Leveraging Acrobat DC and Captivate 2017 to Enhance Self-directed Learning Opportunities

Overview This past year I was presented with a very interesting design challenge. The challenge was to develop a guided interactive course that could be used in conjunction with anatomical simulators under the following conditions: Product must be device agnostic Project stakeholders globally dispersed Interactive Allows for self-directed learning Can be used internationally Usable in areas of the world with limited bandwidth Once developed, relatively easy to modify by the client company After some research and a great deal of […]

Designing Well-Framed Assessment Questions with Captivate

The ability to ask questions is critical to learning. Well-framed questions elicit answers that further understanding and dialogue; however, learning to ask the right questions is a difficult skill to develop. In this article, you will explore: General principles of identifying teaching points within publications. Methods for generating significant questions from short documents. Designing engaging Captivate questions General Guidelines Each question set should address just one topic, guideline or technique and should not exceed 5-8 questions. If a guideline or […]

Kicking the Tires

My favorite method for learning new or enhanced software product is through project development. I find it difficult to master new enhancements working with each in isolation, so I have a tendency to add as many of a software tools enhancements to a single personal learning project as possible. This way I can study the effects the new feathers have on each other and older features. For the new Captivate 2017 release I took a very text intensive tutorial created […]

Captivate 2017: Create Responsive Projects using Fluid Box tool!

The Fluid Box tool is available in all Captivate 2017 responsive theme projects. Optionally you can draw your own Fluid Boxes in new and existing custom projects. Objects placed in Fluid Boxes get aligned automatically so that learners always get fully responsive experience regardless of their device or browser. In general, a Fluid Box container expands the objects to fill available free space, or shrinks the objects to prevent overflow. Review the “Converting Non-responsive Projects to Responsive Projects” tutorial for […]

Captivate 2017: Converting Non-responsive Projects to Responsive Projects

Another one of the great new features in Captivate 2017 is the ability to easily change Captivate 8 or 9 non-responsive projects to responsive project with a simply using a save as function. I also found that I could convert Captivate 7 project to responsive projects by first upgrading them to Captivate 9 projects then bringing in 10 and saving them out again. To convert non-responsive project to responsive projects: Click the File link in the top menu bar. Click on […]

Captivate 2017: Executing Device-specific Previews

Captivate 2017 provides a preset device menu that allows you to preview exactly how your content will look on specific devices. This version also puts the control of this feature in your hands by allow you to add additional devices to the menu, as needed. To use this feature: Open a responsive project in Captivate 10. Click on the Preview in dropdown menu icon and then click on the desired device view. Modify content as needed. If the required device […]

Captivate 2017: Using the Customizable closed captions feature

Have you wanted to add closed captioning to your captivate projects to enhance audience reach or to provide options to users who cannot listen to audio files in some locations, but found that the placement of the captions interfered with design elements? One of the new features in Captivate 10 puts control of closed captioning in the hands of content designers by providing a customization tool set.  This short tutorial will step you through using the new feature. Go to […]

Partnership of UDL (Universal Design for Learning) and Captivate

Course designs should aim to progress the learner on the continuum from novice to expert and allow participants to engage with the content in ways that support lifelong learning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to assist curriculum developers in designing curricula to reduce barriers, as well as optimize levels of challenge and support, to meet the needs of all learners. UDL focuses on three main principles: content representation, content engagement, and learning expression. The following is a […]

The Sweet Spot in Educational Design Opportunities

Overview Technology should not be used as a method for delivering information to learners, but instead it should be use as to assist learners in developing knowledge. Technologies should engage learners in meaningful learning, where learners are intentionally and actively processing information while pursuing authentic tasks in order to construct personal and socially shared meaning for the phenomena they are exploring and manipulating (Jonassen, Peck, Wilson, 1999). The sweet spot of technology-constructive activities is for technology to help learners articulate […]

Adapting Stock Assets to Chunk Learning Events

Overview This posting discusses the use of Captivate 9 stock assets to assist with reducing cognitive load in learning events by chunking information. Although there are several methods and/or assets available to assist with reducing cognitive load, this article will only explore one in detail. It would be wonderful if you could share some of the methods that you found effective in comments section of this article or post an article of your own, so that we could all expand […]

Revisiting the Systematic Design Model

“If you don’t know where you’re going,” the Scarecrow said to Dorothy, “it doesn’t matter which road you take.” ~ The Wizard of Oz It’s not what the vision is, it’s what the vision does.” ~ Peter Senge   Background In their book The Systematic Design of Instruction, Walter Dick and Lou Carey list three reasons for using a systems approach to design. First, from the very beginning it causes the designer to focus on what the learner should know […]

Design Considerations for Case Based Learning Opportunities

Overview Case studies are stories that are used as a teaching tool to show the application of a theory or concept to real situations. Dependent on the goal they are meant to fulfill, cases can be fact-driven and deductive where there is a correct answer, or they can be context driven where multiple solutions are possible. Case studies may be included within the body of the learning module, encouraging learners to notice connections between the module’s text and the example […]