Updated Adobe eLearning Community,

If I recall correctly, Adobe announced The Adobe eLearning Community web site at the Adobe eLearning Conference in Washington DC in 2016. Users often criticized Adobe for not having the most up to date information available. It was positioned to be a hub where users could easily find the answers they were looking for but also interact with one another, thus the name community.

Adobe recently gave the community a facelift. As a frequent contributor, I found this a little jarring. The items I was used to using were no longer in the usual location. I've forced myself to learn the new site, and I thought I would share my thoughts.

Adobe has now divided Blogs into subcategories. At first glance, this makes sense, unless you are looking for content that may not be easily identifiable. For example, if you were looking for content related interactive video, you might expect to find that content under Video-Based Learning. However, you might also find that content under Interactive eLearning. To me, the greatest sin a web site can commit is forcing users to go looking for content in multiple places.

The next section is the Webinar section. While this is a great item to include, there is no opportunity to notify the community of your webinars that you might be hosting. I frequently run a weekly webinar or sorts called the eLearning Livestream. I fairly consistently run this on Monday's at noon eastern standard time. I would love the opportunity to post the details in this section, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. For right now this seems to be just for Adobe sponsored webinars.

The next section is the Tutorials section. The Tutorials section includes a series of tutorials that Adobe has produced. Great content but again there is no obvious way for me or others to contribute.

The next link brings you to what will be relatively static content related to the Adobe Captivate Specialist Certification Program. I believe this is a great program to get new Adobe Captivate users up and running. It would be nice if there were a section for Cp Specialist to communicate with one another, share ideas and perhaps ask questions of the instructors of the course. It would be a great way to build that sense of community.

Next is the Quick Start Assets. These are links to download the same ready-to-go slides and projects that are available in the Assets window of Adobe Captivate version 11.5.1.499. When you click on one of the project thumbnails, three icons are displayed. The function of the three icons is to allow you to view the slides from that project, preview the project, or download the entire project.

Next is Discussions. By default, Adobe displays popular Discussions; however, there is a search functionality to find discussions using keywords you enter. When you reach the bottom of the page, you can click on more to see presumably additional popular entries. I sort of wonder if a user asks a question that is not popular does that discussion even show up in this list. I'd like to know the answer to that. There used to be an exact duplicate of the questions asked on the Adobe eLearning Community over on the more traditional eLearning forums found here: https://forums.adobe.com/community/adobe_captivate. I found it useful because if I answered a fellow users question in one spot, I was also answering the question it in the other location as well. It seems that the forums are also about to under a change. It will be interesting to see what happens to the connection between these two sites. As an experienced Captivate user, I'm not interested in having to monitor two websites for information, updates, and to help other users like myself.

Next users like myself have an opportunity to Post a Blog entry, Sample Project or Free Asset, Video, Discussion, or Testimonial or Case Study. I'm assuming if I post items except for discussions that all these items will show up in the Blogs section. I'm curious how the subcategories work. The choices here do not match the subcategories in the Blogs section. The option for thumbnails for blog posts remains from before the changes. Upon searching through the site, it seems those thumbnails have been removed and replaced with generic thumbnails. I'm disappointed as thumbnails are the first impression of what I either write or create. Generic thumbnails give the site an unfinished feel. Perhaps Adobe wants the site to look more consistent. If so, my suggestion is to allow users to select one of the generic thumbnails when we post new content.

Notifications still seem not to work as expected. I continue to see notifications for discussions I was not involved with. I'm not sure if this has something to do with the fact I'm a moderator or not. But it would be nice not to be notified for what seems to be every post on the community site.

Perhaps this is my perception, but the improvements to the "community" page seem to mostly be about giving more of a voice to Adobe to continue to market their products and events. Of course, they should have this ability as it is their website. It would be nice to improve the areas where we as users contribute rather than to reduce our visibility and ease of use. It feels like less of a community and more of a marketing tool.

Certified Online Training Professional - Part Two

Good news. I've successfully completed my Certified Online Training Professional Certificate. I want to share my experience with all of you if you are considering getting this valuable certification.

