The Logical Blog by IconLogic

ELEARNING DEVELOPMENT: How Many Levels of eLearning Are There?

When it comes to determining the level of effort (LOE) needed to develop eLearning content, I'm seeing a lack of clarity.

 

Generally speaking, you should budget approximately 4 hours to develop each minute of finished eLearning if you use Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline as your development tool. If you use TechSmith Camtasia or a PowerPoint plug-in (such as Presenter or iSpring Suite), you should budget approximately 2-hours to develop a single minute of eLearning.

 

Why the large gap in development time between Captivate/Storyline and Camtasia/PowerPonit plug-ins? Captivate and Storyline can create more interactive eLearning than the other popular tools. That enhanced interaction is great for your eLearning students but comes at a cost at twice the development time (if not more).

 

In my experience, the eLearning development LOE is dependent upon several factors including, but not limited to:

 

1. The total amount of eLearning content needed (measured in minutes)
2. The amount of usable, original content there is (will you need to develop a voiceover script, the level of support (subject matter experts, writers, designers, developers)
3. As mentioned above, the tool to be used for the eLearning development
4. The level of eLearning

 

I'm going to focus this article on the last item in the list above: eLearning levels. It's widely accepted that there are three eLearning levels and they're named, appropriately enough: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. And while you can google "eLearning levels" and find plenty of articles on the subject, finding two articles that agree on what the levels mean can be difficult, especially when it comes to level 3 eLearning.

 

Level 1: Video-based eLearning with little to no learner interaction

 

Level 1 eLearning would include the videos you'll see on streaming servers such as YouTube or Vimeo, and the eLearning content offered on Lynda.com. This type of eLearning allows learners to play the lesson, mute the audio, pause, and rewind, but that's about it for interactivity.

 

Level 1 eLearning can be created with PowerPoint or any of the eLearning development tools on the market today. This level of eLearning could include self-recorded voiceover audio and a quiz. It can also be enabled for tracking via SCORM and/or AICC LMSs.

 

Level 2: Interactive eLearning with higher-end visuals

 

Level 2 eLearning is significantly more interactive than level 1 eLearning. Content at this level often includes custom graphics (such as iconography to minimize screen clutter) and professional voiceover audio.

 

If created in Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline, this kind of eLearning likely includes interactive buttons, hotspots/click boxes, text entry areas, branching scenarios, multiple scenes, layers, rollover effects, learner interactions (such as dials, sliders, and drag and drop interactions), and random quizzes.

 

Level 3: Gamification or virtual reality, worlds, or fantasy games

 

Level 3 eLearning is beyond the scope of the vast majority of eLearning developers. This level of eLearning involves the creation of virtual settings where learners can interact with virtual characters, pick up items, and use those items throughout the course.

 

If not virtual worlds or scenarios, this level of eLearning often includes intense gaming scenarios that require complex advanced actions (Adobe Captivate) or triggers (Articulate Storyline).

 

While tools such as Storyline and Captivate cannot easily create the virtual worlds as I've described above, they could be used to create complex games, etc. Nevertheless, the time to create those games would make them cost-prohibitive.

 

Fellow eLearning developers, I need your help. What are your thoughts on the levels of eLearning as I've described them above? How would you describe the eLearning levels? Would you add more levels than the three I've mentioned here?

ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Inserting Web URL Hotspots

Just about every eLearning course you've ever used or created has contained at least a button or two that, at a minimum, allows for learner navigation.   Storyline allows you to insert buttons. But there's also a hotspot feature. What's the difference between buttons and hotspots?   Hotspots are similar to Buttons in that they can be interactive. Unlike Buttons, which are typically visible to the learner on the slide, hotspots are transparent. You insert hotspots over slide assets or areas of a slide and then use triggers to make the hotspot interactive.   To insert a hotspot, click the Insert tab on the Ribbon and, from the Interactive Objects group, click Hotspot.

