This blog is a tricky one for me to craft. This is a safe space for creators to discuss various products. I prefer Captivate. It is a good fit for me for what I do. But, my background may be a bit different from some. I began as a crisis and trauma worker/medical social worker assigned to critical care in a hospital. I continued in the helping professions with a multicultural emphasis for a decade. This is intuitive work that takes a toll. Computers were tools but not my friends.

My husband, a wise and logical man, encouraged me to consider shifting to information technology. This was his gift, not mine, but I managed to complete a master’s in IT management. I used this degree to create a bridge into online education as an instructor that eventually became a reluctant instructional designer and course developer. This work was happier. Rather than getting there too, late I could effect social change while those I served were still alive. Things were good. Computers seemed a bit less hostile in large part because of intuitive Adobe software like Adobe Captivate.

This next phase of my life I wish to create social change at an even higher level. This means research. My dissertation proposal takes much of my time. But, because of this, I am constantly rummaging around in the scholarly research which gave me the opportunity to do something fun. I opened GoogleScholar (you will want to make sure you have a Gmail account and log into this tool if you want maximum fun!) and typed Adobe Captivate. I am not including the hyperlink because I am not sure if links to outside resources of this kind are permitted.  I know I will have a reply to help me after this is posted.

Then I placed the cursor on YEAR.

I chose to look at the more current research, 2014 to present. There are several you can pull even if you are not affiliated with an institution from sites such as Researchgate.net, academia.edu, and other open access libraries. I am not listing or discussing the articles in this network as I am not sure that would be ethical. The research is scholarly and this area is tied to Adobe sales of eLearning in a way. If anyone can let me know what the protocols are that would be great.

Now back to what I found. Captivate is used by researchers to build assessment instruments. Take a look. See what area of research likes Captivate for builds and what feature it was they needed. Yes, this type of thing is discussed in the research. Every decision a researcher makes has to be explained and justified. (Hint: look at 2018 and 2015). My guess is some of these researchers are members of this community. There are other tools besides GoogleScholar to find this type of information. Perhaps some of you will post them. I chose to use it here because many of us are familiar with it.

Researchers are required to remain connected to the current scholarly work in their area of expertise. This network is one way for us to remain current but we might also want to consider looking at the scholarly literature as we hone our craft. We want to be able to reach those we serve. Just a thought.