The Logical Blog by IconLogic

ELEARNING AND PRESENTATIONS: In Search Of Free-to-Use Images

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP

When trying to find quality images for use in PowerPoint presentations or eLearning projects created with any development tool such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, or TechSmith Camtasia, most people turn to Google. And why not? With a quick search you are sure to find the image you’re looking for.

 

For instance, I recently wanted to find an image of a puppy for use in an eLearning project. (I know, I know, I was enthralled with puppies in my last article... but come on, puppies!)

 

Check out some of the awesome puppy images Google found for me. It's unreal that these images are now mine, all mine!

 

 

As tempting as it might be to use images found via a Google search in your project, I’d caution against it. Most of the images you’ll find on the Internet while using any search engine are protected by copyright law. Using that adorable puppy on your web page, promotional materials, or even your eLearning project without permission from the copyright holder can lead to some hefty fines. In fact, according to Purdue University, “the law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed.”

 

Still wanting to search the web for an image of a puppy to use in a work project? There’s hope. Go to Google's advanced search page. In the all these words area, type puppy.

 

 

Scroll down to the usage rights area and, from the drop-down menu, choose free to use, share or modify, even commercially.

 

 

After clicking the Advanced Search button, plenty of images appear, just like a regular search. However, this time your search results are full of results you can actually use! But, not so fast! Be sure to put in the legwork. Click through to the image you'd like to use and check its usage rights. Some images will be labeled Creative Commons Zero. This means you can truly use, share, or modify the work, even commercially, without crediting the owner. But a lot of these results, while available for you to use, will still have some use restrictions like citing your source. Failure to do so could result in copyright fines.

 

 

But what if you already have an image on your computer or in a PowerPoint presentation or on a Storyline slide (perhaps the image was already being used in your project when you took it over)? How can you ensure that the image wasn’t “borrowed” from a website “accidentally?” For instance, I’d like to use the king-of-all-cuteness image shown below in my project. My friend Biff gave it to me. And nobody knows where he found it. (Biff, for his part, isn't talking.)

 

 

In this scenario, you can perform what is known as a “reverse lookup” that will find similar images and/or websites that are already using the image (a possible indicator that the image is protected by copyright).

 

To begin, go to https://images.google.com and click the search by image icon.

 

 

Click the Upload an image tab and then upload the image from your computer or server. In my example of puppy cuteness, the mighty Google took just seconds to burst my bubble. My puppy image was being used by a site selling images for use on a phone. While the website owning the image might have granted me permission to use their image, it just wasn’t worth the time or effort (so off I went to perform an advanced Google search for free-to-use puppies).

 

 

 

Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

 

 

 

 

"TechSmith Camtasia 2018: The Essentials" Step-by-Step Workbook Now Shipping

A self-paced, hands-on workbook that teaches the core TechSmith Camtasia 2018 skills!

Using TechSmith Camtasia, you can quickly create software demonstrations, software simulations, and soft skills eLearning.

You can Share your finished project so it can be accessed by learners using desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices. Your content can be hosted on a web server, Learning Management System, YouTube, Vimeo, TechSmith’s Screencast.com, and more.

During the step-by-step lessons presented in this book, you will learn how you can include recordings of existing PowerPoint presentations or software demonstrations created directly on your computer using the Camtasia Recorder. You will use the powerful Camtasia Editor to add animations, voiceover audio, graphics, music, annotations, closed captions, and quizzes to a project.

This book will introduce you to the essential Camtasia 2018 skills you need to get up and running with this awesome eLearning development tool as quickly as possible.

This book features:

• All of the Camtasia projects, images, audio files, and other assets needed to get started (Just download and install the free Camtasia 30-day trial from the TechSmith website and jump in!)
• Dozens of step-by-step, hands-on activities
• Confidence Checks to challenge your new skills
• Hundreds of supporting screen shots

You can buy this book from amazon.com.

xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started

You’ve likely heard about xAPI (the Experience API or the Tin Can Project), but maybe you’re not quite sure what all the buzz is about. We've got just the live, online class for you: xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started.

 

As adoption of xAPI begins to take hold, it allows for more robust and interesting tracking of the learning process. As actual performance and results data are integrated with learning metrics, we will have the data we need to tailor the learning process to individual needs at the same time that we can draw more useful conclusions about the learning as a whole across a wider population. In this session we’ll take a look at what xAPI can do for you, what tools and platforms you’ll need, and how to get started. 

