turning to EMR software. There are several vendors who create EMR software including McKesson, Cerner, eClinicalWorks, AllScripts, and Epic.

Healthcare organizations have an urgent need to get their trainers trained on the use of their selected EMR software. Those trainers will then need to go back and teach colleagues how to lead EMR classes. That's where my story begins.

I'm a professional nurse. In fact, 10 years ago I was a graduate nurse caring for inmates in a jail. When I documented something in patient charts, I used pen and paper, similar to just about everyone else in the healthcare industry.

What I couldn't imagine from my jail-house office was a decade later I would be successfully training a room full of surgeons on a new way to chart.

My journey into the classroom was as exciting as it was unexpected. One day I was a bedside nurse holding pressure on a post-angiogram patient, then I was on a plane bound for EMR training (having been told by my boss that my organization was going to convert to an EMR system… and soon).

I learned how to use the EMR software during a very intense training program and returned to work full of knowledge. It wasn't long before my boss dropped a bombshell… now that I knew the EMR software, I would be responsible for training our entire staff of internal trainers on a specific segment of the EMR software. Those trainers, in turn, would train the staff.

Great, just great. I knew how to use the EMR software, but I had zero experience as a trainer. How was I going to teach professional trainers how to teach? Did I mention I had no functional class outline or materials beyond multiple giant binders with vague scripts that couldn't possibly support a positive learning experience or provide realistic patient scenarios? To top it off, my first class was expected to be held very soon.

Do you think that I panicked? Absolutely! With little guidance or support, I meddled through and built a train the trainer class. During that initial development time, 15-hour days became the norm as I prepared for the class.

You can imagine how nervous I was as that first class began. The class was labelled a success. The training objectives were met. However, while my evaluations were good, I wasn't convinced the learners had gained enough knowledge to do their jobs confidently.

Eventually I scrapped the software vendor's suggested training format and lesson plans. I developed my own materials with visually appealing presentation files and clinically-accurate workflows. Last but not least, I revamped how I taught the class and how I engaged my learners.

After teaching the class with my revamped materials and techniques, I felt as though I transformed from drowning victim to professional swimmer. Not only was I pleased with the success of my customized approach to the training, the evaluations from the learners soared! Best of all, my lesson plans were requested andadopted by the original EMR vendor!

Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing some of my secrets to successfully teaching colleagues how best to teach an EMR class. Along the way I'll also share some stories about what worked during EMR implementations and what didn't.

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If your organization has tasked you with rolling out an EMR or EHR training program, don't panic. Check out Megan's live, online, and highly interactive Train the EMR Trainer class.

November 5, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Replacing PowerPoint Slides But Keeping the Audio

by Kevin Siegel

I received an interesting email from a fellow Captivate developer who was in a bit of a pickle. The developer had imported a 60-slide PowerPoint presentation into Captivate and then added audio to each of the Filmstrip slides.

Just as he was about to Publish his finished project, he was told to use a different PowerPoint presentation. Mind you, it wasn't just that the imported presentation had changed and he needed to update it in Captivate. In that case, all he would have had to do is click the presentation's red "not in synch" icon on the library and the new PowerPoint content would have come into the Captivate project. In this instance, he was given a completely different presentation (the same audio was going to be used, but each slide visual was going to change).

Since the developer had already invested time importing the 60 audio files (files he was going to use on the replacement slides), he contacted me hoping he wasn't going to have to start over from scratch.

The bottom line is he didn't have to start over again and was able to reuse all of the imported audio files. Here's what I instructed him to do:

First, visit the Library and rename the audio files so the name of each audio file matches the slide where it was used. (To rename a Library item, right-click the item and choose Rename.)

Adobe Captivate: Rename Library items.

In the image below, notice that I've renamed my audio files so the names match the slide that's currently using them (slide1Audio, slide2Audio, etc.).

Adobe Captivate: Renamed Library Items.

