Hi There
Captivate, and elearning in general, is new to me so I am looking for all tips possible here!
I am doing an introductory video for an online course I am developing. This video includes some animations, done in Adobe Animate (as I explain what the software package can do) and then I move onto some screen capture clips whilst I give a brief description of each lesson topic.
So I have an animation, converted to a video clip, as well as the screen captures done in Captivate, also converted to movie clips.
All these clips are put together using Premiere Pro to make the full video, and I have added the audio file that accompanies the video.
So a few questions:
- Is this the right way to do this kind of thing?
- What are your processes to follow for the above type content.
- What other methods could make a video of this type easier to compile?
Any tip here are helpful, so thanks in advance.
I hope my comment was clarifying, not confusing? If you need more details, please just ask for them.
Hi Lieve, I appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately the format of this particular course does not allow for interactivity, and my brief from the client is quite clear about that. They want intro video, and screen recordings as lessons. Very much the standard format for design software online courses.
The course itself will have downloadable exercises to do after each software demonstration video. Each chapter will have quizzes.
The intro video is a breakdown of the programme’s capabilities and then the course content and learning objectives so adding interactivity here would not really be of benefit anyway. It’s only about 1 minute long.
But since my original post, the Intro video has now been approved, which is great. The types of animations were just a little too complex for Captivate so Animate was definitely the best choice for this instance.
I am however going to start developing another, non-software course, which I am very keen to start because in that course I will definitely be using interactivity…plus I have a bit more creative freedom on the presentation methods. Very excited about that! Your blog will be an invaluable resource for this one! I’ve just subscribed to it
You know my approach. I have been teaching many software applications. Tested out the different ways of providing eLearning assets to my students (I used flpped classes). Their feedback was very clear: throw away those demo video’s, give us training simulations and assets for self-test (for which I assessment sims). It is so sad, that the efficiency of assets is very much underestimted.
Thanks Lieve! Do you have an example to this alternative approach, even just a break-down of the activities? I would love to have a look and then perhaps motivate this approach to my client?
They want the traditional videos and of course I follow briefs and listen to my clients (I come from a graphic design background so listening to briefs is something I am good at) but in this case it’s in the client’s best interest to suggest better approaches rather than just following a brief?
For these projects I am not only the Instructional Designer (by default) but also the SME which I think puts me at an advantage.
Instead of recording a software simulation in demo mode, capture it both in demo and training mode, maybe even Assessment mode. I mostly start a basic Captivate training with capturing both Video Demo and a Softwate simulation in the 3 modes. With the 3 modes, I create a composte course with a dashboard that has 3 buttons ‘Show me’, ‘Let me Try’, ‘Test me’. Those buttons branch to the different simulations but the sequence is not imposed. You can even score the Assessment and offer a score board to the learner. Giving as much control to the learner as possible, will make the course a lot more engaging than complicated animations. That is my conclusion after many experiments in college during at least 10 years. I use Captivate since version 1.
thanks so much, very inspired. Your approach sounds amazing.
And thanks for taking the time to answer so clearly
My passion is learning and teaching. I do not like theoretical approaches, but have searched and do search all the time for the best, most engaging learning assets, and Captivate has made my life a lot easier since I discovered it over 10 years ago.
You seem very proficient with several Adobe apps, but I would not proceed that way. eLearning is all about interactivity, and a video (which is your end result) is not at all interactive (even if you add some limited interactivity with the new Interactive video feature). Keep the software simulations in their normal state. If you insist on animations created with Animate CC, publish them as OAM’s, not as video. Personally I would try to create them with Effects in Captivate. Create extra slides, with instructions for the learner, in between the existing slides, and give control to the learner by inserting custom buttons. I rarely will use a software sim in its Demo version, but prefer to add at least some slides from the Training or Assessment mode. It is all about interactivity!!!
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