 

Course Content. After a brief introduction to xAPI and what's new about it from the instructional design side, we'll discuss three key areas that impact instructional designers: 

 

1. Identifying learning data needs, data sources and meaningful visualizations that answer organizational and L&D questions
2. Making choices about infrastructure: how and when to work with your LMS, your LRS or both
3. Models for taking advantage of xAPI across a variety of learning vectors: formal & informal, social & private, formative & summative, predictable & variable

 

The Instructor. Megan Torrance is CEO and founder of TorranceLearning, which helps organizations connect learning strategy to design, development, data, and ultimately performance. Megan, a Certified Online Training Professional (COTP), has more than 25 years of experience in learning design, deployment, and consulting. Megan and the TorranceLearning team are passionate about sharing what works in learning so they devote considerable time to teaching and sharing about Agile project management for learning experience design and, of course, the xAPI. TorranceLearning hosts the xAPI Learning Cohort, a free, virtual 12-week learning-by-doing opportunity where teams form on the fly and create proof-of-concept xAPI projects.

 

Learn more or sign up for "xAPI: What It Is, Why You need It, And How to Get Started" here.

We'll tell you ours, you tell us yours

From Kevin: I've been teaching live online classes for years. And while I’ve had all sorts of technology challenges during that time, I’ve never had my main machine go down along with my backup--until yesterday! Even though I rebooted my machine in time for class, it froze again, and I couldn’t click anything.

Panic? Not me. As a certified online training professional, you’re taught to handle these kinds of bumps in the training road. In this instance, other students in the class were using Captivate (it was a hands-on session) and I simply made a participant the presenter (or leader). Class went off without a hitch after that. Check out my smooth maneuvers in the video below.

What are you most embarrassing online (or in-person) training debacles? Share them here! Did you recover? Tell us how!

Learn to teach online at www.iccotp.com.

 

TECHSMITH CAMTASIA 2018: Assets Galore!

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP

TechSmith recently released Camtasia 2018. (You can purchase the software directly from TechSmith or try the software free for 30 days via the trial download).

 

At first glance, there’s little difference between Camtasia 9 for the PC and version 2018. However, if you check out the tools at the left, you’ll see the Media Bin and the Library have been separated (they used to be grouped together as Media tools). While I do like the tools separated (this is how they were listed in older versions of Camtasia), this minor change isn't anything to get overly excited about.

 

 

Things get a bit more exciting if you visit the Library. TechSmith has enhanced the free assets in Camtasia 2018, and they're pretty nice. For instance, check out the dude in the image below. You'll find him and many more like him in the People folder. To preview an asset, double-click it. To use any Library asset in your project, simply drag it onto the Timeline.

 

 

What's better than the enhanced free assets that now come standard in the Camtasia Library? Check out the Download more assets link at the bottom of the Library.

 

 

For $199 a year TechSmith offers a new subscription service providing access to more than 500,000 assets such as videos, images, and photographs. You can download and use the assets in any Camtasia project.

 

I wanted to see what kind of assets were available from TechSmith so I searched the Image library for Pizza. I wasn't disappointed with the resulting selection (although I was hungry by this point).

 

 

I then went for "cute" and searched the video library for puppy. Once again, I was not disappointed.

 

 

Can't afford the $199 fee? Many of the assets you’ll find on the site after clicking the link are free.

 

In the image below, the group of icons at the left is free; the one on the right is available only if you pay the subscription fee. (Notice the gift box icon below the assets on the left indicating that the group is free to download and use.)

 

 

All that you need to do is download the assets, double-click the libzip file, and the icons are imported into your Camtasia Library.

 

 

As with all Library assets already installed, using the newly downloaded assets is as easy as dragging and dropping from the Library to the Timeline.

 

 

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

 

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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

 

TRAINING FOR TRAINERS: Learn How to Engage Virtual Students and Get Certified

Online training can be great training, but it all starts with an awesome trainer! 

 

More and more companies are embracing live, online classes. If your company wants you to teach online, great. But teaching online isn't as easy as it sounds. For instance, how can you be sure that your class isn't boring? How can you keep your audience engaged, even when your content isn't very exciting?

 

The International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals (ICCOTP) promotes standards of excellence in delivering online training in a wide variety of formats by instituting a certification process for online trainers.

 

 

The Online Training Professional certification process (COTP) aims to ensure that online training events and classes provide high-quality, memorable, enjoyable, and, most of all, effective learning experiences to participants.

 

Learn some best practices for engaging an online audience. Learn the hardware and software you'll need to host online training. Are your materials ready for an online world? We'll teach you how to prepare your existing materials for online access and even how to create awesome, visually-appealing presentations.

 

If you need to include quizzes in your online course, do you know how to create effective questions (and surveys)? We'll show you how. And you'll get a chance to take the controls of an online training room and teach for a few minutes to your fellow COTP candidates.