The first thing that surprised me was that there were three facilitators. I've never thought about this before, but there is a distinct advantage to have several facilitators in an online course. Each brings their style to the table, and it was enjoyable to hear that variety throughout the two-day session. Each instructor gave us what they called their elevator pitch, which added credibility to the course and their delivery. That was one of the things they taught us to do. It doesn't take long, maybe thirty seconds to explain who you are and why you are running this online course. The facilitators were Kevin Siegel, Jennie Ruby and AJ Walther. Upon hearing each introduce themselves, I knew I was learning from real experts. An expression that Kevin used early on the first day

The first thing that amazed me was there were three facilitators, including Kevin Siegel himself. I knew Kevin was a dedicated training professional, but it surprised me that the founder of ICCOTP would take time out of his busy life to teach this class. The next facilitator was Jennie Ruby. I enjoyed Jennie's facilitation style, and I learned much from her. A brief highlight was AJ Walther. AJ was responsible for the training related to PowerPoint and visual design. AJ surprised me in that I was not expecting to learn anything new in the area of visual design, but AJ had some excellent knowledge to impart.

I've dozed off in train the trainer sessions that promised to teach us techniques to keep learners engaged - not so with this trio. They used the very same principles they were teaching us in their delivery. Kevin, Jennie and AJ kept us fully engaged. An expression that Kevin used early on the first day was that they ate their cooking. They were teaching us the very same principle they used throughout the class.

Online training is often inadequate or inferior because the facilitator lacks the knowledge and experience to deliver it well. One of the critical takeaways of this training for me was dispelling the myth that online training is always inferior to classroom training. Kevin took a dozen or more classroom activities that we think of as exclusive to the classroom and showed us the online versions that are just as effective. I now not only feel better prepared to deliver improved online training but can defend the reputation of online training as well.

Next, AJ took over and taught us how to transform our materials to be more appropriate for online. AJ had a great alternative to bulleted text that I will use in my online facilitation. I think I can adapt these concepts to my eLearning design as well. We were taught a great deal about implementing the organizations branding into the design of learning materials. AJ had some great examples of the use of iconography. I was so inspired by what AJ showed us that I changed the entire online facilitation that I had planned for day two. More on that later. I think the biggest takeaway was that PowerPoint isn't just this software from the 90s anymore. Microsoft has been continually updating PowerPoint. AJ was able to share some great new features to help us make our training presentations look fantastic.

We started day two, and Kevin and Jennie taught us the importance of the right technology. I thought I would be bored with this segment because I feel pretty good about my current knowledge of technology. Again, I was surprised that I learned a bunch of things that I will be considering adjusting to my hardware and software lineup. It isn't just about spending more money. When you think about the potential earnings from online training, a few hundred extra dollars here and there to have some backups to your technology is too outrageous.

Jennie took over again, and we learned about the differences between talking and speaking. We learned that training should be conversational. Jennie provided us with some excellent skills to take highly technical speak and turn it into more everyday language that is easier for your audience to understand.

Whether you are just getting started with online training, or if you're like me and have been doing it for years, this program is excellent. I'm a big believer in having the credentials to prove to the decision-makers that you have the skills to do the job. As a freelance trainer, I'm certain this will lead to more repeat customers and a greater sense of satisfaction from my clients. If you work for an organization, this program will lead to improved training evaluations from your students and a happier manager.

Are You Unsure About Attending the Adobe Learning Summit?

You’ve been thinking about how you would like to go to the Adobe Learning Summit this October in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, you’re unsure your L&D manager will approve the request, after all, it is Vegas. She probably thinks it’s just going to be a company paid party at her budgets expense. Well, let me assure you that while I can guarantee you’ll have fun, you will come away with some excellent knowledge and skills. You see I’ve not only been a speaker at the Adobe Learning Summit since 2016, but I’m also an attendee as well.

https://learningsummit.elearning.adobeevents.com/

Let me assure you that while I can guarantee you'll have fun, you will come away with some excellent knowledge and skills. You see, I've not only been a speaker at the Adobe Learning Summit since 2016, but I also consider myself an attendee as well. I'm not going to fly to Las Vegas, speak for one hour, and then turn around and leave. I want to learn from others, as well.

If you are unsure about attending a conference so far away, let’s consider the cost. According to CityExtremes.com, the furthest domestic big city from Las Vegas in the United States is Boston. Let's say you lived in Boston. Using Expedia.com, I searched for flights from Boston. Non-stop return flights started from $231. Adobe has negotiated hotel rates of $99 per night plus a $35 resort fee. Adobe's conference registration fee is $0. For less than half of just what it costs only to register at the other eLearning conference in town, you will likely cover all your expenses. Of course, I can't guarantee this if you spend too much time in the Casino afterwards. Oh, and by the way, Adobe will even buy you breakfast and lunch on the day of the conference.

