UX – Page 4 – The Logical Blog

May 23, 2014

eLearning: Creating Accessible Content

by Anita Horsley

While I don't have a disability, I have experience, both personally and professionally, with people who have physical and learning disabilities. I have assisted people with developmental disabilities, and I volunteer for a Therapeutic Horseback riding program that helps children with disabilities ride horses.

When it comes to eLearning, I develop content for many government and education organizations where Section 508 Compliance is required. Section 508, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, requires all Federal agencies to make electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.

If you want to make your eLearning courses accessible for everyone, it's a good idea to think about people who are hearing, visually, and dexterity (motor skills) impaired. Additionally, it's important to consider the elderly population and people who speak English as a second language.

Assistive devices provide a way for people with disabilities to communicate and train using technology. People who are visually impaired or blind need devices such as:

Screen readers (Jaws, Window Eyes)
Screen magnification
Braille displays

People with hearing impairments need visual representation of auditory information such as:

Closed captions
Graphic displays

People who have mobility impairments may need:

Alternative keyboards
Keyboard shortcuts

Although creating accessible eLearning can feel like an additional task, the goal is to enhance your eLearning courses by ensuring that all learners can master the instructional material and meet the learning objectives. When learning is accessible to all types of learners, you are not only complying with regulations, but you are reaching a larger audience, upholding social responsibility, and increasing your effectiveness as an eLearning developer and instructor.

Note: This is the first in a series of articles covering accessible eLearning from Anita. Stay tuned for more! And if you'd like to take a 3-hour deep-dive into the best practices for creating accessible eLearning, check out Anita's live, online course.

May 13, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Preloaders

by Kevin Siegel

I received an email last week from a Captivate developer who was concerned with how long it was taking for a published lesson to begin playing for his learners. The lesson wasn't all that big and wasn't that long (both things can lead to lesson bloat and increase how long it takes for a lesson to begin to play). He also verified that his web server wasn't the issue. In fact, lessons created by other Captivate developers in his company downloaded faster than his.

Once he told me that other content loaded with decent speed, I had a likely culprit: the Preloader and/or the Preloader percentage. I helped him tweak both, and he reported that his lesson is loading much faster.

Of course, if one Captivate developer can overlook the role of the Preloader, it's possible others have as well. So read on folks and let's delve into Preloaders and how to control them.

What's a Preloader?

When a learner clicks the link to start an eLearning lesson, the lesson will rarely begin playing right away. Why? A specific percentage of the lesson needs to download before the lesson will play. The time it takes for that percentage to be reached depends on a few things: the size of the lesson, the speed of the learner's internet connection, and the capacity of the server to send the data to the learner (bandwidth).

Captivate's Preloader feature allows you to both control what the learner sees as they wait for the lesson to begin playing, and the percentage of the lesson that must be downloaded before the lesson will begin to play.

Captivate ships with a few Preloaders you can use when you publish your lesson. However, many of my corporate customers prefer to brand the lesson and use their corporate logos as the Preloader. You can accomplish the task easily enough. First, with a project open, display Captivate's Preferences (Edit > Preferences for Windows users; Adobe Captivate > Preferences for Macintosh users). Then select the Start and End category from the Project group.

To load your corporate logo and use it as a Preloader, click the Browse button to the right of Preloader. Find and open your logo. You can use any of the following formats as a Preloader: jpeg, gif, bmp, wmf, or swf.

To control how much of the lesson must be downloaded before it will begin to play, change the Preloader % value. The higher the Preloader percentage, the longer the learner will have to wait before seeing the lesson. If you set the Preloader % lower, the lesson will play sooner. However, since little of the lesson will have been received by the learner, the lesson with sputter along instead of playing smoothly. If you set the percentage too high, the learner will have to wait for the lesson to begin playing at all. A best practice would be to set the Preloader somewhere in the middle. I typically set my Preloader % to 50, which tends to work quite well.

Adobe Captivate: Preloaders

Once you publish your lesson, the Preloader image will appear for your learners until the Preloader % is reached.

If you'd like to see a demonstration on adding a preloader to a Captivate project, check out the video I created on IconLogic's YouTube channel.