 

There are seats available in the fast-approaching July COTP class. Learn more (and sign up) here.

ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Make Your Software Simulations Scorable

by Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP

The Assessment recording mode in Adobe Captivate creates a step-by-step software simulation that is intended to function as a test. It is part of the three-part formal software lesson: Demo, then Training (practice), then Assessment (test). The Assessment requires the learner to click through the steps without any hints, and it is set up to report each correct click as a point. But if you actually put a Quiz Results slide at the end of your Assessment and try out your test, you’ll find that you get 100% every time!

 

“Well, of course!” you might say, “You know all of the answers because you are the one who created the lesson!” And if you said that, you’d have a good point. However, you’d be wrong.

 

The reason you get 100% every time is that by default, each click box in the Assessment simulation is set to Infinite Attempts. You can click the wrong thing two, three, five times—and you’ll get a Failure caption every time. But the lesson will not proceed until you finally click the correct command, whereupon you receive a point for your correct answer, and the assessment proceeds. Voila. 100%.

 

To get an accurate score on an Assessment simulation, you have to set each click box—the clickable object that makes the software simulation advance—to allow only 1 attempt. 

 

Select the click box and, on the Properties Inspector > Actions tab, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Set the No. of Attempts to 1.

 

 

Still on the Actions tab, in the Reporting section, ensure that the Include in Quizcheckbox is selected. Assign the number of Points you want (1 works fine), select Add to Total, and then select Report Answers.

 

 

You’ll need to make these changes or ensure that these settings are consistent throughout your entire project. For the Reporting settings, once you have set them for one click box, you can use the fly-away menu next to the Reporting heading to update all of your click boxes. (Click the menu and choose Apply to all objects of this type.)

 

 

For the number of attempts, you’ll need to navigate to each and every slide and set that manually. Ugh. But here is a tool that will help: Use the Advanced Interactions dialog box to help you navigate to each click box in turn. One or two clicks per checkbox (depending on the point value you want to set), and you’re done. Make sure you have set all of your click boxes to be included in quiz. Then, access the Advanced Interactions tool to help ease the pain of setting them all to one attempt. Here’s how:

 

Choose Project > Advanced Interactions. Ensure that the View filter is set to All Scorable Objects. If necessary, click the black twisty triangle to expand the list of scorable objects on each slide. In the Advanced Interactions dialog box, click the first line that says Click box. (You are navigated to that slide in the Filmstrip, and the click box on the slide is selected.)

 

On the Properties Inspector, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Repeat for each click box in the Assessment simulation.

 

 

In your Quiz Preferences > Settings, ensure that Show Score at the End of the Quiz is selected. Then make sure the Quiz Results slide is at the end of your Assessment project. Preview the Assessment, purposely get a few clicks wrong, and you will see an accurate score at the end of the assessment.

 

Want to report the results? We cover how to set up a “quiz” such as this one as a SCORM-compliant content package, and how to upload it to your LMS, in our Advanced Captivate class. Take a look at our schedule for the next available Advanced Captivate class with me.

 

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Jennie Ruby, 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.

 

TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: Version 2018 Released (Training Available, Book Coming)

TechSmith recently announced the release of Camtasia 2018 and there’s much to cheer. Among the improvements in version 2018:

 

Enhanced Library & Subscription Service Offering Thousands More

 

TechSmith made huge strides in Camtasia 9 when it improved the free assets in the Library. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find dozens of additional resources available for use right away. There’s also a paid subscription to an assets library where you’ll have access to hundreds of thousands of additional royalty-free videos, intros, music, and more.

 

Themes

 

Camtasia has never had a way to quickly apply the look and feel of one object across a large project. In version 2018, Themes allow you to create, save, and apply styles with custom color and font preferences. 

 

Behaviors

 

TechSmith added a few new behaviors giving you even more object-animating power than ever.

 

Faster Rendering

 

One of the major complaints about Camtasia is how long it takes to Render (Share) a project when you’re finished with your production work. Camtasia 2018 promises 50% faster rendering speeds than version 9!

 

The Price of Progress

 

The upgrade price for Camtasia 2018 is $99.50. if you recently ordered the older version of Camtasia, no worries. According to TechSmith, “TechSmith has a 30-day grace period. If you purchased Camtasia 9 or 3 on or after May 18, 2018, you will receive an email from TechSmith with instructions of how to get your free upgrade to Camtasia 2018. If you’re under a maintenance program, you are also eligible for a free upgrade of Camtasia 2018.”

 

Need Camtasia Training?

 

We've got you covered with our live, online Camtasia classes.

