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Want to create a speedometer-like gauge for your PowerPoint or eLearning deck? I've found gauges a creative way to illustrate anything from progress through a course or presentation to positive to negative value scales. There are some relatively easy ways to build a gauge using shapes, but one of the fastest (and easily editable) ways I've found is to use Charts.
Here's what the finished product would look like:
And here's how you'd do it:
An Excel spreadsheet will appear, along with the chart on your PowerPoint slide.
For the purposes of this chart, we will not be using the labels which currently read 1st Qtr, 2nd Qtr, etc., so you can leave them as is, but we will be changing the numerical values.
If you use similar values, your chart should look something like this:
To get the horizontal orientation like in the finished example above, you will need to rotate the data.
The Format Data Series dialog box will open.
The bottom half of the chart should "disappear."
The chart will center under the title.
Setting up this equation will allow you to set the first value to any number while automatically updating the third value to fit within the specified parameters.
Both sections will "disappear" leaving just your thin slice of the pie (your needle).
Note: If you have a hard time selecting both charts, try holding down the [ctrl] key while you click each of them on the Selection Pane (Home > Drawing > Arrange > Selection Pane to view the Selection Pane).
The beauty of creating a gauge image this way versus drawing and grouping shapes is that you can change the value of the sections in the Doughnut chart as well as where the needle falls in a snap without having to re-do the whole graphic. Just ungroup the charts, type in new values in Excel, and shazam! Your graphic is instantly changed.
Using this same method I was able to quickly edit the charts into a speedometer by adjusting the values in Excel, adding text boxes with speed values and layering in a black circle behind the charts.
I'd love to see how you are using this method to create your own graphics. Send me your creations and I'll feature them in a future post.
I was recently asked by a fellow Captivate developer if it was possible to show the date on a Captivate slide. My answer was a quick yes… use the cpInfoCurrentDateString variable within a text caption. When previewed, the date on the learner's computer will appear within the caption.
The developer needed a bit more. He needed the appearance of the date to be in a specific format. For instance, he needed the date formatted as December 18, 2013. The cpInfoCurrentDate variable displays the date as 12/18/2013.
I looked through the available Captivate variables and came across the following default variables.
|
Variable |
What it Displays |
Displays as |
|
cpInfoCurrentDate |
The day of the month |
18 (1 through 31) |
|
cpInfoCurrentMonth |
The current month |
12 (01 through 12) |
|
cpInfoCurrentYear |
The current year |
2013 |
|
cpInfoCurrentDay |
The day of the week |
4 (Sunday being 1 through Saturday being 7) |
Sadly, none of the default variables were going to work in this instance. Stumped only for a moment, I came up with a simple advanced action to solve the problem.
First, I created a user variable (Project > Variables) called myMonth with the following Value and Description:
Next, I created a Conditional action (Project > Advanced Actions) and named it InterpretMonth.
To make the action easier to work with, I created 12 Decision Blocks, and then gave each one the name of a month (January, February, etc).
Then I set up the InterpretMonth action as shown below within each Decision Block (January is shown below). It may feel like a lot of work, but once you start, it is a simple matter of repetition.
Note: In the two images above, notice that I have increased the value to match the Decision Block's month. For instance, February shows CpInfoCurrentMonth is equal to 2. My December Decision Block would read CpInfoCurrentMonth is equal to 12.
Once I was done with the Advanced Action, I returned to my slide and inserted a text caption. I typed the text and inserted the variables as shown below:
The last thing I needed to do was invoke the InterpretMonth action. An easy time to do this is as you transition to slide 2. Why not slide 1? Because invoking an advanced action as you enter slide 1 is not reliable. Your best bet is to do it on slide 2 or later.
Preview the project. When you get to the slide containing the variables, you should see the date formatted as the current month, day and year.
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.
I received the following email from a RoboHelp developer:
"Hi Kevin,
I've been developing user assistance in RoboHelp for many years and that means converting the sites every time I get the latest version of RoboHelp.
RoboHelp does a good job moving things from version to version, but I have one small thing that occurs on old sites that I can't figure out how to fix. When I export an older site to Word, the Table of Contents heading exports as "Table Of Contents." Do you have any idea how to change it to "Table of Contents?" I can't find a place to access that title and change the capital "O" in "Of" to lower case. Do you have any idea how I can revise the heading?
Thanks for any information you can give me. This isn't critical, just annoying."
This person is referring to the Word document that results when you generate Printed Documentation via RoboHelp's Single Source Layouts pod. If you elect to include a TOC on the Section Layout screen, the TOC you created in the RoboHelp project will appear in the Word document.
There is a little-known area within RoboHelp where you can control the text that appears as the TOC heading in the Printed Documentation… the Language List file (LNG).