***

Looking for instructor-led training on the top eLearning tools? We offer live, online training on Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio.We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

May 1, 2014

Localization: Training and Development in Denmark

by Jen Weaver

Today's foray into cultural insights takes us to the Scandinavian nation of Denmark. Let's explore some common cultural facts about this kingdom (Hint, hint!) and its citizens' expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test your knowledge of Denmark's culture:

True or False. Denmark is considered one of the least-corrupt countries in the world.
Chileans live in Chile. Colombians live in Colombia. What do you call the people of Denmark?
True or False. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Denmark¹:

Many Danes work at keeping their public and private lives separate. The common perspective is "work to live," not "live to work," and they may resist overtime or discussing business matters outside of the workplace. For this reason, your Danish counterparts may limit or do away with small talk.
Danes are often slow at making major decisions, so be prepared with all pertinent details and a generous waiting period while they deliberate.
The Danish people tend to be independent and may seek individual achievement over group success. Keep this in mind when establishing group activities.
While Danish is the official language, English is taught in schools and is the predominant second language. Most Danes will be excited to speak English with you, but complex training topics may be best covered in Danish.
Danes are typically found to have a high tolerance for risk and a low index of uncertainty avoidance. Individuals are encouraged to take risks to establish themselves and develop strong self-images.
Punctuality is highly valued, as late starts communicate incompetence and poor time management.
Jokes may not translate well, as Danish humor is very dry and often considered out of place in business settings.
The American greeting "How are you?" is culturally understood as a pleasantry in the States and is answered with "Doing well!" or "Fine." In Denmark, this question will be interpreted as an actual inquiry into how an individual is doing. A more appropriate greeting is "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Gesturer beware! The American hand gesture for "okay" is considered an insult.

Trivia Answers:

True. But even so, many Danes do not regard rules as inflexible and enjoy finding ways to get around regulations.
Danes.
True. The Queen or the King is a symbolic leader; the Prime Minister is the head of government as chosen by the Parliament.

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.

April 29, 2014

Developing User Assistance for a Mobile World

Smartphones have sparked a huge, new software segment – the mobile app. They have also changed how traditional desktop software is being designed and developed. This creates an important pair of questions for user assistance professionals: What is our role going forward in mobile and how can we prepare to take that on? User Assistance does have a role in supporting mobile apps. As the mobile market continues to expand, this is becoming the next frontier for user assistance professionals.

This half-day, online workshop is designed to provide an introduction to key topics and also to foster discussion on the best ways to design UA for this new paradigm.

Registration includes an ePub copy of the book Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps, PDF copies of slides and handouts, and access to a recording of the workshop.

April 25, 2014

User Assistance: HUDs in Technical Communication

by Tony Self

Did you ever see the 1986 movie "Top Gun?" If so, perhaps you recall seeing gun-sights, cross-hairs, warning messages, and air speeds displayed as green text on the cockpit windshield of the jets. What you saw in the movie was an early Head Up Display (HUD). If Top Gun is too old for you, how about Iron Man? HUD was featured prominently in that movie as well.

While HUDs may seem like something you'll find only in fighter jets or the movies, they are actually creeping into everyday life. For instance, HUDs are now installed as standard equipment in many cars displaying speed, distance, and messages onto the windshield. Drivers don't need to move their head up or down to read the text; they can keep looking straight ahead.

If your car isn't equipped with a HUD, you can use your smart phone, download a HUD app, place the phone on the dashboard, and reflect an inverted readout onto the windshield. And you can purchase HUD navigation systems (such as the unit shown below from Garmin).

Garmin HUD

There's a new type of HUD that's attracting lots of attention: Google Glass. Glass isn't the only product of its type on the market (there are dozens), but it attracts the most publicity. These wearable technology products display text in a tiny HUD in a pair of lens-less spectacles. The text displayed depends on the application; it could be the current time, an appointment, alerts… but it could also be procedural information, checklists, or product descriptions.

What does HUD technology have to do with technical communication? HUDs will provide innovative new ways to deliver technical information. For instance, Virgin Atlantic is currently testing Google Glass at Heathrow Airport. According to CNN, "The airline is conducting a six-week experiment with the wearable technology for passengers in its Upper Class Lounge at London. With data flashing before their eyes, staff can update customers on their latest flight information, as well as weather and events at their destination."