If you are new to Adobe Captivate, I strongly encourage you to sign up and complete your Adobe Captivate Specialist Certification the day before the conference. The regular price to get certified is $799. However, Adobe offers conference attendees a reduced rate of $499. The Certification is a blended solution that starts with exercise files that you work through at home with video-based instruction provided by the world-famous Dr. Pooja Jaisingh. Usually, you have about two weeks before the event to complete these pre-workshop activities but don’t wait until the last minute to enroll as this workshop typically sells out. The certification is a bring-your-own-laptop event. Make sure you have at least the trial version of Adobe Captivate 2019 installed so you can work through all the activities.

During the workshop itself, you will arrive at the facilities, complete your registration, have a little breakfast and then assemble in your assigned classroom. As an instructor, I can tell you that you will have a rewarding but full day - come prepared to learn. There are four segments to the classroom instruction. There will be plenty of breaks and complimentary breakfast and lunch. Once we have finished the teaching, you will write your assessment. You will know right away if you have passed the evaluation. If you finish early, remember others might be still be writing their assessment, so celebrate quietly. The following day at the conference you will receive your certificate and be photographed by the Adobe professional photographer.

On the second day and the day of the actual conference, here is what to expect. First will be the welcome and opening remarks. Next, you will be in for a keynote from Julian Treasure. Not sure who he is? Julian is a five-time TED talk speaker:

...so you are in for a great talk just with Julian Treasure's keynote, but that's just the beginning.

Next, you'll learn what's new from Adobe. This talk includes the sneak peeks you might have heard about before. This session is where Adobe lifts the curtain just a little bit to reveal what features "might" be coming in the next release of Adobe Captivate. Attendees from previous Adobe conferences learned about virtual reality, interactive video and other improvements to Adobe Captivate months before everyone else. The What's New section is also where you find out about the latest features for Captivate Prime, and Adobe Connect.

Between sessions, you’ll have an opportunity to grab a hot or cold beverage and a snack. More importantly, make sure you have a pocket full of business cards with you. One thing about being an L&D professional is that there aren’t many of us. I’m a freelancer, so I often work in isolation, but even when I worked for an organization, I was often the only employee working on eLearning. I’m thankful I’ve built many relationships at these conferences. I can now reach out to colleagues and ask advice or share ideas. Use networking breaks to meet new people and build relationships. It’s certainly paid off for me.

Next will be the first set of learning tracks. The learning tracks are breakout sessions where you can select a session that best suits your needs. Perhaps you can involve your manager in deciding what learning track will most suit the needs of your organization. It's important to make management feel like they are part of the process. There are separate blocks of sessions divided into beginner, advanced, multimedia, LMS, and virtual learning, but you don’t have to stay within a specific track. For example, you might want to attend my session entitled “Mobile Learning using Ready-to-go slides and Fluid Boxes.” My session is from the Advanced Track, but you could also attend a session from any other track throughout the day.

After the first group of sessions, we will break for lunch. In the past, many of the session speakers like to sit together. No offence gang but I've met you all before. What I want to do is have lunch with a whole new group of people. If you follow my video tutorials on YouTube and would like to meet me for lunch, invite me to your table. I want to get to know you and hear all about the different sessions that I couldn’t attend. One thing I can promise is that the Mirage catering department puts out a fantastic lunch. You won’t be hungry or disappointed.

After lunch, will be the second set of sessions. The one I’m most interested in is “Creating Virtual Reality Walkthroughs using Adobe Captivate.” I’ve embraced all the new features in Captivate 2019, but I haven’t had much opportunity or experience with VR. I’m hoping Debbie Richards has some hints and tips for making really cool VR eLearning.

After the second set of sessions is another networking break, so again get your business cards out. During the breaks are usually the best time to stop me and say hello. I'm always happy to meet new L&D colleagues, especially if you're a subscriber to my YouTube channel.

The third group of sessions will be next. I’m interested in Josh Cavalier’s session on how to make use of the video-based features in Captivate. It's tough to decide because there are some excellent sessions at the same time as Josh’s.

In the final block of sessions, I’m very interested in Andrew Hughes’ session on making Compliance and Soft Skills eLearning. His description alone is worth reading. I bet anyone walking away from his session will have all the strategies to make some really engaging eLearning.

I can’t reiterate it enough. The Adobe Learning Summit, in combination with the Adobe Captivate Specialist Certification, is the best value in eLearning professional development there is. Even if you must fly in from as far away as Boston or in my case Toronto, you will walk away with so much more than when you started. If you want any questions answered about the conference or the certification, feel free to message me over on twitter. My handle is https://twitter.com/CaptivateTeachr, and I will be happy to answer them for you. Hopefully, I will see you soon in Vegas.