When you generate the Printed Documentation, the heading for the TOC will reflect the edit you made to the LNG file.
Note: You can always restore the default settings to the LNG File by clicking the Reset to Default button on the LNG File tab (shown after step 6 above).
***
Looking to learn RoboHelp quickly? I teach a live, online Introduction to Adobe RoboHelp class once each month.
Copyright in the eLearning biz can get confusing. Can you use that awesome image you found on Google in your eLearning course? What if it's just for internal view? What if you're going to sell it? What if it's for a paying client to use internally? What if it's Creative Commons licensed?
I've previously written quite a bit on copyright and image usage as it applies to eLearning, but I frequently get inquiries about it, so I thought I'd compile what I've shared thus far here.
Copyright information:
Is Using Copyrighted Materials Okay for eLearning?
Image and Media Resources:
Finding Google Images You Can Actually Use
YouTube Adds Creative Commons Content
Photopin, a New Stock Photo Resource
Additionally, I have found a couple more interesting resources about Creative Commons licensing. The first is a video produced by Mohawk Media of New Zealand for Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand that does a great job explaining how Creative Commons licenses work.
The second is another stock photo resource that I hadn't previously heard of: Foter. Every time I try out a free stock photo resource, the first things I search for are "business man" and "business woman," because conservatively dressed and put together adults are always good choices for eLearning images. Foter didn't disappoint, as I was instantly led to a decent selection of free images that were licensed for commercial use. I definitely recommend this site. And check this out: one of the best things I found there is a blog post on How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos that includes this great Creative Commons infographic that gives you a decision-tree on how to proceed when you are planning to use Creative Commons material in any way.
Image source: http://foter.com/blog/how-to-attribute-creative-commons-photos
I've been developing eLearning lessons in TechSmith Camtasia for years. One of the biggest drawbacks to using the tool was the inability to group Timeline objects. That shortcoming has been addressed in version 8 of the Studio.
Creating a group is simple. On the Timeline, select two or more objects (you can select objects on the same Track, or objects across multiple tracks). Right-click the selected objects and choose Group.
Once the group has been created, moving the group left or right on the Timeline moves all of the objects that are included within the group.
I tend to create multiple groups in my projects. I find naming my groups helps me avoid confusion when I want to work with one group or another. To name a group, right-click the group and choose Rename Group. You can give a group any name you like.
Suffering from "group regret?" You can right-click any group and choose Ungroup. And if you'd like to see the objects that make up a group, click the group's plus sign to expand the group.
***
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.
Adding a quiz to an eLearning lesson gives you the ability to assess a learner's comprehension. Certainly tracking comprehension and pass/fail rates is important for anyone designing a course. However, quizzes can often be stressful to the learner. Rather than look at a quiz as a measuring stick to comprehension, I take a different approach (and hopefully lower my learner's stress level). I treat quizzes as an opportunity for me to communicate with my learner. In a live class, I communicate with my learners by simply asking direct questions.
It doesn't matter if the learner answers my question correctly. By simply asking a question and then getting an answer, the lines of communication are open. In the example above, when Bob answered my question incorrectly, but then received the correct answer, learning occurred for Bob (and anyone else who was listening to the exchange).
How can you open a similar line of communication in an eLearning lesson (where there is never any live interaction)? One solution lies with Captivate's ability to provide an explanation as to why an answer is right or wrong (above and beyond the standard correct/incorrect captions that most developers use).
My next goal is to provide feedback should my learners select either of the other answers. On the Question Slide, I selected answer B (Green Lantern).
On the Properties panel I found the Advanced Answer Options group. I selected both Advanced Answer Option and Show Feedback Message.
A feedback caption appeared on the slide.
I edited the caption and then repeated the process for the other answers.
When the learner takes the quiz, the proper feedback caption will appear depending upon the selected answer.
***
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.
IconLogic's Kevin Siegel and Jennie Ruby recently sat down with the folks at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and discussed Writing
Voice-Over Scripts for eLearning. We talked about how critically important it is to
write the scripts in advance. Learn some important Dos and Don'ts you can put to use
immediately.
by AJ George
Do you have a large
amount of information you'd like to teach quickly and effectively? While
most trainers would agree that it's not a good idea to teach lots of
information over a short amount of time, one learning method suggests
the opposite.
In an article first reported in Scientific American in 2005, R. Douglas Fields explored how temporal patterns of stimuli create long-term memories. These timed patterns formed the basis for a 2008 book by Paul Kelley called Making Minds, in which Kelley used the information reported by Fields to develop and test what he called the Spaced Learning
method. The general idea of Spaced Learning is that large amounts of
content are condensed and then repeated to students in brief sessions,
separated by 10-minute breaks. During this time, learners perform
unrelated motor activities.
