The Logical Blog

February 21, 2013

Online Training: What’s Up With MOOCs?

by AJ George

A few weeks ago I talked about online training and posed the question: How big is too big? This week I want to focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). If any training method is too big, certainly it would have to be the one with "Massive" right there in its name, right? Well, maybe not. I've been doing some research and have found that there is a LOT of information floating around out there. I thought it might be useful to bring you a concise shakedown on what's up with all these MOOCs.

First, if you're a video person, check out this video by Neal Gillis in which Dave Comier, one of the people who founded the term MOOC, gives a good explanation.

If you're not a video person, I'll break it down. A MOOC, at its root form, is open to the public and costs nothing. It is catered to those with self-discipline and a desire to learn. There is not necessarily anything special about the content, but in the case of the MOOC, the course content is paced. Reading and topics are partitioned into weeks. You needn't go through all the material, but it's all there and the assumption is that you are self-motivated enough to want to get through it. Then you share your thoughts on the material through blogs and social networks. Ideally everything will be hash-tagged so it can be easily found and shared among participants. Alternatively, student responses will be gathered in a Learning Management System (LMS) where all the participants can access them. In short: A MOOC is a knowledge-base elaborated through chat, completion of assignments, and feedback by a group of self-motivated people who are interested in the topic.

Of course, there's more to MOOCs. If you'd like to dig a bit deeper, here is some further reading.

MOOCs continue to spread through high-brow institutions:

More Prestigious Colleges Offer Courses Online

And into high schools as well:

University of Miami Offers First Free Online Class to
High School Students to Prepare for the SAT

Some MOOCs are set up to steer students to paid follow-up courses to receive professional certificates:

eCornell Offers a MOOC that Steers Students to a Paid Follow-Up

Harvard Law School is chucking out the "M" for "Massive" in its Copyright MOOC, and allowing only 500 students (as opposed to the 100,000 who were in Harvard's first MOOC offering):

Should All Massive Open Online Courses Follow Harvard Law School's Move By Limiting Class Size?

And while we're at it, how big is too big for online training classes in general?

Online Training: How Big is Too Big?

Are MOOCs breeding grounds for cheaters? Does it matter?

Dozens of Plagiarism Incidents Are Reported in Coursera's Free Online Courses

Running your own MOOC? Here's how to manage it:

Managing High-Enrollment Online Courses

Some fear the push for MOOCs will not lead to the edu-topia we all dream of (don't we?), but instead an industry led by venture capitalists that is neither free nor innovative:

Size Isn't Everything: For academe's future, think mash-ups not MOOC's

And maybe that time is already here, as some places are already offering pared down versions of their courses, marketing them as similar to MOOCs, and charging money (but also giving credit) for them:

"MOOCs" for Credit Come to California

So there you have it. If you're not all MOOCed out, I'd love to read your comments. Have you participated in a MOOC? Are you thinking about it? Is this a fad? Will they be able to keep this free and innovative? Would you argue that it's not innovative at all?

February 19, 2013

Free Webinar: Create eBooks in a Snap

I'm excited to be offering a free webinar next Monday, February 25 (noon Eastern) where you will learn how to quickly create eBooks (ePub and Mobi) in record time using tools available off-the-shelf in the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.

While this is an event that I'm teaching for the good folks over at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), IconLogic is sponsoring the event so it's open to everyone. All you need to do is use the link below and register.

February 19, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Text Entry That Sticks Around

by Kevin Siegel

A client wanted us to create a software simulation that would allow learners to fill out part of a spreadsheet. In addition, as learners moved from cell to cell, the client wanted the learners to see what they had typed in the previous cells and change the text.

You can use text entry boxes to simulate areas in an application that require a learner to type data. But simulating a spreadsheet? That can get tricky, especially if you want to ensure that the learner will continue to see and edit what they typed as they move through the spreadsheet.

Fortunately, you can insert multiple text entry boxes onto a single Captivate slide. By playing around with the Timing and Actions for those objects, you can create the illusion of a learner filling out even complex forms and spreadsheets.

