The Logical Blog by IconLogic

eLearning and PowerPoint: The Right to Bare Slides

by AJ Walther  

I saw a guy the other day wearing a t-shirt that read, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Often the same holds true for PowerPoint presentations. "PowerPoint doesn't kill presentations, people kill presentations."

It's easy to point the finger at PowerPoint for making office meetings unsuccessful and eLearning lessons a snore, but the truth is that poor design is really to blame.

The good news is that you don't have to be a seasoned designer to produce beautiful and effective presentations. Here are a couple of tips to get you started.

Steer Clear of Bullets, Old-School Clip Art, and Backgrounds and Animation Effects

There are certainly occasions when maybe a bullet really is the most successful way to convey an idea. However, just because PowerPoint defaults to using a bulleted format doesn't mean that you should go with the flow and present all your information with a bullet in front of it. 

Try splitting the bullets up into separate slides with a single image to illustrate each point or forego the text altogether and replace it with a chart, diagram, or other informative image.

It is not necessary to have every bit of information you cover on the slide. Encourage your audience to listen; and, if necessary, take notes based on what you say, not what is on the slide. 

If the bullets were more for you than for your audience, put the bullets in the PowerPoint notes section so that only you can see them. 

Nothing says "High School Presentation Circa 1997" quite like a dancing animated image clumsily plopped on a rainbow gradient background with a big, garish WordArt title (complete with myriad animation effects).

Keep in mind that PowerPoint presentations are plentiful--particularly bad ones. Trust me, your audience will not be impressed with how many moving, colorful parts each slide contains. 

Consider taking more of a photographic approach to the images you use. PowerPoint comes pre-loaded with photograph clip art images you can use. If you find the selection isn't enough to suit your needs, try looking online for stock photos. There are many free sites, but keep in mind that to save time and frustration (and improve on the selection and quality) you might want to set aside a budget to pay for images. A useful list of stock photo sites can be found here.

Before
 
 

After:
 
 

 

 

Use Full Bleed Pictures

If you want to really make a statement with your image, resist the temptation to slap it on a slide alongside your text. Instead simplify it by using one pertinent full-bleed image on the slide in conjunction with a very small blurb of text (or no text at all).

Be sure the image you use is high enough resolution so as not to pixelate (blur) and consider using text with enough contrast to be visible on your image.

Before:

 

After:

   

Adobe Captivate 7: Quiz Not Scoring Correctly? Think Advanced... Check Your Interaction!

by Kevin Siegel    

 

Here's an interesting scenario: You create a Captivate project that contains 12 slides: 10 question slides, each worth 10 points, and two "transitional" slides containing simple navigation buttons.

 

During the testing phase, a beta-tester who answers all of the questions correctly should be awarded 100 points. Simple. Interestingly, every beta-tester who answers the questions correctly receives a score of 96 from the LMS. Huh?

 

How about this one? You have a five-question Captivate project. As with the first example, this project also has a couple of "transitional" slides containing navigation buttons.

 

During the testing phase, the progress indicator on each of the question slides indicates that you are on slide 2 of 6, when you are actually on the first question slide. What's up with that? Keep in mind, the project only contains five questions so the first question slide should have indicated that you were on slide 1 of 5.

 

I've seen these problems before. The issues aren't with the question slides, and they're not a problem with your beta tester. The problem is typically found with the buttons on the "transitional" slides.

 

If you were to select a button and visit the Reporting group on the Properties panel, you'd see that many objects (click boxes, buttons, text entry boxes) can report user interactivity. In short, the object can be treated like it's part of a quiz.

 

 

 

If you select Include in Quiz, your question number counts will be thrown off. If you select Report answers and Add to total, your quiz score will likely be thrown off.

 

Here's the real challenge: Imagine you have 100 slides. Some of the slides are question slides; the majority are simply interactive or contain buttons. It's going to be a real pain to open each of your slides, show the properties of objects, and ensure the Reporting options are set correctly. What's a developer to do? Read on...

 

Choose Project > Advanced Interaction to open the Advanced Interaction window.

