The Logical Blog by IconLogic

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: 

 

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. 

 

 

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).

  

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.

  

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

  

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.

***

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.

Techsmith Camtasia Studio 8 Training with the ASTD

Using Camtasia Studio, you can quickly create visual demonstrations of just about anything (computer software or soft skills training) and post your completed lessons on the web or burn them to a CD. Your lessons can include videos of actions taken on your computer, animation, audio, quizzes and surveys.

This one-day course will introduce you to the essential Camtasia Studio skills you need to know to rapidly deploy eLearning!

Instructor: Kevin Siegel 

More Information 

PowerPoint 2010: Create Your Own Gauges

by AJ George 

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:

1. In PowerPoint, insert a doughnut chart. (Insert > Illustrations > Chart > Doughnut > Doughnut > OK).
   
   An Excel spreadsheet will appear, along with the chart on your PowerPoint slide.


2. On the Excel spreadsheet, click in the cell that says Sales and change the title to whatever you would like. For my example I'm going to use Typos in 2012 Issues to demonstrate an acceptable versus unacceptable range of typos in one year for a publication.
   
   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.


3. For my chart I want the total possible value of the gauge to be 100. I will only be using half of the doughnut so I'm going to set the total value to 200. The value for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Qtr should total 100. The value for the 4th Qtr will be 100. Add any three values for the first three quarters, as long as they total to 100. I will be using 60, 25, and 15. Once in the doughnut chart, this will visually give me a "good" area, an "okay" area, and a "bad" area. 
   
    
   
   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. 
   
   
4. Select the doughnut so that resizing handles appear on all its sections.
5. Right-click the doughnut and choose Format Data Series. 
   
   The Format Data Series dialog box will open.


6. From the Series Options category, change the Angle of first slice to 270 and click Close.
      


7. Right-click the solid bottom half of the doughnut chart and choose Format Data Point.
8. From the Fill category, select No Fill and click Close. 
   
   The bottom half of the chart should "disappear."


9. Right-click each of the remaining sections of the chart and change their fill color as you see fit.
     
10. Select the Legend at the right of chart and press [delete] on your keyboard to remove it.
    
    The chart will center under the title.


11. Working on the same slide (but ensuring the doughnut chart is not selected), insert a Pie Chart. (Insert > Illustrations > Chart > Pie > Pie > OK)
12. Once again, you will be working with a total value of 200. On the Excel spreadsheet, set the value for 1st Qtr to the value (out of a possible 100) you would like the needle of your gauge to rest. I want my needle to fall within the yellow area of the chart, so I am using 66. Set the value for 2nd Qtr to 1. This will be your actual gauge needle.
13. In Excel, click in cell B4 to set the value for 3rd Qtr. In the fx field, type =200-(B2+B3) and press [enter] on your keyboard. 
     

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.


14. Right-click the 5th row, (4th Qtr) and choose Delete.
15. In PowerPoint, right-click the Pie chart and choose Format Data Series.
16. From the Format Data Series dialog box, Series Options category, change the rotation to 270.
17. Right-click the two larger areas of the pie chart and choose Format Data Point > Fill > No Fill.
    
    Both sections will "disappear" leaving just your thin slice of the pie (your needle).


18. Right-click the "needle," choose Format Data Point and change the fill to whatever you like. (I chose black.)
19. Select the Legend at the right and delete it.
20. Select the title of the Pie chart (not the Doughnut chart) and press [spacebar] on your keyboard to delete the title of the second chart. (It's important to type [spacebar] for the title instead of just deleting it to keep the alignment of both charts the same.)
21. Select both charts and group them. (Home > Drawing > Arrange > Group)

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.

Adobe Captivate 6: Customize the Date Variable with a Little Interpretation

by Lori Smith 

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.

Adobe RoboHelp 10: Ping the LNG

by Kevin Siegel  

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).

1. Choose File > Project Settings.
2. On the General tab, click Advanced Settings.
3. Select the LNG File tab.
4. Scroll down to the [PrintedDoc] section.
5. Select the TableOfContent entry and click the Edit button.
6. Edit the text to the right of the equal sign and press [enter]. 
    

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.

eLearning: Copyright Caboodle

by AJ George 

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? 

More on Copyright 

Image and Media Resources:

Free Image Sites 

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

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8: Timeline Groups

by Kevin Siegel  

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.

Adobe Captivate 6: Instant Answer Feedback

by Lori Smith 

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. 

Me: "Hey Bob."

Bob: "Yes?"

Me: "Earlier we were learning about super heroes and talked about the best super power. Do you remember what that power was?"

Bob: "Running really fast?"

Me: "While that's not a bad super power Bob, in reality, super strength is better. As you may recall..."

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).

Let's use the simple quiz question below as an example. Since the correct answer is A) Superman, I've made it the correct answer by selecting the radio button to the left of the Superman answer.

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.

Podcast: Writing Voice-Over Scripts for eLearning

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.

Training: Spaced Learning

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:

1. Present all the information you want your students to walk away with together in one big chunk. Try to do this in about 10 or 15 minutes. This learning theory doesn't give specifics on how long is too long or short; however, 15 minutes or less has been shown to work in live classroom settings. (In an eLearning setting you might do even shorter lessons.) The information could be presented live on PowerPoint slides or on a large board by a classroom or online instructor. In an asynchronous situation, the information could be presented using any of today's eLearning tools such as Captivate, Camtasia or Storyline.
2. After all of the information has been presented, take a 10-minute break. But not just any break. Use this 10-minute break to have your students do something completely unrelated to the core topic. Juggle. Make something with play-doh. Draw. Do anything to stimulate a different part of the brain.
3. Following the 10-minute break, return to the lesson. Start from the beginning, but present the information in a slightly different manner. For example, show the same slides, but with essential points and keywords left blank. Encourage your students to fill in these blanks. Work in a group and out loud if applicable. Don't hold back on giving hints or clues if your learner gets stuck. This session will probably go even faster than the original session.
4. Then take another 10-minute break to do something else unrelated. Make something else with play-doh. Dribble a basketball. You get the idea.
5. After completing the second 10-minute break, give your students an unassisted quiz (or similar assessment) in which they are able to apply the facts and information.

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.