Here are your steps to success:

Insert a new slide in a Captivate project, and then set the slide Timing to 4 seconds.
Insert a Text Entry Box on the new slide (Insert > Standard Objects > Text Entry Box).
On the Properties panel, General group, select Validate User Input if there is something specific you want the learner to type. Otherwise, do not select Validate User Input.
If you selected Validate User Input, you'll see a Correct Entries screen on the slide. You can click the large plus sign to add a Correct Entry.
From the Action group, On success drop-down menu, select Continue.
From the Options group, select your desired Options. In my example, I did not Validate the User Input so I deselected all of the options.
From the Transition group, change the Effect to No Transition.
On the Timing group, set the Text Entry box to display for rest of slide.
Set the Appear After to 0 seconds.
Insert a second Text Entry Box.
If you'd like, once again ensure that Validate User Input is selected and add a correct entry.
As you did for the first Text Entry Box, select Continue as the On success Action.
From the Options group, select your desired options.
From the Transition group, change the Effect to No Transition.
From the Timing group, set the Text Entry box to display for rest of slide.
Set the Appear After to 2 seconds.
Position the Text Entry Boxes on the slide. In the image below, I've stacked them vertically.

If you preview the project, you'll be able to type in the first text box. When you press Enter, the text you typed in the first box will stick around as you enter text into the second text box.

Adobe Captivate: Two Staggered TEBs

The trick was staggering when each text entry box appeared (you spaced the timing out by 2 seconds); and telling each of the text entry boxes to display for the rest of slide.

Note: I've posted a video demo of this process to the IconLogic YouTube channel. The video was created using Captivate's Video Demonstration mode.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

February 14, 2013

Writing & Grammar: Parentheses

by Jennie Ruby

I routinely get questions on this mechanical detail in my grammar and editing classes: does a period or comma go inside or outside of the closing parenthesis? And the answer is it depends. The way I think of it is that if the previous sentence was over before you inserted the parenthetical part, and you have a complete sentence inside the parentheses, then the period goes on the inside:

We offer classes on writing and grammar. (We also offer classes on training design, but that is a different topic.)

If the sentence was not over, and the parenthetical element is actually inside the end of your main sentence, then the period goes on the outside. That is true regardless of whether the words inside the parentheses form a complete sentence or not:

All fifteen participants took three classes last week (InDesign, Photoshop, and Captivate).

All of the participants completed the final exercise on Friday (the snowstorm had no detrimental effect on their learning).

And what about commas? Never put a comma before a parenthesis. If your main sentence needs a comma, place it after the parenthetical element:

We offered two classes last week (Proofreading for Nonproofreaders and Essentials of Adobe Captivate), but we had only 18 students registered.

Here is this week's challenge: Add parentheses, periods, and/or commas as necessary. When ready, you can send your answers directly to me.

If you need to file a claim (even during nonbusiness hours, when we are not available,), submit the form by fax or online.
Please verify your address (our database needs to be updated.)
It is extremely important that all of your membership data is verified before the end of the month (when we finalize our billing.).
Use our paperless option, (it's easy, we swear!), and we'll give you a credit to use in our online store.
Choose the Internet speed that's perfect for your needs (We offer four different speed and price options.)
Our network is 99.9% reliable (even during extreme weather events.)

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Looking for help with your writing technique? Jennie teaches two writing classes: Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Effective Scripts.

Already a writing master? Join Jennie to learn how to create effective quizzes and surveys.

February 13, 2013

eLearning and Documentation: To Translate or not to Translate… That is the Question!

by Jen Weaver

As global reach expands and local diversity increases, interactions with coworkers, employees, or clients bring us in contact with those who speak different languages. As a result, we are faced with the new demands of a diversified audience coupled with tight budgets, limited time and in an overall downturned economy. Achieving a high return on investment from your training, eLearning, and communication initiatives is extremely important, starting with the initial decision: to translate or not to translate?

Before starting a translation project, you must first determine what business requirements the project will address. Some questions to consider upfront:

What's your goal?

For example, is the implementation of translation going to contribute to reaching sales targets, meeting legal requirements, to better educate staff, or are there other obligations? In short, what is the desired return on this investment?

What caused the need for translation?

Is this a current need or are you working in consideration of future goals? Can translation be postponed until a later date or is it imperative that you start the process now?

Can you have optimal success without translation?