Google Glass being tested at Virgin Atlantic

Source: CNN

If the Virgin Atlantic tests prove successful, the opportunities for technical communicators are endless. Beyond simply documenting HUD devices and applications, technical documentation and eLearning content could actually be displayed on a HUD. There will be challenges of course. Writers looking to create content for HUDs will need to embrace writing techniques such as minimalism and separation of content and form. Nevertheless, it will be possible for technical communicators to one day deliver to this new media… a layer above reality.

April 23, 2014

eLearning & Training: How Long is Too Long?

by Kevin Siegel

You can create the best-looking, most well-written eLearning lesson anyone has ever seen. But for the lesson to be effective, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that more does not mean better. If your lesson plays too long, you run the risk of losing the attention span of your learner and lowering the effectiveness of the lesson in general.

So how long is too long? The answer is directly tied to the average attention span of an adult learner. According to Joan Middendorf and Alan Kalish, Indiana University, "Adult learners can keep tuned in to a lecture for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time."

In their excellent article, The 'Change-Up' in Lectures, Middendorf and Kalish found that after three to five minutes of 'settling down' at the start of class, a lapse of attention usually occurred 10 to 18 minutes later. As the lecture proceeded the attention span became shorter and often fell to three or four minutes towards the end of a standard lecture.

I have been teaching classes for nearly 30 years (both online and in-person). Keeping my students engaged (and awake) has always been a top concern. Here's one final quote from the Middendorf and Kalish article (and it's something to which any trainer can relate). One of their colleagues attended a class and observed the following:

"I sat in the back of the classroom, observing and taking careful notes as usual. The class had started at one o'clock. The student sitting in front of me took copious notes until 1:20. Then he just nodded off. The student sat motionless, with eyes shut for about a minute and a half, pen still poised. Then he awoke and continued his rapid note-taking as if he hadn't missed a beat."

In the 1800s, people had very good attention spans. In her article, Keeping Pace with Today's Quick Brains, Kathie F. Nunley cited the Lincoln-Douglas debates which were literally read from paper and lasted for hours. Nunley said that "people stayed, listened, and paid attention."

Back in the Lincoln-Douglas days, there was less competition for the attention span of the debate attendees. But what about today? Why are attention spans getting shorter? More likely than not the culprit is the distractions and experiences of modern daily life.

"Today's mind, young or old, is continuously bombarded with new and novel experiences. Rather than novel opportunities every few days or weeks, we now have novelty presented in micro-seconds," said Nunley.

eLearning and the Common Goldfish

So eLearning lessons can last anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes and still be effective, yes? Ummm, no. The 15-20 minute range was for an in-person classroom with a live trainer. The times are just a bit different when it comes to asynchronous eLearning lessons that will be accessed over the Internet.

According to the article Turning into Digital Goldfish, "The addictive nature of web browsing can leave you with an attention span of a goldfish."

Granted, a learner accessing your eLearning lesson will have a greater attention span than a typical web surfer–or even a goldfish. However, in my experience developing eLearning, I put the attention span of an adult learner at 15-20 seconds per slide or scene. If the slide/scene plays any longer, your learner will begin to fog out.

I know what you're thinking: 15-20 seconds is not enough time to teach anything. If your slide contains some voiceover audio, a text caption or two, and an interactive object controlling navigation (such as a button or click box), 15-20 seconds is perfect. Your student will have enough time to understand and absorb the content before moving on to the next slide.

I encourage students who attend my eLearning classes to try to chunk a one-hour eLearning course into several short eLearning lessons. That would translate into 12 Captivate eLearning lessons (if you use the 5 minute-per-lesson timing) for the 60-minute course.

What do you think? Is 3-5 minutes the right amount of timing for an eLearning module? I'd love to see your opinion as comments below.