 

 

You can use this handy window to control all of the reporting objects in your project. For instance, if you wanted to stop a button from being added to the quiz total, all you need to do is select the object in the Advanced Interaction window and, on the Properties panel, Reporting group, deselect the Add to total check box.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how to Report a score without using Question Slides and how to use the Advanced Interactions feature, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

Writing & Grammar: More Commas

by Jennie Ruby 

Answers to last week's challenge on commas are brought to you by Joanne Chantelau Hofmeister. Other respondents with all answers correct were Roslyn G. Hager, Anne Goldenberger, Douglas Daniel Blackley, and Vera Sytch. And, yes, number 4 was correct as written, meaning that technically the instructions should have mentioned that. Nevertheless, 55% of respondents answered correctly.

Number 2 elicited the most errors. Look carefully at that opening noun phrase, "The president of Super Simplistic Solutions." Because of the word the, this phrase completely identifies the one individual who is the subject of the sentence. His name is then grammatically nonessential. Contrast that with number 6, where the job title is used in front of the name without the word a or the. For that reason, the job title does not stand alone as a noun fully identifying the subject. Instead, it is merely an adjective modifying the proper noun George Baker. But be careful. Sometimes the word the or the word a may be present, but the opening phrase still does not narrow the discussion to one specific noun. Check out the examples in this week's new challenge on essential versus nonessential appositives.

Answers to Last Week's Challenge: Add or subtract commas to correctly punctuate these sentences

1. "Another electrolyte, potassium, works with sodium to generate the electrical current necessary for muscle function."
2. The president of Super Simplistic Solutions, Biff Bifferson, opened the competition to clients as well as staffers.
3. A nurse's aide, Jon Boxco, greets each patient at the desk.
4. "Important for bones and teeth, this element is even more essential in cell physiology."
5. Ramakrishna Sing, a research associate at the National University, created a new way to purify water.
6. Administrative associate George Baker set up the new device.
7. Built just a year ago, the senior center is already full.

This Week's Grammar Challenge: Essential versus nonessential appositives

1. The doctor standing by the podium Dr. Jasper Caspar is a specialist in joint repair.
2. A very important concept grouping will be discussed in the next section.
3. ABC Senior Director Sing will speak at the all-hands meeting.
4. The one topic we should not ignore reproducibility is the very one we most often neglect.
5. The very important insect drosophila melanogaster is the topic of our next lesson.
6. This insect's main predator the predaceous wasp cannot alone control the population.

Feel free to post your answers as comments below.

SociaLogic: How to Cite Tweets in Academia or eLearning

by AJ Walther  

The President has a Twitter account. So does the Pope. It makes sense that eventually someone important is going to use this social outlet to say something that you'd like to include in an academic paper or maybe even in your eLearning. But how do you do that?  

Here's how, according to the Modern Language Association (MLA):

Last Name, First Name (User Name). "The tweet in its entirety." Date, Time. Tweet.

That was painless, eh? But I have an even easier option. Simply paste the tweet's URL into the citation generator at Tweet2Cite and the work will be done for you--in either MLA or American Psychological Association format. The only catch is that you'll need to know the URL for the specific tweet. Don't worry though, here's how you get that:

1. Click any Tweet on Twitter to expand the Tweet.
2. At the bottom of the Tweet, click the Details link. (The Tweet will open in a new window with its URL in the browser box.)
    

The MLA citation for the Tweet picture above would be:

Walther, AJ (LogicalAJ). "Wanna Read Faster? Try These Apps http://t.co/52RNyeuyv8 #mLearning #edtech #iOS7". 17 Oct 2013, 20:00 UTC. Tweet

Adobe Captivate 7.01: Color Swatches

by Kevin Siegel

Over the past few weeks, I've written about the enhancements you'll find in the recently-released service patch for Captivate 7 (an enhanced lock feature and a new Star Smart Shape). This week I'm going to show you how to use the new Swatches panel.

In the image below, I've added a logo onto a Captivate slide. I'd like to use the green contained in the logo on the Highlight Box you see to the left of the logo. I'd also like to be able to use that same color in other Captivate projects.

To begin, I opened the Swatches panel (Window menu). Then I selected the Pick Color tool (the eye dropper shown in the image below).

Using the Pick Color tool, I clicked on the green color on the logo. In the image below, you can see that the color is added to the Swatches panel (#90B000).