Is translation a nicety or necessity? Is translation a pre-existing expectation of your target audience? If the answer to this question has yet to be determined, perhaps developing a test group or pilot translation strategy would be beneficial before establishing a long-term policy.

What's the long-term goal?

Consider your ongoing translation and localization plan, including project sequence and potential support needs. How does this project fit into long-term translation strategies?

What's your budget?

Determine your budget for translation in light of the desired results and your business needs. Translation and localization cost is the opportunity cost to reach your desired target market or achieve your business goals in a diverse sector. A secondary question to consider here is "How much of this cost can be absorbed internally?" While bilingual staff members may be able to complete an internal quality assurance review, be careful not to assume too great a risk by using staff members to translate if this is outside of their intended job description. While they are familiar with your company, you may sacrifice the expertise a professional translation company can provide, and this approach could end up costing you more in the long run.

Are you set up for victory?

Unrealistic budgetary restrictions or diminished turn-around times may limit your service quality and mitigate your expected results. For optimal success, work with your translation project manager to determine realistic expectations for budget and project timelines."

Answering these questions will start you off with a firm foundation to support future translation success.

Example of bad translation: Carefully slip and fall down

Look before you leap, otherwise you may need to heed this bad translation blunder and carefully slip and fall down.

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If you would like to learn best practices for managing translation projects, contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

February 12, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Export and Share Audio and Images

by Kevin Siegel

If you're a Captivate developer working with non-Captivate developers, you may be asked to share some of your project assets so those assets can be used in other applications.

I had a PowerPoint developer ask to use one of the audio clips in my Captivate project in his PowerPoint presentation. If I had access to the file on my hard drive or server, it would have been simple enough to email the file to him as an attachment. Unfortunately, my Captivate project was pretty old, and I no longer had access to the original clip that I had imported onto one of my Captivate slides.

Fortunately, there is a handy feature within Captivate that saved the day. First, I opened the Captivate Library (Window > Library). Next, I right-clicked the audio clip and chose Export.

Export a Captivate library asset.

From this point it was a simple matter of picking a save location and then emailing the file to the PowerPoint developer. Had the developer shared my network, I could have easily exported the file to a shared folder on a network drive and saved the email step.

Keep in mind that you can export any Library asset (images, animation, etc). And if someone has provided assets for you, you can use the Import menu item (shown just above Export in the image above) and import multiple assets at once.

Note: If you'd like to watch the Export process, check out this short video recently posted to the IconLogic YouTube channel. The video was created using Captivate's Video Demonstration mode.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

February 7, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Methods for Attaching Voiceover Audio

by Kevin Siegel

When it comes to adding narration audio (voice-overs), Captivate developers have plenty of choices. You can insert audio using any of the following methods:

Object-Level Audio

Right-click any slide object and choose Audio > Import to or Audio > Record to. If you choose Import to, you will be presented with an Import Audio dialog box. You can import wav's or mp3's.

Object-level audio import

Object-level audio is ideal if you want to quickly add sound effects to slide objects. However, I wouldn't use this technique for voiceover audio. If you attach audio to multiple slide objects, there is a good chance that those objects will take longer to work with (when compared with a project that has more slides, but fewer objects per slide). There's also a Section 508/compliance issue you'll need to forward-think, but I'll cover that later.

Background-Level Audio

To add Background audio, choose Audio > Import to Background or Audio > Record to Background. Once again, you will either be presented with a dialog box to open an existing audio clip, or a dialog box where you can record your own audio. You will also have options to lower the background audio if there is competing audio on the slide, and you can elect to loop the background audio. There is even an option to stop the audio when users close the lesson.

Background-level audio import

Background-level audio is perfect for background music… if you intend to include it. Personally, I think background music will quickly becomes a distraction (perhaps even an irritant) for your learners, which is why I shy away from it.

As for voiceover audio, I don't recommend that you add it to a project as the background. If you do, you'll likely find yourself facing all kinds of object-to-audio synchronization issues as you move from slide to slide within the project.

Slide-Level Audio

You can attach audio directly to the slide by selecting the slide on the Filmstrip and choosing Audio > Record orAudio > Import.