On your slide, draw a hotspot shape over the area of the screen that you'd like to be clickable. In the image below, I've drawn a hotspot over the web address and globe icon. Next, I'll create a trigger that links to the Chesapeake Stables website.

With the hotspot selected, click Create a new trigger on the Triggers window. Change the Action to Open URL/file.   Note: The Open URL/file Action is in the More group; you’ll need to scroll down to find it.   In the File or URL field, type the website address you'd like learners to visit and then press [enter].

Next, test the link. With the Trigger Wizard still open, move your mouse over the web address that you just typed.   At the right of the web address, click Check URL/File.

The target website opens. The ability to check a URL from within the Trigger Wizard is a nice feature because links to websites aren’t fully functional until you Publish. In fact, if you Preview the slide and click the hotspot, you'll see the Link alert as shown in the image below.

And that's that... between buttons and hotspots, adding interactivity to your eLearning cannot get much easier.

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Looking for training, consulting, mentoring, or development on all things eLearning? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. You can learn more about our eLearning classes on the IconLogic website.

TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: These 2020 Features are Magnetic!

TechSmith recently announced an update for Camtasia from version 2019 to version 2020. Some of the top enhancements you'll find in the Camtasia 2020 update include templates, placeholders, replaceable media, reversible transitions, a detachable Timeline, the ability to control callout text resizing (the feature can be toggled on or off), and magnetic tracks.   In the next few newsletters, I'll delve into some of the new Camtasia 2020 features. To begin, let's focus on the detachable Timeline, magnetic Timeline tracks, and reversible Transitions.   In the image below notice that I've added some media to the Camtasia Timeline. Gaps between Timeline objects aren't ideal, and I have two gaps as indicated by the orange annotations in the image.

One awesome new feature in Camtasia 2020 is the ability to instantly remove Timeline gaps via magnetic tracks. To enable this feature, click the magnet icon to the left of the track as shown in the image below.

The gaps between Timeline objects are instantly removed. And now that the track is magnetic, there won't be any gaps in the track moving forward.

Speaking of enhancements, do you notice anything strange in the image of the Camtasia 2020 interface below?

By default, the Timeline is anchored to the bottom of the Camtasia interface. In the image above, the Timeline is detached. Detaching the Timeline is helpful if you want to position it someplace specific on your display or on a second monitor. To enable the feature, choose View > Timeline > Detach Timeline.   Should you lose track of the Timeline (it can easily go behind the Camtasia main window), choose View > Timeline > Attach Timeline.

Last, but not least, you can now reverse Transition effects. In the animated image below, I've added the Cube Rotate transition to some media on the Timeline. Check out how I can make the cube rotate the opposite direction simply by clicking Reverse on the Properties panel.

***   Looking for Camtasia training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

eLEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Dude, Watch Your Aspect... Ratio!

When creating eLearning in TechSmith Camtasia, Adobe Captivate, or Articulate Storyline, one critical consideration is the physical width and height of your project (also known as the canvas size).   The size of the project is measured in pixels and if you don't get this right from the start, changing your mind later could lead to some unintended consequences. (Objects being resized out of proportion is one of the biggest concerns.)   When I teach any of my eLearning courses, I encourage learners to consider their end-users when determining the size of the canvas. These days, most users access eLearning content on anything from a desktop computer to laptops to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.   In my experience, most devices used to view eLearning are shaped more like rectangles than squares. For that reason, I think the eLearning canvas should be set up to use a 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 4:3.   The aspect ratio of an eLearning canvas designed to be viewed on its side, or in landscape mode, is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side. If you go with a 4:3 aspect ratio (4 pixels across for every 3 pixels in height), you're working with a shape that is tending toward a square. If you go with 16:9 (16 pixels across for every 9 high), the shape is very much a rectangle.   Once you decide on the shape of your canvas (again, 16:9 is a strong rectangle shape), the exact size you use depends on your design and/or the needs of your users. Both 1024x576 and 1280x720 are 16:9 ratios. (Here's a handy list of 16:9 aspect ratios.)   So how do you ensure your aspect ratio is a 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 4:3. Read on!   Because eLearning often begins in Microsoft PowerPoint, let's start there. Go to the Design tab on the Ribbon and, from the Customize group, change the Slide Size to Widescreen (16:9).

