Essentials Of Adobe Captivate 3
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Essentials of
Adobe Captivate 3
“Skills and Drills” Learning
Kevin A. Siegel
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ix
Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3
Custom Projects
You have now learned how to create two kinds of movies: Demonstration and
Assessment. Between Demonstration and Assessment CBTs, which type of movie will
result in the most effective learning experience for your users? Good question—and
there is no clear-cut answer. Demonstration projects are relatively quick and easy to
create. However, Demonstration CBTs do not allow for user interaction. By watching
a demonstration, without the ability to interact with it, the potential for learning is
reduced. As I mentioned on page 27, the Text Captions that are automatically
created for you by Captivate are great, but they are written in the active voice. For
instance, an automatically generated Text Caption is likely to say “Select the File
Menu.” Upon reading that caption, a user is likely to follow the caption's instructions
and attempt to select the File menu. Unfortunately, at the same time that the user is
trying to interact with the simulation, the mouse pointer that Captivate created is
also moving across the screen. The result could be confusion for the user.
Assessment projects are perfect for assessing what a learner absorbed during a
Demonstration. Since this mode does not add any Text Captions by default, there are
no instructions telling the user what to do or what to expect. The user will either
perform the required steps or click somewhere on the screen and see a Failure
Caption when they perform the process incorrectly.
Many Captivate developers create both a Demonstration movie and an Assessment
movie. That's all well and good until you remember that it could take several hours to
“clean up” the movies so that the timing for the captions and other interactive
elements are perfect. If you elect to produce both a Demonstration movie and an
Assessment, you could make twice the work for yourself.
Demonstration or Simulation: Which Mode is Best?
Instead of creating a Demonstration movie and an Assessment movie, I recommend
you record a custom, or hybrid, movie that incorporates the best of the
Demonstration and Assessment modes.
When you are finished recording the hybrid movie, you will end up with a movie that
bridges the gap between a Demonstration and Assessment movie. You will also
discover that the captions created by Captivate (because you selected Text captions
from the Custom Recording Options) are written in the active voice and encourage
learner participation.
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© 1994-2007, IconLogic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3
32. One final thing, but it’s big! The quiz should be worth a total of 4 points, 1
point per question.
33. Choose Project > Advanced Interaction.
34. Ensure there are check boxes in the Report Answer column for each question
slide. In addition, change the Points as necessary for each question slide so
that each question is worth 1 point. The total points should be 4.
35. Click Close when finished with the Advanced Interaction.
36. Preview the project and take the quiz. Hopefully you will receive a passing
score. :)
37. When finished, close the preview.
38. Save and close the project.
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© 1994-2007, IconLogic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MenuBuilder > Menus > Publish a Standalone Project
from the Output Options area, ensure Zip files and Full screen are not
selected
click Publish
The project is published into the MenuBuilder_Exports folder.
click Close
2. Save and close the project.
Confidence Check
1. Open ShowMe from MenuBuilderFiles folder.
2. Publish the project as a Standalone with the following
Project Title and Folder destination:
3. Use the following Output Options
shown in the picture at the right.
4. When finished, save and close the
project.
5. There should now be two EXE files
within the MenuBuilder_Exports
folder.
© 1994-2007, IconLogic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
245
MenuBuilder > Menus > Add Text Items to a Menu
Student Activity: Add Text Items to a Menu
1. Add an item to the project.
type Please select a lesson: into the Text area
2. Add sub items to the menu.
click the New Sub Item button
type Create New Folder (Show Me) into the Text area
3. Create a link to the text item.
click the down arrow to the right of Link and select Browse from the drop
down menu
navigate to C:\Captivate3Data\MenuBuilderFiles\
MenuBuilder_Exports
select CreateNewFolder_ShowMe.exe
click Open
Note: Had you Published SWF files back on page 244 instead of EXEs,
you would have selected Adobe SWF File from the drop down menu
above. At that point, you would have browsed for the HTML file that
was published with the SWF. When possible, always create links that
point to the HTML file instead of the SWF. If you link directly to the
SWF, users are likely to see a distorted view of the SWF when the
browser plays the SWF. The HTML file includes instructions to the
browser that optimize the appearance of the SWF in the browser.
© 1994-2007, IconLogic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
247
Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3
4. Save the file with the project.
select Save file with project
This is quite possibly the most important step in this process. If you do
not select this option and later export the project (you will be exporting this
project soon), users clicking the link will attempt to find the movie in
C:\Captivate3Data\ MenuBuilderFiles\MenuBuilder_Exports instead of
the CD or Web site where the movie is stored. With this option selected, the
link will become a local link.
5. Add a second text item and link to the menu.
click the New Item button
type Create New Folder (Let Me Try) into the Text area
click the down arrow to the right of Link and select Browse from the drop
down menu
navigate to C:\Captivate3Data\MenuBuilderFiles\
MenuBuilder_Exports
open CreateNewFolder_LetMeTry.exe
select Save file with project
click Next
6. Give the project a title.
type Windows XP Training into the Title area
ensure the Window size is Custom, Width, 800 and Height, 600
click Finish
The unsaved MenuBuilder project appears on your screen. The text on the
slide is too large. You will fix that next.
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© 1994-2007, IconLogic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3
5. Set how the score is reported to the LMS.
select Percent from the Report Score to LMS as area
6. Set the Reporting level.
select Report score from the Reporting Level area
Note: Not every LMS will fully support the features in this dialog box.
Those that do could possibly treat the data sent by Captivate
differently. Consult with your LMS provider to get an idea of what will
work and what won’t.
7. Keep the Reporting dialog box open for the next activity. (If you closed it,
choose Quiz > Quiz Preferences now to reopen it.)
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