Insta360 Air Review

I'm a big believer in adding new tools to your eLearning tool belt and this latest tool has got me really excited for the potential that In this video tutorial, I review the Insta360 Air for the purposes of using for eLearning once the software catches up with the technology.

Create Your Own 360° Photos

In this video tutorial, I show you one way you can create your own 360° photos for use in your eLearning project once the eLearning industry introduces this feature into the authoring tools available.

Responsive Software Simulation

In this Adobe Captivate Video Tutorial, I'll show you how you can convert a non-responsive software simulation into a responsive software simulation that is suitable for mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Adobe Captivate - Modify & Create SmartShapes

In this Adobe Captivate Quicktip, I show you how you can expand the number of smartshapes available to you by modifying and thereby creating your own. This is an update of a video I did several years ago that was originally created using Adobe Captivate 8, however this updated tutorial was created using Adobe Captivate 2017 Release. 

Adobe Captivate - Content Carousel Two Ways

In this video tutorial, I show you how to create your own content carousel. The first method is through using simple actions on your properties panel. The second method is a little more sophisticated and requires the use of a tracking variable and two advanced actions.

Suicide Awareness

In light of recent events such as Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain's apparent suicides, I wanted to take a moment and talk about depression and mental health within our own industry of learning and design. 

So often L&D professionals are expected to be the positive face of the companies we work for. Much like entertainers or self-help speakers, we have to be 'on' from morning until night. If we wake up that morning and are not feeling great, there seldom is someone who can step in and cover for us. As an instructor or facilitator, you know that an entire classroom of people are waiting for you and if there was ever a profession where you were going to be judged by your appearance and demeanor, this is it. It is not as easy as some of us make it look.

When I first got into learning and design, I was a facilitator who was responsible for training across the country. The first time I got to go out and conduct training, it was exciting and new. I got to travel to other parts of my country for the first time and see places I might never have seen. 

Unfortunately, the novelty of traveling for work wears off very quickly and you are left with just the mundane parts. It's mostly living out of a suitcase, eating nothing but take-out food that a low per diem allows. I had to be the first to arrive and the last to leave each day. As I already mentioned you had to maintain a positive, professional demeanor, even when you woke on the wrong side of the bed. Afterward, I would return to my hotel room, dine by myself and often have nothing to do until it was time to go to sleep. Between cities I would often spend many hours in airports, again eating terrible food only to endure a multi-hour flight to the next city to conduct the same training all over again. I've never been diagnosed with depression or other mental health issues but I could see how these circumstances would compound the already difficult aspects of our life in L&D.

And even now that I have shifted from instructor-led training to eLearning design, there are difficult times. Much of eLearning design and development is completed in isolation. Companies don't always allow or can afford to have their designer, developers visit on-site locations to conduct a needs analysis. Instead, you are in an office cubicle staring at a computer screen for much of the day and your only connection to the outside world is email and voicemail. 

As a freelance designer, I can get stuck in my home for many hours and sometimes days at a time. It's important for me to put down my computer mouse and get dressed and go out and do something else for a period of time. There is more to life than just work. My wife and I make sure that two or more times per year we get on an airplane and go somewhere such as a tropical destination for a week at a time. If for no other reason than to relax and take it easy.

Of course, I understand that with depression, you can't just 'be happy'. But for those of us who have not been diagnosed with such issues, yet you suspect that you may suffer from mental health issues, please talk to someone. Maybe it's just a friend or trusted co-worker to start, but maybe that leads you to someone who can offer professional support. In addition, it's important for all of us to be aware of our friends and colleague's mental health and be there for them in their times of need. Find out what support systems are available at work or in the community.

Here in Canada, we have the Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 and in Quebec we have the Association québécuise de prévention du suicide: 1-866-APPELLE. If you are outside of Canada please take the time to find the equivalent support system for your community and make sure you have this information on hand for yourself and your colleagues. 

Adobe Captivate - Understanding Text Scaling

In this video tutorial, I explain how text scaling works in Adobe Captivate 2017 Release and when you can expect the text expand icon to appear.

In this video tutorial, I show you my workflow for adding Closed Captions to my eLearning projects created in Adobe Captivate.

Use the process in this video If you wish to add Closed Captions to an embedded video:

https://youtu.be/WUbY0MXRqBQ

Be Wary of Authoring Tool Comparisons

I often see articles, blog posts, or webinars entitled something like Storyline versus Captivate or How the Top 5 Authoring Tools Stack Up, or some other comparable title. I generally avoid this conversation because to me there are so many variables that there is never one defining thing that makes software A better than Software B. Also much of this debate is subjective since what I think is important may not be what you think is essential. 

When I first got into designing and developing eLearning, it was around 2004, and the first authoring tool I used was Adobe Captivate 2.0. A year or two later, the company I worked for purchased a new LMS. That LMS was from SumTotal, and they also wanted to sell their authoring solution as well. This authoring tool was Toolbook, and I believe it was version 9. A year or two later I left that company and started working for another organization that used Adobe Captivate and I've used Captivate ever since. There were some small jobs done in Lectora and Storyline along the way as well, but I didn't spend enough time in either to form a solid opinion. 

Based on that, you might think that I would be qualified to at least offer my opinion with a comparison between Toolbook and Captivate, but I feel differently. I presently use the current release of Captivate. I've not actively used Toolbook in many years. Most of what I learned about Toolbook has faded from memory. It was a powerful piece of software that published to HTML before many other authoring tools, but that's about all I recall. In fact, it doesn't matter what I remember because even if I had the perfect recollection of the software, Toolbook has updated several times since I used it. The best comparison I could give is to compare Toolbook from ten years ago with Adobe Captivate 2017 Release. Of course, this wouldn't be very fair to Toolbook.

Since most people are like me and don't use more than one authoring tool at a time, I would be suspect of any comparisons between multiple authoring tools. Also, if someone is trying to convince you that software A is better than software B, ask yourself what's in it for them? Does that so-called eLearning expert work for Software A and ultimately is trying to discredit the competition and boost their sales? Hmmm.

If you're a decision maker in your organization looking to purchase elearning authoring software for your people, make sure you talk to your eLearning developers and find out what they have used in the past. Ask them what they liked about that software and what they didn't like about it. Find out what sort of support the software creator offers. Consider what the software includes. If you have to purchase additional software to accomplish the same thing that a single competitor provides in one package, that great deal may not be so good after all.

Adobe Ink & Slide Review

In this video review, I talk about my initial experiences using Adobe Ink & Slide. Originally a $200 stylus I managed to pick this one up for only $25 from Amazon.

https://amzn.to/2rH2C9O