How to Create eLearning When Learners Have Different Requirements
There are many cases where a branch aware course can be useful. Of course the obvious is in scenario based learning. You may want to provide a different version of the quiz depending on how the user interacted with the rest of the course. Another example is choice of language. Perhaps your organization has speaks different language or lives in different geographical locations and requires different knowledge. In one case I designed some online training for an airport that had employees who worked in different terminals. For them, the training required different content for each of those scenarios, but also a different quiz was required as well.
In this video below I show users how they can make their Adobe Captivate project branch aware so that different learners can be evaluated on different knowledge. Please have a look.
I'm Starting to See Adobe Captivate 9 Differently
As I start my second week of working with Adobe Captivate 9, I'm beginning to see the software differently than when I first began testing it. Originally I was convinced that the new effects panel was going to be the clear winning feature for me. If you have had the misfortune of having to work in the effects panel in Captivate 8 or earlier, you would know what I'm talking about. You could only preview and work on one effect at a time, you could not add effects to grouped objects, the panel itself didn't play nice with the timeline and certainly couldn't be docked with the properties panel. Well the new effects panel is great, but my feelings for the new Captivate are actually affected by an entirely new and different feature.
I'm talking about multi state objects. For me this is becoming the real game changer. I have begun a series of experiments where I take either one of my old tutorials or one of my old projects and reimagine them by incorporating multi state objects. so far I have used them in a couple of ongoing projects I'm working on, plus I rerecorded several of my YouTube videos using this great new feature. Here are the videos for you to enjoy.
Of course, I want to be clear that the effects panel is great, the new knowledge check question slides are also great, I can't wait to get my hands on some SVG images as well. Wow, just the fact that I now have smooth round tripping with Audition is such a time saver, but I think multi state objects are the big win for Captivate 9 (at least for me they are).
Motion Path Effects and Animation in Adobe Captivate 9
This is probably the biggest improvement in Captivate 9 over previous versions. Previously Captivate's effects panel was poorly designed as it interfered with the timeline and didn't allow you to preview these effects easily. Now, the new panel makes sense. It no longer interferes with the timeline and in fact enhances it. Check out this brief video from Adobe.
Geo-location Enhancements in Adobe Captivate 9
One of the problems with geolocation enhanced Adobe Captivate projects in the past was that they were difficult to test. Now in the preview project option you can emulate a geolocation to truly know if your project will work as expected in the locations you specify in the training. Check it out in this video from Adobe.
I'm Not Sure You Realize the Importance of SVG in Captivate
One of the problems with responsive design is that you can have between three and five breakpoints in Adobe Captivate 9. Breakpoints are the resolutions where your captivate course crosses over from one page design to another. For example from a Desktop dimension to a tablet dimension. Each time this happens your images on your page are altered.
When you are dealing with a high resolution image this isn't a big deal, but imagine if you selected a smaller image size based on the tablet screen size or the phone. You might have to skew the size of an image when heading over to the desktop. With SVG it literally doesn't matter what size that image is resized to. There will never be a degradation of quality.
The interesting part is that SVG also keeps the file size down as well. Why is that important? Think about your typical Adobe Captivate project size with all the jpgs and gif images. Image what smaller graphic files will do to your project file and for that matter, your published work as well. Think about it.
Access Show Actions Right From the Properties Panel
In this version of Captivate you have a much greater control of simple action from the properties panel. No longer do you need to write lengthy or complicated advanced action for simple interactions. To see what I mean, check out this video.
Adobe Captivate 9 - A Better Responsive Design
In the newest version of Captivate, you can have up to five break points for your responsive design. This is a big improvement over previous versions. Another plus is the center alignment for both horizontally and vertically. Watch the video from Adobe to see this in action
What’s New in Adobe Captivate 9: Adobe Captivate Draft
Captivate Draft is an iPad app that is designed to work in conjunction with Adobe Captivate 9. Essentially it is a storyboarding tool that allows designers to convert their ideas into storyboards complete with eLearning elements such as content and questions slides, branching and more. The advantage of having this tool as an iPad app is clear. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to eLearning development meetings and debated whether I should bring my clunking laptop with me.
What’s New in Adobe Captivate 9: Improvements to Responsive Design
With Captivate 9 you now have the potential to have up to five breakpoints in your responsive design eLearning projects. This adds tablet and mobile landscape modes, increasing the opportunities to have your project fit on more configurations.
What’s New in Adobe Captivate 9: Multi-State Objects
You can now create objects that have multiple states depending on how you intend to have your users interacting with your eLearning project. In the past you would have to come up with complicated "hide and show" techniques that would include using variables and advanced actions. Now you simply create multiple states for the various objects and trigger them in one of several ways. Check out my video on this feature.