The Enter swatch name dialog box opens. In the image below, I named my new Swatch LogoGreen and then clicked the OK button.

The LogoGreen swatch appears on the Swatches panel (it's the last swatch you see in the image below). I can now use the swatch and apply the color to any slide object.

Keep in mind that Swatches are shared by all Captivate projects so you won't have to recreate the Swatch every time you create a new project. In addition, you can import existing swatches from either Adobe Photoshop or Kuler by clicking the Load tool on the Swatches panel.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of the new Swatches panel in action, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

Writing & Grammar: Is a Comma Necessary?

by Jennie Ruby 

When adding a job title or description before or after someone's name, you have to decide whether you need commas. You need two commas if you have inserted a nonessential additional description after your noun. If you feel that your first word or noun in the sentence is specific enough that the reader needs no further information in order to identify it, then a subsequent interruption to give further description should be surrounded by commas, like this:

My only child, Jim, is applying to colleges right now.

The words "my only child" are specific enough to fully identify who I am talking about. They narrow my discussion to one human being. Giving his name is merely additional, nonessential information. The term nonessential refers to whether the information is needed in order to narrow the discussion down to the one person or thing I am talking about.

My cousin Ruth called one day last week.

The name Ruth is essential in this sentence, because I have more than 20 cousins. In my family, the words "my cousin" do not fully do the job of narrowing the discussion down to one person. It doesn't matter whether my readers know that--the fact that I know it is enough. I know that the specific name is needed for precise identification of the person I am talking about.

The File menu, located at the upper left of the screen, contains the Share command.

Here, the words "the File menu" fully identify the exact part of the software being discussed. The additional description "located at the upper left of the screen" is not essential for precisely identifying which screen item you mean.

If you start your sentence with a job title right before a name, don't put a comma between the job title and the name, and don't put one after the name, either:

Instructional designer Bob Henderson will show us how to plan our lesson.

But if you put the word a or an before the job title, meaning you are using it generically, then you do need the commas:

An instructional designer, Bob Henderson, will show us how to plan our lesson.

If you start your sentence with a description that applies to the subject of the sentence, use just one comma to separate the introductory description from the beginning of the sentence:

Built just last year, the parking structure was already overcrowded.

Challenge: Add or subtract commas to correctly punctuate these sentences

1. "Another electrolyte, potassium works with sodium to generate the electrical current necessary for muscle function."
2. The president of Super Simplistic Solutions Biff Bifferson, opened the competition to clients as well as staffers.
3. A nurse's aide Jon Boxco, greets each patient at the desk.
4. "Important for bones and teeth, this element is even more essential in cell physiology."
5. Ramakrishna Sing, a research associate at the National University  created a new way to purify water.
6. Administrative associate, George Baker, set up the new device.
7. Built just a year ago the senior center is already full.

When ready, send your answers directly to me.

 

***

Last Week's Challenge

Answers to the prepositional phrase challenge are brought to you by Karyn R. Smith, except for the second one in number 5, which is brought to you by Elisia Getts.

1. The pigeons [on the balcony] ate the leaves off [of the chrysanthemum]. Adjective; adjective.
2. [Because of the sudden noise], the birds all flew [from the railing] [at once]. Adverb; adjective; adverb.
3. [High atop the chimney] is [where the mocking bird] liked to sing. Noun; noun.
4. The eagle soared [over the building] and [out across the open plain]. Adverb; adverb.
5. [During the rainstorm], the cats huddled [under the porch]. Adverb; adjective.
6. [After the quiz], we will return [to the main body] [of the eLearning lesson]. Adverb; adverb; adjective.

Training & Development in Belize

by Jen Weaver

Let's take an island adventure to Belize and explore some common cultural facts (and their impact on the training and development market).