***

April 21, 2014

Localization: Training & Development in the Czech Republic

by Jen Weaver

Frequently ruled by outsiders in its history, the Czech Republic now faces happier times. Let's take a jaunt over to Central Europe and explore some common cultural facts about the Czech people and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test Your Knowledge of Czech Culture:

True or False. Bohemia is another name for a section of the Czech Republic.
Is "Czech" the English or Czech spelling of the name of their language?
True or False. Budweiser beer was named after a town in the Czech Republic.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in the Czech Republic¹:

The Czech Republic is fairly young as a free state, a designation achieved in 1993, and it joined the European Union in 2004.
Remain alert on the roads; many drivers tend to be erratic. Pick-pocketing on the street is also quite common.
Czechs identify truth through both feelings and objective facts. The ideologies of humanitarianism and democracy also hold prominent roles in day-to-day decisions.
Czechs value personal achievement and are motivated by individual recognition. As such, formal degrees are respected, so be sure to mention your educational background and even include it on your business card.
While relationships are highly valued, it's often a slow process to build deep friendships. Allocate time for chit-chat so your students can get to know you. Part of building relationships is asking questions about each other's family.
Another fun family topic is dogs, as the Czech people are particularly fond of this furry friend. Dogs are even allowed in many restaurants.
The eldest or highest-ranked person will enter the room first. If there is a tie, the male counterpart will enter before the female.
Many Czechs feel that past Communist rule has robbed them of many years' worth of profits. This may cause high-even unrealistic-expectations on returns, so be mindful when making agreements or establishing future goals.
If training directly in Prague, you may be able to avoid hiring a Czech translator, but it's recommended even within the city.
A typical Czech holiday is four weeks annually, with peak travel times from mid-July to mid-August. When possible, avoid scheduling classes during those months.
Decision-making is a slow, methodical process.

Knowledge Test Answers:

True. The easternmost part is Bohemia, and the westernmost part is known as Moravia.
English. This spelling came via the Polish language. The Czechs call it "Česká."
True. The town was Budweis, now called Ceské Budéjovice. The Czechs are known for making extraordinary beers, and any beer drinker would be happy to discuss the topic.

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.

April 8, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Bookmarking Without an LMS

by Kevin Siegel

Bookmarking a lesson provides the learner an opportunity to continue viewing a lesson from the exact spot where they left off. If you've uploaded your eLearning lesson into a Learning Management System, bookmarking is enabled by default in every lesson that you publish.

If you're not working with an LMS and you still want to enable bookmarking, you're out of luck, right? Not exactly. With a few simple clicks, you can enable bookmarking within any Captivate project. Once enabled, learners will see the following message should they close their web browser while your eLearning lesson and then return at a later time.

Enable Bookmarking (Self-Paced Learning)

Open or create a Captivate project and choose Project > Table of Contents. (The Skin Editor Window opens.)
From the left of the Skin Editor Window, select Show TOC.
From the bottom of the window, click the Settingsbutton. (The TOC Settings dialog box opens.)
From the Runtime Options area, select Self-Paced Learning.
Click the OK button.

By enabling Self-Paced Learning, you have basically activated Captivate's bookmarking feature. You can test the bookmarking by publishing the project and then opening the HTML file with any web browser.

Move through a few slides in the lesson and then close the browser window. Reopen the HTML file and instead of the lesson simply starting over from the beginning, you (and your learners) will see the "Continue from where you stopped last time?" message shown below. How cool is that?

If you'd like to see the Self-Paced Learning option in action, check out the video I created on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

***

April 4, 2014

Adobe RoboHelp: Master Pages for Word Headers and Footers

by Willam Van Weelden

When importing or generating Microsoft Word documents with RoboHelp, one of the chief weaknesses has always been the lack of support for Word's headers and footers. When importing, the Word headers and footers were ignored. When generating Printed Documentation, there was no support for controlling the resulting headers and footers from within RoboHelp. Instead, you had to edit them in the Word document.

With the new Adobe RoboHelp 11, you can now control the headers and footers for Printed documentation with Master Pages. This allows you to control the information displayed in the headers and footers of Word and PDF documents generated by RoboHelp.

A master page is a template for your topics. You can assign a style sheet to a master page, and set up headers and footers. If you apply a master page to a topic, the topic will use the style sheet and display the header and footer. When you create printed documentation, the printed documentation can use the header and footer you set up on the master page.

