September 23, 2022
Simulations are a game changer
Comments
(2)
September 23, 2022
Simulations are a game changer
Self employed videographer and media production specialist working with numerous corporate clients and houses of worship.
Guide 4 posts
Followers: 0 people
(2)

Well, here we are again. I tried Captivate for the first time about a year and a half ago, loved it but didn’t really get anywhere with it for various reasons. Now I’m back on board and loving it.

I work in a hospice where we are currently undergoing a complete refresh of our clinical system. This means that we have to train our users on the latest software that we are switching to. Initially we had no real idea as to how we would present this training to the staff as the current plan was to train up a few of our personnel who would then take on the role of training all the remaining staff.

However, I’ve been wanting to put my previous Captivate knowledge to use for a while. (They use something called pagetiger here which to be honest is a very poor imitation and doesn’t come close to the capabilities of Captivate. I was looking through the training modules on line and discovered the perfect solution for us. Captivates Software Simulations.

Wow, just wow! This is absolutely spot on. We can now produce as much dedicated training as we need with absolute ease. I can record the exact software that we are using showing the users how to access the areas they need and then even let them try it without needing to let them loose on the actual clinical system. Awesome.

This is going to be a game changer for us. We can now dramatically improve the training quality for our users, giving them demos and tests that they can refer to time and time again. No more worries about users only getting a set amount of time to access the training, they can now revisit it whenever they need to.

We’re even able now to look at revisiting some of our other online learning items and see if captivate would be a better option for them. I cannot recommend Captivate enough.

2 Comments
2022-09-30 16:37:43
2022-09-30 16:37:43

Here is another link about the preparation of software simulations:

Software simulations (1): Preparation – eLearning (adobe.com)

And maybe you will find this interesting as well:

https://blog.lilybiri.com/embed-software-simulations-knockout-slide

 

Like
()
2022-09-30 16:35:04
2022-09-30 16:35:04

Thanks for this testimonial. Captivate still is the leading tool for software simulations, which was its first goal when I started to use it with version 1 (almost two decades ago). I have created tons of simulations with the tool.

May I offer some tips, concerning the present switch to HTML5 output from SWF output?

I don’t know from your post whether you are using the software sims in the three possible modes: demo, training and assessment? For Demo mode personally I prefer to use Video Demo over software simulations. Reason is that the dedicated Video Demo editor has a lot of great features and the result is better quality.

However even in Training and Assessment modes you’ll probably end up with some Full Motion Recording slides. Those ‘movie’ slides were originally FLV-slides based on SWF technology.  For HTML5 output they will be converted to MP4 but it leads sometimes to issues. You can avoid this in two ways:

  1. Try to use alternatives to scrolling/mouse actions whenever possible. Example: you can click on a scrollbar instead of scrolling.
  2. Stop the sim recording when expecting a FMR slide, record a Video Demo slide. After that slide you can continue with the normal sim recording. You’ll never have problems in that case because Video Demo slides export natively to MP4.

More info in:

Video Demo – practical Tips – eLearning (adobe.com)

Like
(1)
Add Comment