Test your knowledge of Belizean culture with the true or false questions below:

1. True or False? Belizeans take a relaxed approach to most things.
2. True or False? The official language of Belize is English.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Belize¹:

• Facts alone do not substantiate a convincing argument. A person's feelings and individual perspectives are considered valuable when identifying the "truth" about a topic.
• The relaxed culture of the Belizean people lends to risk taking, but Belizean's tend to avoid high-stress situations or direct confrontation.
• Belize is a very masculine society. Women are not common in government or executive business roles. Keep this in mind when localizing images for business use and in forming your training teams.
• Belizeans take a casual approach to time in relational settings but expect foreigners to be punctual for business appointments. Project deadlines are typically seen as guidelines or suggestions rather than final completion dates.
• You will find it difficult to conduct business in Belize unless you are a native Belizean or can hire a local contact to represent your firm.
• Belizeans base business decisions on relationships and personal affinity.
• Business communications occur in English not English Creole.
• Spelling follows British English not American.
• Many Belizeans have lived or spent time in the United States (so American gestures are familiar).

Culture Quiz Answers:

1. True. Island culture prevails.
2. True. English is the official language however the local dialect is a form of English Creole that is incoherent to most English speakers. Spanish, Plautdietsch (a German dialect), and other indigenous languages are also spoken in Belize.

References:

¹Morrison, Terri, and Wayne A. Conaway, Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands, 2nd ed. (Avon: Adams Media, 2006).

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Developing international training and development materials?Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

Adobe RoboHelp: Favicons

by Kevin Siegel

During my online RoboHelp classes, students frequently ask for ways to brand a generated WebHelp layout. There are multiple ways to add a corporate identity to a layout including customizing a WebHelp skin and adding a copyright notice within the footer of a master page.

While working with skins and master pages is easy enough, one of the fastest ways to brand WebHelp is also the easiest: add a Favicon. A Favicon is an icon that appears in a browser's address bar or next to the site name in a bookmark list. In the image below, you can see the title of a generated layout (Technical Communications) as it appears in a Firefox tab. Just to the left of the title is a generic Favicon.

To add your logo as a Favicon, show the Properties of a RoboHelp WebHelp layout (on the Single Source Layouts pod, right-click a WebHelp layout and choose Properties).

Select the General category and you'll find the Favicon field just below the Title Bar field.

Click the Browse button and open the Favicon image you'd like to use. In the image below, I've loaded a Favicon I created called IcoFile.ico. You can use png, ico, or gif images as Favicons.

Generate the layout and view the results. You'll see your corporate Favicon in the tab or title bar of the web page in place of the default image.

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Looking for training on Adobe RoboHelp? IconLogic offers live, online Adobe RoboHelp classes each month.

Adobe Announces a New Solution for Smarter Procedures

Adobe recently announced that they have been working on how to reduce human performance issues, specifically when people are "working through procedures and tasks related to maintenance, operations, servicing, etc."

According to Kapil Verma,Sr. Product Manager, Adobe Technical Communication Products, "Currently, organizations are executing various kinds of step-by-step procedures for doing maintenance, repair or to simply operate equipment. There organizations may be in different kinds of industries e.g. manufacturing, nuclear, telecomm, electronics, just to name a few. However, the execution is done mainly in a paper-based environment and hence, is prone to errors. Sometimes, these errors can be quite costly to the organization."

Verma said that there is a need for a "smarter" procedure execution in many of these organizations and Adobe is taking the lead.

More information.

Adobe Captivate 7.01: A True Star

by Kevin Siegel

Smart Shapes were introduced with Adobe Captivate 6. At that time, one of the most often-requested shapes that needed to be added was a Star shape.

When Adobe Captivate 7 was introduced, many developers were disappointed that there still wasn't a Star Smart Shape. Oh the heart-ache... oh the drama. Well, you'll be happy to learn that the drama and the heart-ache are over... and you didn't have to wait for Captivate 8.

Adobe recently released a service patch for Captivate 7 (to 7.01). Last week I wrote about the enhanced lock feature found in the patch. This week, let's explore the Star Smart Shape.

To add a Star, choose Insert > Standard Objects > Smart Shape. The Smart Shapes window will open and you'll find the Star grouped with the Basic shapes (shown in the image below).

Once you've drawn the Star, you can use the Properties panel to change the look of the Star, just like any other slide object. In particular, you'll find a Spikes area on the Fill & Stroke group (shown in the image below) allowing you to change the number of points contained within the Star.

And as with all Smart Shapes, always look for the yellow box (shown at the top of the Star in the image below). Dragging the yellow box further modifies the look and feel of the shape.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how the new Star Smart Shape works in Adobe Captivate 7.01, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.