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eLearning: A Dose of Inspiration from Sally Cox

What do you do when, as an eLearning developer, you hit a mental roadblock and cannot get inspired, no matter what you try? We all have situations like this (some of us more than others), so I would like to offer some tips for helping you get out of that rut and recharge with some fresh, new ideas. Read on.

Step Away

Sometimes, just a change of scenery or break from the mental pattern you are in can make a world of difference. Go for a walk, do some light chores, take a drive. 

During one evening when I was having inspiration troubles, I took a drive to Carson Valley near Reno, Nevada, and took the picture below. I've actually been able to use the picture in a few of my eLearning courses. Score!

 

Make a List

I am an ardent list maker. I make lists for grocery trips, packing for vacation--and I make a to-do list every single morning. Even smaller tasks go on the list so, when completed, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Just making a list and working through it--no matter how small the task--can be very motivating. I write my lists by hand, but you can use apps like Priorities and other list making apps to get the job done.

 

Brainstorm

These days, I create a lot of infographics for my courses. When I need a little extra push to get inspired, I brainstorm. Here are a few ideas I use to get my creativity pumping. 

1. List descriptive words that come to mind. No right or wrong answers--just jot down whatever comes to mind. Some of the silliest ideas can be reworked into something usable.
2. Think of what visuals you associate with the concept, and make notes and/or sketches about them.
3. Use pencil/pen and paper to sketch your ideas, and try variations. Keep your sketches loose and not too detailed. 
4. Focus on the story or message, and don't get sidetracked. 
5. Use mind maps (a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts) to get ideas flowing. Start with a general phrase in the middle of the screen or paper. Then start connecting ideas.
   
   
   
   
6. Create an outline, similar to a mind map, but in outline form. No sketching here, just your random thoughts in a structured format.

Next time: Resources for Inspiration

Adobe Captivate: Learning Interactions with Self-Hiding Instructions

by Jennie Ruby 

Scenario: Your SME wants to put a ton of text on a slide. "It's all important!" she insists. 

"Okay," you say. "But let's give the learner some control over the experience. Let's use a Learning Interaction." 

The Learning Interactions in Adobe Captivate are very useful for presenting a lot of text by topic or subheading. In this article, I'll show you how to address both the needs of the project and your SME's concerns. For this project, we'll choose the Tab interaction. 

Go to the Interactions drop-down and choose Learning Interactions. Then choose the Tabs learning interaction. On the resulting dialog box, double-click Title, and type your title. (Don't worry if your first double-click does not enable editing. These placeholders are notoriously difficult to double-click. Just keep clicking until the word Title goes into editing mode. Then type your title.)

 

Enter all of your text by double-clicking a tab, giving it a tab name, and then double-clicking the Button Content placeholder for each tab to enter your text.

When all of your content is in, click the OK button to create your interaction. Now preview it. It should work great. 

However, let's go back to our scenario: 

The SME is now unhappy because when you first arrive at this slide, the Tab area is completely blank. The learning interaction does not display any of its tab contents until you click a tab. 

 

"How does the viewer know to click a tab?" the SME asks.

 

"Good question," you reply. "We could give instructions in the voiceover narrative."

 

"I'd rather see printed instructions on the slide," your SME says. 

 

Now we have this challenge: how to create instructions and something to fill the blank tab area when the viewer first arrives on this slide, but without covering up the tab's text when the interaction is in use.

Captivate offers "actions" that can show and hide objects on the slide. We can create a text caption that will give the viewers some instructions. But how are we going to hide the text caption so the viewers can see the Tab text? We'll create a button along with the caption that will hide the text caption and also hide itself!

Start by creating a text caption containing the instructions: "Click each tab to read its contents." Format the caption and place it in the middle of the blank space on the Tab interaction. 

Then from the Interactions drop-down, choose Button. In the Properties inspector, Style subtab, caption the button with the word Start. 

After positioning the text caption and the button nicely on the slide, Select both the text caption and the Start button (shift-click should do it), and from the Edit menu, choose Group.

 

Select just the button, and on the Properties inspector, Actions subtab, set On Success to Hide, and in the Hide drop-down list, choose the group. While you are there, also deselect the checkbox for Continue Playing the Project. That way, once the button is hidden, the project will not proceed to the next slide before the viewer can click a tab! (Note: this assumes the project has a play bar that the viewer can use to advance the slide after viewing the Tab interaction.)