Slide-level audio import

There are a couple of reasons that slide-level audio is preferred over object-level or background-level audio. First, there's a production speed benefit. When I produce eLearning lessons for my customers, I try to keep the number of slide objects to a minimum. Typically I only allow for one text caption, and one button or click box per any given slide. Keeping the number of slide objects to a minimum speeds up the production process significantly In fact, fewer slide objects means less time spent synchronizing the timing of those objects with other objects or voiceover audio.

If you're not concerned with saving production time, perhaps my second reason for adding voiceover audio at the slide level will get your attention. If you are required to include closed captions in your eLearning (for Section 508 compliance), you must include voiceover audio. In fact, closed captions cannot be added to slide objects. You can only insert closed captions at the slide-level, and only if the slide already contains audio

Over the years I've heard horror stories from developers who were required to add closed captions, but couldn't because the audio had been added to slide objects instead of the slide itself. Unfortunately, the only solution to the dilemma is to remove the object audio, and then manually add the audio to the slide. It's not a difficult process, but it takes time. Of course, now that you've read the text above, that particular production conundrum isn't something you'll need to worry about.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including an Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

February 3, 2013

Quiz Design: Recognizing Types of Learning

by Jennie Ruby

Many of us start writing a quiz when we are sitting in front of our quiz-making software, and the software asks us whether we want a multiple-choice question or a true/false. We then go on instinct to make up a question that we feel relates to the topic just covered in the training. But this method, although it will arrive at a functional quiz that our learner can click through, may not be accurately doing what a quiz should do.

And what should a quiz do? Well, measure the learning, of course. But in order to measure the learning, we need to have a clear idea of what the learning should have been. And to have that clear idea, and then to make sure the quiz is actually measuring it, we need to have started preparing to write the quiz quite a while ago: when we were writing the objectives for the training.

What's that you say? You didn't write objectives? And now the training is in production? You will still end up needing to figure out the learning objectives in order to create successful quizzes. So let's take a look at some learning objectives for which you may need to create quizzes or other evaluations.

Learning objectives come in four kinds: things the learner must know, things the learner must be able to do, ways the learner must be able to interact with others, and things that affect the learner's emotional state or attitude. Let's focus first on the first two: things the learner must know, and things the learner must be able to do.

Let's start with things the learner will be required to know. For example, a training objective might be that after training, the learner should be able to name all 23 flavors of frozen yogurt our company offers-in order of popularity. Or it might be to list five ways to ship a package from their worksite. Or it might be to be able to spell the names of the members of our board of directors without any typos. These are straight-up knowledge objectives, and are fairly straightforward to create a quiz about.

But acquiring knowledge is typically only part of our learning objectives. Another type of objective is a skill–being able to do a particular task. It could be the ability to take our company's coffee machine out of the box and set it up and get it working at a client site. It might be the ability to correctly fill in an online form and submit the results to our server. It might be the ability to take an accurate pulse from a patient. These job skills require a different kind of assessment. Measuring learning with a multiple-choice quiz for these is not going to be a complete assessment.

Note that knowledge objectives may also encompass problem-solving. For example, the ability to decide to which department you should forward a call from a customer with a certain kind of question involves not just knowing the names of all our departments, but also being able to categorize the customer's problem and match it to the correct department. Solving that problem requires both knowledge and problem-solving. The ability to use our telephone switching software to actually forward the call?–that is a skill.

Challenge: Which of these objectives are primarily about knowledge, and which ones are about skills? Label each as Knowledge or Skill.

The ability to list all of the counties in Maryland and name their county seat.
The ability to create a formula in Excel to take the square root of a value.
The ability to recognize the flavor names of ice cream that our company offers versus flavors that are not offered.
The ability to play five major chords on a ukulele.
The ability to list the notes of the pentatonic minor scale in A minor.
The ability to activate the Track Changes command in Microsoft Word.
The ability to spell out ten common acronyms used in our industry.
The ability to calculate the interest due over the course of a 5-year car loan.
The ability to set up a client's cell phone to directly access our database.
The ability to locate a print booklet in our library on the seventh floor of our building.

When ready, please send your answers to me.

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If you would like to learn how to create effective quizzes and surveys, attend Jennie's live online class. Jennie also teaches Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Effective Scripts.