Countdown Timer using Advanced Actions in Adobe Captivate

In this video tutorial, I show you one way you can build a countdown timer. In this example, I use two user variables and two system variables. I also make use of a two decision advanced conditional action, including use of the While action. Patreon supporters get to download the project file for free.

Certified Online Training Professional

Imagine if you only had the knowledge and skill levels that you contained immediately after college or university? I dare say you would be professionally out of date. As learning and development professionals, we often expound the benefits of continuous improvement, but we seldom take this advice ourselves. About once per year, I put aside time to "sharpen my saw" as Stephen Covey would put it in his highly successful book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

This year I've decided to not work on my eLearning design and development skills but rather my skills as an online training professional. My main business is designing and developing eLearning, but I'm still a professional facilitator. Like most of us, I got my start in the classroom. Since my clients are located all over the globe, online training makes sense for both my clients and me.

Classroom and online facilitation are two very different things. I've learned first hand that many of the visual cues you get standing in front of a class of students often don't exist in an online setting. For example, in a classroom, it's easy for a skilled facilitator to pick up on facial reactions when the students require further clarification. Also, different facial reactions can let you know when students experience the "ah-ha" moments. In a classroom, a skilled facilitator can use these cues to transition to the next topic, reinforce key points, or ask students to share their thoughts. In an online setting, learners don't always share their webcam with you. You can't see how engaged they are or see those aforementioned facial reactions to what you are teaching. Not having this and other advantages of the classroom are something that I've found challenging about online facilitation.

I've selected to become certified by the International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals or (ICCOTP). Their Certified Online Training Professional Certificate gets me a certificate, a badge to display on my website, and my name added to the listing of council members. All of these items are great, but honestly, my biggest motivation to complete this certification is to improve my skills as an online trainer. While I think my training sessions and webinars are good right now, I think they could be better. I like the fact that upon completion of the certification, the assessment will be a live proficiency exam where I present a 10-minute lesson delivered in an online format. I will have to apply the skills learned during the training to be successful, rather than simply answering a series of multiple-choice questions.

I'm scheduled to begin the two-day online course starting August 21st, 2019. In part two of this article, I will share my key takeaways from this course as well as my recommendation as well.

Troubleshoot Fluid Box Design in Adobe Captivate | Aug 19, 12:00 PM EDT | 16:00 UTC

Recently I had to take an older Adobe Captivate 9 non-responsive project and convert it to a fluid box responsive design project using Adobe Captivate 2019. I really learned some valuable lessons during that process, and I want to share those with all of you. I'm happy to say that the results were excellent. Rather than using my own design, I used the new Ready-to-go Projects and Slides from Adobe. It didn't take me long to do this work. In this live stream, I will be sharing my process for getting fluid box responsive design to work across as many different device sizes as possible. Make sure you join live if you have questions you wish to ask me about this often misunderstood process.

If you are interested in learning more about that process of using the Ready-to-go projects and slides, I'm giving a presentation at the Adobe Learning Summit in Las Vegas on October 3, 2019. It's a free conference, but you must register to attend. Check it out: https://learningsummit.elearning.adobeevents.com/

Panel Undocking Tips in Adobe Captivate

I decided to do this video tutorial in order to answer a viewer question about her difficulty in redocking her timeline. I thought this might be a problem for other users as well. While I have other tutorials on panel undocking, I thought there might be a need for an up to date tutorial with some additional hints and tips.

Upgrading My XPS 15

Obviously, a very different video than perhaps what my channel is used to. In this video, I provide an overview of the upgrade I performed on my Dell XPS 15 9750. Here is a summary of the improvements made to this machine:

• Upgraded RAM from 16 GB DDR4 to 32 GB - https://amzn.to/2SGwBMa

• Upgraded SSD from 512 GB to 1 TB - https://amzn.to/2JX6D4w

• Replaced Wi-Fi card with improved card - https://amzn.to/2YjIwRv

• Thermal Paste - https://amzn.to/2Ykdwkk

• Thermal Pad - https://amzn.to/32TfP17

Dave 2D's Repasting and Undervolting - https://youtu.be/QBNP5I2y668

Sara Dietschy's Upgrade - https://youtu.be/wmjeZp6HFoQ

Tom the Tech Guy's Upgrade - https://youtu.be/uXxXa_beXc4

Sizing Your Images for eLearning Using Photoshop (From My Latest Livestream)

In this video tutorial, I show you how I resize my images to be appropriate for my eLearning projects.

Photoshop Patch Tool (From My Latest Livestream)

In this tutorial, I show you how you can remove objects from an image using the Photoshop Patch Tool (taken from my latest eLearning Livestream).