Next, delete all of the imported PowerPoint slides. Because Captivate projects must have at least one slide, if your project only contains PowerPoint slides, insert a blank slide first (via Insert > New Slide From). Then delete all of the slides except the blank one.

The above step can seem extreme and nerve-wracking because you're deleting all of those awesome slides. But keep in mind you'll be replacing the deleted slides with new slides in just a moment.

Check out the Library. Even though you deleted the slides, the audio files are still in the Library. Notice the Use Count shows a bunch of zeros because none of the audio files are being used.

Adobe Captivate: Unused Audio Files

Import the new PowerPoint slides into the Captivate project (via File > Import > PowerPoint Slides).

Delete the blank slide you added earlier and, as a final step, drag the unused audio files from the Library onto their corresponding Filmstrip slides.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

October 28, 2014

eLearning: Add Some Character to Your Lessons

by Kevin Siegel

Let's face it, some of the eLearning content you are required to create is a bit… shall we say, dry? A tad boring? A teeny bit heavy on the text and short on graphics?

One easy way to spruce up your eLearning content is to add characters (or guides). But where do you find quality images to use as guides? The good news is that both Articulate Storyline and Adobe Captivate offer some awesome, and most importantly, free Characters–out of the box.

Let's take a look at the Character features in both programs. While Characters have been around for several years in Captivate, and in both versions of Storyline, the images below are taken from the most recent versions of both programs, Captivate version 8; Storyline version 2.

Articulate Storyline 2

To insert a Character on a Storyline slide, open a slide and from the Insert tab on the Ribbon, click Character. You'll find two choices in the Character drop-down menu: Illustrated Character and Photographic Character.

In the image below, I've selected Illustrated Character, which opened the Characters dialog box. From here, you'll find multiple Characters, Expressions, and Poses.

I found the Expression options particularly cool… plenty from which to choose.

Shown below are Storyline's many poses. And if you look in the lower right of the dialog box, you'll even find three pose directions (Left, Front, Right).

And perhaps my favorite thing about Storyline's Characters is how easy it is to change the appearance of an inserted Character. In the Image below, notice that you can select a Character and totally change it to another character, change its Expression, Pose… even its Perspective. Simply awesome!

If you'd rather work with Photographic Characters, go back to the Character drop-down menu and choose Photographic Characters. As with the Illustrated Characters, you'll find multiple actors and poses.

Adobe Captivate 8

To insert a Character in Adobe Captivate, simply choose Media > Characters.

Similar to Storyline, Captivate's Characters dialog box presents you with several Categories, Characters, and Poses. (In the image below, I've selected a Character and Pose from the Business Category.)

If Captivate's Illustrated Characters work better for you, choose Illustrated from the Category drop-down menu and you'll be presented with four Illustrated Characters and various poses.

If you want to change the Character's pose in Captivate, you'll need to manually delete the Character from the slide and replace it with another (not as cool as Storyline's edit-on-the-fly technique, but perfectly functional).

Note: The Characters shown above aren't limited to Storyline and Captivate. You'll find many of the same Characters in Presenter.

Downloadable eLearning Characters

If you're not happy with the selection of characters that come with those programs, you'll find resources on the web offering thousands of eLearning characters. While you'll need to purchase those characters (typically in groups or packs), you are almost guaranteed to find the perfect character to fit within your scene.

Two companies in particular jumped out when I went on an Internet search for characters: the eLearning Brothers and eLearning Art.

Between the two, the eLearning Brothers is likely the better-known company (orange anyone?). They call their Characters "cutout people," and they've got thousands of them.

Over on the eLearning Art website, characters are referred to as "people cutout images." And like the eLearning Brothers, there are plenty from which to choose.

Another quick Internet search took me to eLearning.net where I found several free characters.

If you'd prefer stock photography for your eLearning projects, the eLearning Coach has compiled a handy list of resources.

Lastly, check out AJ's article on free zombie characters… perfect for the season.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes. If Articulate Storyline is more your style, we've got you covered there too.