February 1, 2013

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8: One Smart Player

by Kevin Siegel

When you are ready to make a Camtasia project available to your learners, you need to Produce it. Choosing the Produce and Share menu item (File menu) takes the source content and outputs it into a format that can be viewed by the learner.

Arguably, the most common way to publish a Camtasia project is as a Flash SWF. This is an excellent solution because SWF files can be used by the vast majority of the world's personal computers, browsers and operating systems. Although your learners will not need Camtasia installed on their computer to use a SWF, they will need a modern web browser and the free Adobe Flash Player (www.adobe.com). According to Adobe, the Flash Player is installed on most of the world's computers.

But SWFs have a problem. Learners using an Apple mobile device, such as the iPad, iPod and iPhone (that's millions of potential learners), cannot use SWF content. Learners using an Apple mobile device who attempt to access a SWF are met with a warning that SWFs are not supported.

If you'd like to produce content for the Apple mobile devices from Camtasia, hope is not lost. When you produce a SWF in Camtasia, the output includes a Smart Player. The Smart Player automatically detects if the learner's device or browser supports Flash. If the learner's device or browser does not support Flash content, the Smart Player will automatically detect the limitation and playback the content using HTML5–helping ensure that the video will play.

To Produce an eLearning lesson that will include the Smart Player, choose File > Produce and share to open the Production Wizard. From the drop-down menu, chooseCustom production settings and click the Next button.

From the Recommended area of the How would you like to produce your video? window, select MP4-Flash/HTML5 player.

Camtasia Studio 8 Smart Player for HTML5

All you need to do now is move through the remaining Production Wizard screens and select, among other things, the appearance of the Smart Player. (There are six controller themes including Black, Silver and Glossy. Transparent is the default.)

That's all there is to it. Behind the scenes, the Smart Player will ensure that your video will play for the learner on just about any kind of computer or mobile device.

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Looking to learn Camtasia quickly? I teach a live, online Introduction to Techsmith Camtasia Studio 8 class for ASTD. You can learn more here. The class includes a free copy of my new TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8: The Essentials book.

January 31, 2013

Adobe Captivate 6: Audio Control Without a Playbar

by Lori Smith

If you've spent any time using Captivate's new Pretest and the Branch Aware settings, I think you will agree that they are very cool. However, if you've used either feature, you have probably noticed that you cannot have a playbar in the published lesson. It's not a big deal if you don't need the playbar, but what if you need to give your learners the ability to mute/unmute the audio? Or maybe the learner is relying on closed captions? Without a playbar, the learner will not have access to the closed caption tool. If you would like to use the Pretest and/or Branch Aware options, and keep the playbar, I've got you covered. All you need to do is create a little advanced action and add a smart shape.

You will be working with the system variable cpCmdMute. Here is what Adobe says about using cpCmdMute:

The cpCmndMute variable.

According to the Description shown in the image above, you set the variable to 1 if you want to mute the audio, 0 if you don't. You need to use this variable in the project to allow the learner to control the audio when there isn't a playbar. Here's how you do it.

First, create a Conditional advanced action by choosing Project > Advanced Actions. Name the action Toggle Mute and create the action as shown in the two images. Remember, you need to fill in the ELSE section.

Filling in the ELSE section.

Creating the Advanced Action.

You need to attach the new action to an interactive slide object and force the object to display the object for the rest of the project. You may instinctively want to use a button or even a click box, but those types of interactive objects cannot be displayed for the Rest of Project. Instead, insert a Smart Shape (Insert > Standard Object > Smart Shape). Look in the Buttons group and you will find a Mute button (the sixth tool from the left).

Smart Shapes... Mute Button

Insert the Mute button on slide 1 of the project. With the Mute button selected, visit the Timing group on the Properties panel and set the Display for to rest of project.

Rest of project.

From the Action group, set the Mute button's action to execute the ToggleMute advanced action you created earlier.

Execute Advanced Action

Voilà–you have just given a playbar-less project the ability to mute/unmute. If you want to implement a closed caption toggle, follow the same process but use the variable cpCmdCC instead.

Another cool tip: Assign a keyboard shortcut to the smart shape and you have now made muting/unmuting even more 508 compliant.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Captivate 6 classes each month including An Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate concepts.