In TechSmith Camtasia, click the drop-down menu just above the Canvas and choose Project Settings. From the Canvas Dimensions drop-down menu, choose a size from the Widescreen group. All of the sizes in this group are set to an aspect ratio of 16:9.

In Articulate Storyline, the default aspect ratio for new projects is 4:3. Go to the Design tab on the Ribbon and, from the Setup group, click Story Size.   From the Story Size drop-down menu, choose 720:405 (16:9) and then change the Width and Height as needed. Select Lock aspect ratio to ensure you're maintaining a 16:9 aspect ratio as you change the size.

In Adobe Captivate, when creating new projects, select Blank Project and then, from the Canvas drop-down menu, choose an appropriate 16:9 aspect ratio. If you need to change the size of an existing project, choose Modify > Rescale Project and change the Width and Height as appropriate.

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Looking for training, consulting, mentoring, or development on all things eLearning? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. You can learn more about our eLearning classes on the IconLogic website.

ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Updating Images Project-Wide

Adding an image to an Adobe Captivate project is simple: use the Media tool on the toolbar or import the assets into the Library and then drag the imported assets onto Filmstrip slides.   But what if you've imported an image into Captivate and then the image is updated outside of Captivate. How can you get the updated image into your project and have the image update across the entire project?   In the image below, notice that I've imported an image of a city skyline. I'm using the image on multiple slides. The image's slide location and size are different on each slide.

I originally imported the image from my corporate server. The designer edited the image in Photoshop by adding a filter.

I received an email alerting me to the change and was instructed to use the updated image in my Captivate project. I opened the project. Sadly, the image did not update automatically on any of my slides. No worries. On the Library, I right-clicked the image and chose Update.

I then clicked the Update button.

And like magic, the image in the Captivate Library updated--and every instance of the image throughout the project updated too.

Looking for live, virtual Captivate training? We've got you covered with these classes (all guaranteed to run).

REMOTE TRAINER CERTIFICATION: Become a Virtual Training Pro!

More and more companies are embracing virtual classes. That's great. But leading an online class isn't as easy as it sounds.

• What are some tactics for ensuring that your virtual class gets off on the right foot?
• How can you engage remote attendees, keep them awake, and help avoid distractions?
  
• What are the ideal ways to prepare your materials for online delivery?
• How can you improve the look of your onscreen visuals even if you're not a graphic designer?
• Zoom. WebEx. Connect. GoToTraining. Teams. What's the difference between the top virtual platforms? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• What's your backup plan?
• When teaching online, what's the best "voice" to use?
• If you need to create a quiz to support your course, how can you ensure that it's written as effectively as possible?

 

Attend the Certified Online Training Professional (COTP) course and learn the answers to these questions, and much more.

 

Sponsored by the International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals (ICCOTP), the COTP course helps ensure that virtual meetings, training events, and conferences provide high-quality, memorable, enjoyable, and, most of all, effective learning experiences to participants.

 

Learn more about the Certified Online Training Professional course at www.iccotp.com.

ADOBE ROBOHELP: Master Projects and Merging Help Content

You've got two RoboHelp projects. The projects have been maintained independently for years, but now you need to combine them.   One strategy for combining multiple RoboHelp projects into one is to simply import all of the assets from one project into the other. If you go that route, one of the original project(s) would no longer be needed.   However, if you want to keep the projects working as independent projects but have them share content, a TOC, and an Index, you've created the perfect scenario for project merging.   To merge projects, create child RoboHelp projects as you normally would. In this example, I've created two child projects. One project is about dogs. The second project is about cats. The goal is to combine the child projects into a third project called Cats and Dogs. The third project is the master or parent project.   In the image below you can see a sample Cats project I created with placeholder content. The project includes a small Table of Contents. Because this project is going to be added to a master project, let's call it Child 1.