So far, you have a Start button that will hide the instructions and hide itself. But how can we make sure that these will always be visible on the slide to start with? After all, the viewer might visit the slide, hide the caption and start button, leave the slide, and then return. The solution is to add an On Entry action for the slide.

Click the slide in the Filmstrip, open the Properties inspector, Actions tab, and assign the On Enter action Show, and choose your group.

Preview your project, and each time you enter the slide containing your Tab interaction, you see the instructions, click the Start button, and then use the Tab learning interaction to view the text. 

Result: The SME is happy, you are a success, and the viewers know exactly what to do when they reach this slide.

***

Looking for Adobe Captivate training? Check out these live, online Captivate classes.

TechSmith Camtasia: Major Upgrade Released

by Kevin Siegel   

 

It's been years in the making but TechSmith has finally updated Camtasia... and boy is this upgrade worth the wait.

 

First and foremost, Camtasia for Windows (version 9) and the Macintosh (version 3) are now very similar allowing you to share projects across platforms. And while the version numbers are different (I wish TechSmith had settled on a common version number or name), and there are features that still aren't available in both platforms, this is an awesome step in the right direction.

 

The interface has been overhauled. One common complaint from my students as I teach Camtasia is that the options such as Transitions, Audio Effects, etc. in version 8, while awesome, were often hard to find for new eLearning developers. (The options were sandwiched between panels in Camtasia 8 and often hidden from view as a developer switched from one set of options to another.)

 

Check out the new interface. Version 9 for Windows is shown below followed by version 3 for the Mac. I think you'll agree they're pretty similar.

 

 

 

And finding the options/tools you need is no longer a challenge because all of the options are neatly aligned at the left of the Camtasia window.

 

 

 

Beyond a new interface, Camtasia comes with an enhanced collection of Library assets that include a collection of high-quality, royalty-free backgrounds, music tracks, icons, and animations.

 

And if you used to dread publishing your Camtasia projects because the process was painfully slow, you can rejoice. Camtasia takes full advantage of 64-bit processing power that results in blazing-fast rendering times.

 

I'll be covering specific Camtasia features on both the Mac and Windows version in the coming weeks. If you'd like to learn more about Camtasia (or download the trial and try it on for size), visit the TechSmith website.

 

Looking for eLearning training? Check out these live, online classes.

eLearning: Effective Use of Fonts

by Sally Cox  

Different fonts evoke different emotions, and some fonts are more readable than others. There are lots of decisions to be made when choosing fonts for your eLearning projects. Here are a few of my thoughts, to help you make better font choices.

Serif vs. Sans Serif

Serifs fonts contain little "tails" on some of the letters, such as those found in Times New Roman. The word "sans" is French for "without," so a "sans serif" font is a font without tails.

Here are some common serif and sans serif fonts.

 

Sans serif fonts are commonly thought more readable than serif fonts, particularly when viewed online.

I have, on occasion, used serif fonts in my eLearning courses (if the client insists, I use the font they want and try to push back if the font makes things unreadable). 

Here's an example of using a serif font for the headline and a sans serif font for the text below. I like this look very much! And proper hierarchy is used here as well (the headline is larger than the subheads... a logical progression).

 

Use Display Fonts Sparingly

Display fonts are unique fonts meant to be used in small doses. Mostly, they are less readable than regular fonts. And they are meant to convey a message, an emotion - more than what Times New Roman can say (no offense to Times Roman).

The image below shows a few examples of display fonts. These are certainly not meant for large amounts of text. Rather, they pack a punch for grabbing attention or evoking an emotion, so use them sparingly.

 

In the image below, notice the first two examples are using a display font that is inappropriate for the content. A law office needs a more conservative font than a surfboard manufacturer, right? Because the client requires a more conservative look to their branding, the third example would be the correct choice.

 

 

Easy on the Mixture

Don't overmix fonts. Three is the old-school limit, but I still think it's relevant.

Here is an example of bad typography. First, there are too many fonts in one place. In addition, the display font is used inappropriately.

  

Final Thoughts

The text is an important piece of the puzzle in an eLearning course. It should always be readable, high contrast, and large enough that mobile users will not have trouble deciphering it. Test your courses on a variety of platforms to ensure the text is readable. If the text in your courses is not readable, it won't matter what font you used.