In a previous article I wrote about Knowledge Guru and the use of repetition in eLearning. The article explored if the simple act of repetition is the key to learning. One of the comments I received about that article (from
someone at Knowledge Guru, in fact) said that repetition is only part
of the picture. Repetition in conjunction with spaced chunking of the
content is more likely the key.
Here's how Spaced Learning works:
According
to the Spaced Learning theory, information moves into long-term memory
easier if the human brain gets a short break. The repetition of the same
neural pathway sends the message to the brain that this information is
important, which makes information retrieval easier.
The Space Learning method is being used and developed at Monkseaton High School in England (where Paul Kelley
is Head teacher), and appears to be working out pretty well. Their
curriculum consists of presentations developed by teachers using Spaced
Learning as part of Innovation Unit's Learning Futures program. Learning Futures provides free open-source tools and guides to help schools implement the Spaced Learning method.
What's
your take on Spaced Learning? Are you using Spaced Learning in your
training initiatives? Is it having a positive effect on student
retention? Is it just a learning fad? Please feel free to post your comments.
Here's another challenge on confusing words and usage. Take a stab at the correct answers and send them to me.
Here are your results from our last challenge.
|
Word |
Percent who missed it |
|
symposia/ums |
88% |
|
a |
38% |
|
bated |
25% |
|
into |
13% |
|
crummy |
13% |
|
Electric |
0% |
|
electrical |
0% |
|
Electric |
0% |
First, extra points go
to Carla Craddock and to Tara Allen for knowing that the ugly duckling
grows up to be a swan. And thanks, Tara, for the memory of Danny Kaye
singing "A swan?…Go on!" And no one got 100% because I was a stickler
about wanting an explanation about symposia and symposium. Technically,
though, everyone got that one right-as you will see below.
Although symposiums/symposia is at the top of the list, it is not because anyone got it wrong. In fact, both spellings are equally valid. Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
lists both spellings as equal variants, which means that "either one
may be used according to personal inclination." That does not mean we
should all spell it one way in one sentence and the other way in the
next. In professional publishing, typically the publisher's in-house
style guide indicates a preference for the sake of consistency.
Sometimes the context may suggest which is more appropriate. In the
sentence in the challenge, where an academic setting is evident, the
Latinate spelling does seem arguably more appropriate. And in fact most
respondents answered symposia.
The history (sorry) of the use of a or an before the word historic is checkered. But the upshot is that today's consensus is a historic, a historical, and a historian are correct, according to The Chicago Manual of Style, Theodore Bernstein's The Careful Writer, The Associated Press Stylebook, and the Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. According to Bryan Garner writing in the latter, at some point in the past some argued that the h
is weak because the emphasis is on the second syllable in these words.
However, the idea currently is that you do pronounce the h, even though the syllable is not accented, so the use of a is correct, in both American and British English.
Baited: like a fishhook or a mousetrap.
Bated: restrained.
Into is the preposition for move something from one place into another. In and to
may find themselves next to each other through some coincidence in a
sentence, in which case the two words remain separate. Here are some
ways that can happen. First, the word in might occur before an infinitive form of a verb. So you might have something like this:
He went in to go to sleep. (The word in is acting as an adverb specifying where or in what direction he went. The word to is part of the infinitive verb form to sleep. The infinitive of a verb is the "to verb" form of the verb. Some examples are to go, to dream, to sleep, to be.)
Another coincidence might occur when the word in is acting as part of a phrasal verb. A phrasal verb is a verb whose meaning relies on a small, related word. An example is throw out (the word out changes the meaning of throw from "propel through the air" to "place in the trash," as in "I don't need these papers so I will throw them out." In fact, you will find the phrasal verb in the dictionary with its "particle" attached: I found throw out in the dictionary as a separate entry from throw.
He is plugged in to all the new social networks. (Plugged in is a phrasal verb, meaning something like "involved in." The word in is part of the verb, and, separately, to is the preposition)
The electric train was plugged into the outlet. (Plugged is not used as a phrasal verb here, so into is the preposition, not part of the verb. Compare with these sentences: Place your wet towel into the drier. The towel was placed into the drier. Stuff your pajamas into the duffle bag. The pajamas were stuffed into the duffle bag. Plug your power cord into the outlet. The cord was plugged into the outlet.)
My radio is tuned in to WJLA. (Tuned in is a phrasal verb. In is part of the verb, and to is the preposition.)
Crummy: term meaning of low quality.
Crumby: having crumbs (as from bread or cake) all over it.
Everyone correctly
answered the examples about electric versus electrical. But I was
surprised to learn that the guide is whether the following word begins
with a vowel or a consonant!
If you like Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.