In the image below you can see a simple Dogs project. It also has placeholder content and a simple Table of Contents. This is Child 2.

Now for the master or parent project. A master project does not need much content. Keep in mind that its main role is to allow you to combine content from child projects.

To allow the master project to combine assets from child projects, I went to the Table of Contents panel and clicked New Merged Project.

In the Merged Project dialog box, I opened each child project. You can see in the image below that I've loaded the Cats project. I repeated the process for the Dogs project.

On the Table of Contents for the master project, the child projects are shown as merged project icons (as shown in the image below).

Generate and Publish the master project.   When you browse to the published destination, you'll see that RoboHelp has automatically created a mergedProjects folder. This folder is key. All that you need to do now is publish each chlid project into this folder.

Back in each child project, access the Publish settings, create a new Server, and publish each child project to the mergedProjects folder for the master project.

When you open the start page for the parent project (from the Publish destination folder), the three projects have been merged into one. On the TOC shown below, the first page is the only topic that was in the master project. The remaining content on the TOC came from the child projects.

***   Looking for Adobe RoboHelp training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

TEACHING ONLINE: Teachers are Going Online. Corporate Trainers Could Learn from Their Experience

As teachers in many areas of the country struggle to take their classroom activities into the virtual training world, here’s what we’re finding.   Many are familiar with online teaching tools that they have been using in their classrooms: tools such as Quizlet, and Kahoot!, and Quizziz, and Swivl. Collaborative tools such as Google Docs are also in use. (These are all tools that bear a look by business trainers as well!)   Students log in through their iPads, tablets, or laptops and participate online in the midst of the classroom. They can access these tools from home as well, to complete assignments or do independent learning.   But with many school systems going completely virtual basically overnight, many teachers are struggling to translate the classroom experience itself into the online world. Sound familiar? Our business classes are doing the same.   The first question is what online platform can I use? Some school systems already have virtual learning systems set up: Blackboard, Canvas, Google Classrooms, and so on. Businesses may already have Adobe Connect, Webex, Microsoft Teams, or even Skype for Business.   Other teachers need a low-cost online solution—as many in the business world do as well—and they need it now.   Here are a couple of our favorites, with a quick look at costs, features, and limitations.   Zoom: It seems as though the whole world has been holding meetings on Zoom for the first time in the past week! Churches, synagogues, book groups, writer’s collectives, families…and teachers. Zoom certainly was in the right place at the right time. Here are the details:   Cost:   Free version meet with one person for free, for as long as you like Meet with 2 – 100 people, but with a 40-minute limit   14.99/month version: Meet with up to 100 people, with no time limit   Webex Personal: If you are familiar with the corporate version of this software, with its rather high costs, you may be surprised to learn there is a free version! It does not look and function identically to the corporate version—it lacks a whiteboard feature, for example. But other functions will be familiar. Teachers—It has a great Webcam feature, a fabulous “hand raise” tool, chat, and other tools that are very useful for teaching.   Free version Meet with up to 100 people, with no time limit Call-in users may have to pay—but computer audio works fine for free!   13.50/month version Meet with up to 50 people Call-in included Has many other business-related functions, such as scheduling   As both school teachers and business trainers alike are thrown into the virtual world, we are finding a lot in common. Teaching methods, the need for student engagement, the need for ways to interact online with our participants—these are universal.   Recently, IconLogic has been teaming up with the certification council for online training, ICCOTP, to offer minicourses based on the curriculum of the full online trainer certification course. These courses are free to school teachers and are being offered at a low price for business trainers. As we all go virtual, let’s find out how we can help each other and share our knowledge.   Check out the minicourses on virtual training.