Setting up headers and footers in a Master Page

To change the header and footer of a master page, follow these steps:

Open the Project Set-up pod. (View > Pods > Project Set-up)
Open a master page (or create a new one)
Choose View > Header to open the header pane
Add content to the header just as you would add content to a topic
Choose View > Footer to open the footer pane
Add content to the footer, just as you would add content to a topic

Using the Master Page for Printed Documentation

Once you have set up the master page, you can use the master page when generating printed documentation.

Open the Single Source Layouts pod (View > Pods > Single Source Layouts).
Double-click a Printed Documentation layout to open the Print Document options.
From the Header/Footer area, select the master page you set up earlier.
Click Save and Generate to create the printed documentation.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

March 18, 2014

eLearning: Playbar or No Playbar? Let the Debate Begin

by Kevin Siegel

I was teaching Adobe Captivate recently when a student asked a few questions about the value of a playbar that fueled an interesting and heated, discussion (some folks love playbars, others hate them). Here are the questions that got the debate rolling:

Is the playbar necessary?
If a playbar is included, how can you encourage learners to interact with screen objects instead of skipping them using the playbar navigation controls?
Where is the best place to position the playbar (top, bottom, left, or right of the lesson)?

All of the top eLearning development tools (Articulate Storyline, Articulate Presenter, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio) allow you to control the appearance of the playbar. In addition, each of the tools can accomplish the suggestions outlined below. In some instances, the option I discuss isn't easy to find in a particular tool. If you have trouble locating the playbar options, feel free to contact me.

Is the Playbar Necessary?

Should you include a playbar in your eLearning lessons? In my opinion, absolutely! If you've created a video like those commonly posted on YouTube or Lynda.com, there isn't any interactivity. The only way learners can navigate through a video is via the Play, Rewind, and Pause tools found on a typical playbar. While a video's playbar doesn't offer much in the way of learner engagement, at least it's something. In my experience, videos without playbars are ineffective. The lack of a playbar can be disconcerting if not flat-out annoying.

How Can You Encourage Interaction With Screen Objects?

If your eLearning lesson is interactive (perhaps it's a software simulation with a quiz, or a soft skills lesson with buttons for navigation), the learner who navigates via the playbar instead of the interactive slide objects can derail the lesson. For example, you've created a button on a slide that, when clicked, reports a score to your Learning Management System (LMS). If the learner clicks the forward button on the playbar, not the interactive button on the slide, no score is reported to the LMS. As far as the LMS is concerned, the learner skipped the slide.

How can you encourage the learner to interact with the slide objects and not simply race through the lesson by clicking the forward button on the playbar?

Add an animation in combination with an interactive slide object.

In one of my projects, I inserted an arrow animation that pointed to the buttons on the first several slides (not all of them, since I was worried about the animation being a distraction). While short and sweet, the animation was enough of a visual cue that very few people missed the opportunity to click the buttons.

Hide the playbar for the entire lesson by default, but have it automatically appear when the learner mouses over the screen.
Hide the playbar on any slides where clicking an interactive object is critical.

Playbars and Quizzes…

If you've included a quiz in your lesson, most of the eLearning development tools require the learner to answer the question and submit before it is recorded and graded. If the learner answers a question correctly but clicks the forward button on the playbar instead of a Submit button on the slide, the LMS will likely treat the question as unanswered. In this instance, the learner will not get credit, even though the question was answered correctly.

In this scenario, you can set up your lesson so that the playbar will disappear when the learner is taking the quiz but reappear on non-quiz slides. Most eLearning development tools offer a "hide playbar during the quiz" feature. (For example, in Adobe Captivate, it's a simple check box found on the Quiz Preferences dialog box.)

What Is The Best Screen Position for the Playbar?

If you elect to include the playbar, where is the best place to position it? The most common location for the playbar is below the video or simulation. In my experience, this position works the best since the majority of your learners are conditioned to look there first. The biggest problem with the bottom-position occurs when the video is very tall. In this case, many of your learners won't know there's a playbar at all since they'd need to scroll down. In this scenario, positioning the playbar at the top of the lesson would be ideal.

I'd love to hear if you think playbars belong in eLearning or not. I'd also like to know where you place them and how you encourage users to avoid the playbar when screen interactivity is critical. Please post your comments below.

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Looking for instructor-led training on the top eLearning tools? We offer live, online training on Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio. We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.