 

"TechSmith Camtasia 2018 (for Mac and PC): The Essentials" Workbook

 

The book is nearly finished and should head to the beta team by Friday of this week. I expect it to be available on amazon.com in a few weeks.

eLEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Polly Want a Voice?

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP

When it comes to audio in eLearning, my experience strongly suggests that adding voiceover audio to your project enhances the learner experience. Does this mean that you need to hire professional voiceover talent? Absolutely not. If you’ve got the budget, hiring professional talent is the best way to go. However, home-grown audio featuring you as the voiceover talent works great. I know, I know, you hate your voice. Most of us do! (Yikes, I mean we hate the sound of our own voice, not yours.) Rest-assured that your voice is far better than you think and, it’s perfectly appropriate for eLearning. Nevertheless, there are times when you simply don’t want to use your own voice, and you cannot afford to hire professional talent. In these instances, Text-to-Speech (TTS) is a wonder.

 

Some of the top eLearning development tools include TTS for free. But what if you don’t like the free voice choices or quality that come with your eLearning tools? Worse, what if your eLearning tool doesn’t include TTS at all? The good news is you can search the web and find vendors that create TTS. The price ranges from free to expensive. One of the best tools I’ve found is provided by Amazon: Polly.

 

 

Once you click the Get started with Amazon Polly button, you’ll need to either sign into your Amazon Web Services (AWS) portal or create a new account. Once logged into your AWS account, you'll find Amazon Polly grouped with Machine Learning.

 

 

Using Amazon Polly is as simple as typing your text, selecting a language, picking a voice, listening to the results and, if satisfied, downloading the file as an MP3. In this example, I wanted to see how well Polly handled a tongue-twister so I typed out a portion of the famous Peter Piper tongue-twister most of us learned as children. Then I selected Matthew as my voice. 

 

 

I listened to the audio and it sounded great (far better than I was expecting and, in my opinion, better than the Speech Agents that are included with Adobe Captivate and NeoSpeech).

 

The ultimate test was adding the voice to my eLearning tool so I tested Adobe Captivate and TechSmith Camtasia. The results? A+ for both. What about Articulate Storyline? A+++++ Why? While Adobe Captivate ships with NeoSpeech for its TTS (and the voice quality is okay), Storyline’s TTS feature uses Polly and it’s built-in. You will need to have internet access to use Polly in Storyline but you won’t have to login to the AWS site (a great time-saver).

 

Polly is great and I'd suggest giving the service a try. As mentioned, Polly is included for free with Storyline. But if your want to use Polly with Captivate or Camtasia (or with other tools like Presenter), here's a pricing chart you might find useful. (Note that thanks to the Free tier, you can create a signficant amount of TTS without having to pull out your credit card.)

 

 

If you'd like to hear how awesome Polly does with TTS, here's a short video clip for your listening pleasure.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Polly and TTS in general. Good? Bad? Which tools/vendors have you found that work the best? Please post your comments below.

 

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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Dial-Up Interactivity with Custom Dials

by Kevin Siegel, COTP

With Articulate Storyline, adding a high-level of interactivity is pretty easy if you begin with some of the built-in Interactive Objects. Take dials for instance. If you visit the Storyline 360 Insert tab on the Ribbon, Interactive Objects area, you'll find Button, Slider, Dial, Hotspot, Input, and Marker. If you click the Dial tool, you'll find three built-in Dials that are totally drag-and-drop ready. (You won't need to add any Triggers to the object to allow learners to drag the dial.)

 

 

The first image below shows one of the default dials that was added to a Storyline slide. The second image is an animated GIF that demonstrates how a learner can interact with the dial. (I've included a link to a video of the interaction if the animated gif does not play in your email application. Click the second image below to see the video.)

 

 

Dials are cool, but wouldn't it be better if you could make any image or shape a dial (essentially create your own interactive object) without the need for programming? It turns out that custom dials in Storyline are a snap. In the image below, I've added an image to a Storyline slide. It's a simple character that can be added via Insert > Characters.

 

 

To convert an object to a dial, ensure that the object is selected and choose Insert > Interactive Objects > Convert to Dial.

 

 

The selected image is instantly converted to an interactive dial.

 

 

I added a few more shapes and some text to my slide, implemented a few states (the smiley face you see is actually three states: Normal, Tired, and Sad), added a few Triggers, and the results appear in the animated GIF below. (Please don't judge the example below on appearance or silliness, I quickly threw it together as a proof of concept for you... plus I'm no designer. With a little TLC from a designer, there's no limits to the awesomeness you can create.)

 

 

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If you'd like to learn more about Storyline, Triggers, States, and Interactive objects, check out our live, online Articulate Storyline classes.

 

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Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.