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Jennie Ruby, CMT, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: Text-to-Speech to Final Voiceover

While working on a recent eLearning project in Articulate Storyline 360, there was a delay in getting the voiceover audio back from our voiceover professional. The dealy was particularly problematic because several slides had image builds that had to be synchronized with the voiceover audio. While these kinds of delays are common, they don't need to derail the entire development process.   To keep the project moving forward, I copied the voiceover script into the Notes window on each Storyline slide.

Next, I opened Storyline's Text-to-Speech window by going to the Insert tab on the Ribbon and, from the Media group, choosing Audio > Text-to-Speech.

From within the Insert Text-to-Speech window, I clicked the Copy From Slide Notes button. The voiceover script text that I had previously pasted into the Notes window was added to the Text-to-Speech window.

From the drop-down menu at the left, I selected English (US); and from the next drop-down menu I chose a voice. I was then able to listen to a sample of the voice by clicking the icon to the left of Preview Voice.

Once I'd settled on a voice that I liked, I clicked the Insert button to add the audio to the slide. (Inserted slide audio appears as an audio icon at the left of the slide.)   To preview the finished Text-to-Speech audio, I right-clicked the audio icon and chose Preview Audio.

Thanks to the Text-to-Speech audio, I had a reasonable placeholder for my finished audio and I was able to move forward with adding and synchronizing the animations.   When the audio finally arrived from my voiceover talent, all I needed to do was replace the Text-to-Speech audio with the "real" audio. On the Timeline, I right-clicked the Text-to-Speech audio file and chose Replace Audio > Audio from File.

Using Text-to-Speech as a placeholder for finished voiceover audio wasn't a perfect process. Because my voiceover person spoke a little slower than the voice I selected in the Text-to-Speech window, I did have to go back and tweak the timing for some of the animations. However, this was a small price to pay to keep the project on track and on budget.

***   Looking for Articulaste Storyline 360 training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

MICROSOFT POWERPOINT: Convert Text to Shapes Using the Fragment Tool

Let’s say you’re creating icons for some eLearning and you’d like some letter icons. You might approach this by drawing a circle and layering a text box over the top of it or by typing the letters directly onto the shapes. For some applications, this approach might be perfectly fine, but there are a few instances where you may find this approach has shortcomings.

Shortcoming 1: You want the letter to be cut out of the icon’s shape so that you can see the background through the icon. (For example, maybe you have a gradient background and you want to see that through the icon.)

Shortcoming 2: You want to resize the icon, without saving it as a picture, and have the letter resize proportionately. Here’s what it looks like if you resize this icon with standard text on it:

Shortcoming 3: You want to fine-tune edit how the letters look, perhaps down to the point level. Maybe you like your font but you wish the characters were a bit shorter and wider. Maybe, like in this example, you also want to edit one of the characters to have a long “tail” to match the diagonal design element elsewhere on the slide.

The best way to accomplish any of the above is to convert your text to shapes using PowerPoint's Fragment tool. Here’s how.   First, insert your shape.

Insert your text box with text. For this task, you’ll want to use a text box vs typing directly onto the shape.

Select your first icon’s shape, hold down the control key, and then also select the text box. From the Format Shape tab of the ribbon, find the Insert Shapes area and choose Merge Shapes > Fragment.

Each item will become its own separate shape. In the case of this example, you’ll have three pieces.

Now you can resize the icon as one shape and even edit the points of your letter to customize to your heart’s content.   Have any PowerPoint PainPoints (see what I did there?) for which you’ve been dying to find a solution? Shoot them over to me and I’ll see if I can help and share them in a future newsletter article!

*** AJ Walther, COTP, is IconLogic's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a seasoned online trainer, eLearning graphic designer, and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." AJ made her own interdisciplinary studies major, focusing on writing and art.