Transcript eLearning and Tutorials - Mike's MadCap Blog | MadCap Mike

eLearning,
Tutorials,
and Simulations
Mike Hamilton
V.P. Product Management
MadCap Software
[email protected]
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e-Learning, Tutorials, and Simulations
• What can we create?
• How hard is it?
• Components
• Considerations
• Audio
• Techniques/exercises
Different Tool Choices
The Big Three:
Adobe Captivate
• Frame-based
• Specialized in eLearning
MadCap Mimic
• Frame-based
• Specialized in single-source publishing
TechSmith Camtasia
• Traditional video
• Specialized in live action
What Can We Create?
• Software demonstrations
• Software tutorials
• Software training
• Software simulations
• Interactive graphics
• Photo-based training
Stages of Interactivity
Full Simulation
Realism
Multiple Paths
Data Input
Point & Click Movie
Passive Movie
Point and Click
Screen Capture
Difficulty of Construction
But…How Long Will it Take?
That depends…
• Required quality level
• With or without interactivity
• With or without audio
For your first movie/recording
schedule ½ to one day per minute of
finished movie.
But…How Long Will it Take?
With experience a 10 minute movie will
take:
• Passive movie – 1 hour to 90 minutes
• With interactivity – 3 hours
• Heavy interactivity – 4 to 5 hours
• With audio – Add ½ hour per minute
Note: Estimates include story boarding,
recording video, writing dialog script,
recording audio, and editing
The Components to Create a Movie
Break the creation process into
components
• Planning
• Video/visuals
• Interactivity
• Audio
The Components to Create a Movie
Break the creation process into
components
• Planning
• Video/visuals
• Interactivity
• Audio
Planning
• Create tutorials that are:
– Brief (chunking)
– Meet the immediate needs of the user
(context)
– Correct identified performance gaps
(learning)
Planning
Know in advance:
• Why are you creating a movie?
• Who is your audience?
• Is it high level (demo) or deep
knowledge (training)?
• What quality level?
• How will movies be deployed?
Basically, create a movie style guide
for your company
Storyboard
• Storyboarding
– A process used to design and develop
multimedia presentations and webbased training
• Storyboarding forces you to:
– Examine your motives
– Organize your thoughts
– Test your ideas
Storyboard
• Storyboarding allows you to create
flow of learning:
– Text
– Graphics
– Links
– Interactivity
– Branching
– Assessment
Storyboard
• Create low-fidelity storyboards:
– Rapid prototyping
– Easy to create
– Easy to modify
– Don’t need graphic artist !
– Use 3x5 cards, post-its, PowerPoint
– Follow your style guide
Sample Storyboard Frame
Storyboard
Your storyboard will:
• Uncover design problems
• Point out where additional material is
needed
– Title image
– Credits
– Any other content
• Provide a first chance to edit ruthlessly
The Components to Create a Movie
Break the creation process into
components
• Planning
• Video/visuals
• Interactivity
• Audio
Video/Images – The Recording
• Have a process
• Two IMPORTANT best practices:
– Always record at delivery size
– Always record with common PC settings
on a common background
• Follow the storyboard to ensure you
get what you need
• Record more than you need to make
editing easier (it is extremely painful
to try and add more later)
The Components to Create a Movie
Break the creation process into
components
• Planning
• Video/visuals
• Interactivity
• Audio
Interactivity
• Linear interactivity
– “Click to Continue”
– “Show Me”
• Branching
– Decisions
– Quizzes
– Simulations
Linear Interactivity
• “Click to Continue”
– Simple and fast
– Set frame to pause
– Add button with “go to next frame”
• “Show Me”
– Requires multiple buttons, both visible
and invisible
– “Show Me” button is visible and starts
animation
– Invisible button captures action and
jumps to next frame
Branching
• Think of a movie as a flow chart
Frame
Frame
Frame
Frame
Frame
Frame
Frame
Branching
• Think of a movie as a flow chart
Frame
1
Frame
2
Frame
3
Frame
4
Frame
5
Frame
6
Frame
7
Branching
…but, in a straight line
Frame
1
Frame
2
Frame
2
Frame
3
Frame
4
Frame
1
Frame
3
Frame
4
Frame
5
Frame
5
Frame
6
Frame
6
Frame
7
Frame
7
The Components to Create a Movie
Break the creation process into
components
• Planning
• Video/visuals
• Interactivity
• Audio
Audio
• Not always necessary
• Adds significant time and complexity to
development
• Be careful of file sizes
• Recording audio per frame is superior to
one long audio soundtrack for movie
• Usually the last step in the process
Considerations
• Localization
• Integration and compatibility with
other applications (both authoring
and playback)
• Customers’ ability to view formats
• Support
Audio in Depth
• Professional sounding audio is by
far the most difficult part of the
process
• The first hurdle is using quality
equipment, not the microphone
built into your laptop
• Use the best audio equipment that
your budget will allow
MadCap’s Audio Workstation
Audio
Audio
Shure SM58
$100
£65
+
= $240
£155
Lambda Lexicon
$140
£90
Audio
Audio
Shure SM48
$50
£33
+
Lambda Alpha
$80
£52
= $130
£85
Audio
Yeti
$150
£97
Snowball
$100
£65
Snowflake
$60
£39
Audio
Logitech
$25
£16
Audio in Depth
Where do you record?
• The quietest location you can find
• Turn off AirCon
• Unplug telephones
• Keep the microphone as far away
from a noisy PC as possible
Audio
Audio in Depth
Audio software:
• Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audio in Depth
Recording settings:
• Mono, 16 bit, 44,100hz
MP3 file save settings:
• CD quality: bit rate of 128
• FM radio quality: bit rate of 96
• AM radio quality: bit rate of 32
Audio in Depth
Typical audio software workflow:
• Record audio track
• Normalize/DC offset
• Noise removal
• “sweeten” (remove undesirable
noises)
• Save MP3 file for inclusion in
movie
Techniques/Exercises
• Record movie
• Add text callouts
• Add interactivity
• Add a quiz
Questions
Questions?
Mike Hamilton
VP, Product Management
[email protected]