Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Create Branch Scenarios Using Advanced Answer Options In this Adobe Captivate Tutorial, I show you how you can use a quiz question to create the first page of branching scenarios using advanced answer options to navigate to other pages. I hope you find it useful. The post Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Create Branch Scenarios Using Advanced Answer Options appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Custom Messages for Quiz Reviews In this Adobe Captivate Tutorial, I answer a viewer’s question about having custom quiz review messages using a system variable in advanced actions. The post Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Custom Messages for Quiz Reviews appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Capture User Input for Review without an LMS In this Adobe Captivate Tutorial, I show you how you can embed a Google forms survey into your course, so users can fill out a survey to offer their opinions (level 1 evaluations), or to answer questions that you would ultimately have to mark (level 2 evaluations). Of course you could use this method to conduct just about any type of user input or survey you like. Google Forms is a subset of Google Documents that allows you to create surveys similar to Survey Monkey, however you have a little more control over them. You can access Google Forms through: drive.google.com. The post Adobe Captivate Tutorial: Capture User Input for Review without an LMS appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

How To Install Grunt and Grunt Plugins In Windows In this video we described how you can install grunt js in your windows computer. We also showed the way to install grunt plugins in your project. How to install uglify plugin is also explained in this video. In order to install grunt task runner you need node.js and npm (node package manager) installed in your computer. We will continue this series to explain various ways to use grunt task runner. So keep an eye on this channel and please subscribe. The post How To Install Grunt and Grunt Plugins In Windows appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Adobe Captivate Tutorial: 2 Ways to Show User Acknowledgment In this Adobe Captivate Tutorial, I answer a viewer’s question on how to have a button that makes a check mark appear when the user clicks it, but then have the button disappear immediately after. Also I show you two different ways to accomplish this. First by simply using the timeline of the slide and ensuring the correct placement of when the various objects appear and second by using advanced actions to control when the same objects appear and disappear. The post Adobe Captivate Tutorial: 2 Ways to Show User Acknowledgment appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

The purpose of choosing a design approach is to improve the efficacy of your online course. If an appropriate strategy is not employed, the efficacy of the course may be affected. There are many methods to finalize the design of a learning program. At CommLab, we believe that design comprises three learning elements i.e., instructional, visual and audio. Our approach to design is basically to finalize the specifications in terms of handling these elements. In this blog, we will be discussing about the first element i.e. instructional design strategy or instructional design approach. The instructional design approach states how the content needs to be presented in the e-learning course.Your course may end up ineffective and mislead the learner if a proper strategy is not followed. To ensure that your content flows smoothly, you must to comprehend the contentand follow/adopt the right instructional approach.  Instructional design strategy determines the approach to be taken to achieve the desired learning objective. This strategy is again divided into two segments i.e. learner-centric and course-centric. Let’s have a look at them. 1. Learner-centric Strategy: It focuses on the intellectual, emotionaland physical participation of the learner and helps strengthen the learner’s knowledge, therebyimproving on-the-job performance. i. Intellectual Participation: It defines the strategies to engage learners by providing mental stimulus. Some examples of intellectual participation are: Providing textual instructions in a manner that triggers thought Using interactivities to engage learners Including practice exercises such as formative and summative assessments that test their understanding/ knowledge and giving theme sense of achievement ii. Emotional Participation: It defines the strategies to connect with learners emotionally or by evoking emotions and creating long lasting impressions in the learners’ minds. Some of the examples are: Scenarios,case-studies and visuals that learners encounter in their work Tone and style of instruction that is persuasive and convincing while having the command of an expert Visuals which learners can relate to their daily lives Audio narration which engages the learners iii. Physical Participation: It defines the strategies to enable learners to engage with the instruction and to provide control. Allowing learners to make certain choices while learning Including interactivities that ensure learners physically interact with the course Including exercises so that learners get adequate practice, and thereby, have better retention 2. Course-centric Strategy: This refers to the course content and the best way to present it so that it is engaging and effective. There are two aspects to it, the physical structure of the course content and the logical structure. Let’s learn about them in brief. These two aspects explain the strategies for structuring instruction to ensure effective learning and easy recall. Physical Structure Logical Structure Setting the course topics in a highly organizedmethod Logical content chunks Laying out the page content to give the experience of a structure Instructions that help build effective mental models and patterns Using the technique of visual mind mapping Cue-based instructions that enable learners to retain chunks of content using cues Hope you find this blog informative. We will discuss about the other two elements in the upcoming blogs. Do share your views. Related PostsInstructional Design Strategies for Developing Online Compliance Training Programs5 Elements of Effective E-learning Design - An InfographicFive Elements of Motivation for Games in E-Learning

No doubt, many researchers have proved that visuals in online courses help in enhancing the learning experience. People often say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe the original quote was actually ‘A picture is worth ten thousand words’. The main objective of any online course is to create a strong impact on the learner; it should be able to communicate the key concepts of the course effectively. This can be done easily by focusing more on visuals. Visuals help the learner learn faster and better, and they help him retain information and apply it to his job. So, how can you formulate the right visual design strategy for your online course? Well, to create a visually appealing eLearning course, you need to understand the various types of visuals and their functions. These are some of the visual elements that had helped me create an incredible online course. Please share your thoughts. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning Courses4 Elements in E-learning that Excite and Engage Your Learners!6 Common Visual Design Mistakes Made by Instructional Designers [Infographic]

In eLearning, we use two types of assessments to assess the learning. Summative assessments are used at the end of the course to evaluate the learners’ complete understanding of the topic. We use them as the final test where you give them a grade after but not feedback. Formative assessments, on the other hand, are used after each learning objective to assess how much the learner has understood. Here, we provide feedback to reinforce his learning and help him retain the information for a longer period of time. Many eLearning courses provide feedback for the formative assessments which only says ‘Yes! That’s right’ or ‘No, that’s incorrect’. But, it is necessary for us to provide appropriate and explanatory feedback for each assessment because feedback also helps the learner develop the capability to self-evaluate their own learning. The explanatory feedback must go beyond indicating what the correct answer is. It should also consist of information that tells why it is correct. Similarly, for a wrong answer, the feedback should explain why the answer is not correct. Recently, one of our clients came up with such a requirement. He wanted us to display different feedback for each option. This would have been a challenge if the assessment were not developed in Articulate Storyline. Yes, Storyline provides us with an option that makes it possible to display different feedback for each option of the question without any customization in the functionality. Today, in this blog, let us know how this is possible in Articulate Storyline. Step01: Insert a new Multiple choice question. Click New Slide. Step02: In the Insert Slides wizard, select Quizzing from the categories given on the left. Step03: Select Multiple Choice from the types of quizzing slides and click Insert. Step04: Type in the question and options. Step05: Now, set Feedback option as By Choice. Step06: After selecting the By Choice option, you can see that the space for giving feedback has been provided opposite to the respective option. Type in the relevant feedback in each space. Click Save & Close. You can see that a different layer is provided for the feedback of each option. That’s it! This is how you can provide different feedback for each option of the question in Articulate Storyline without any customization in the functionality. So, what are you waiting for? Start using this wonderful option in Articulate Storyline and help the learner reinforce his learning better. Hope you find this tip helpful. Please share your thoughts through your valuable comments. Related PostsRapid E-learning through Storyline Tool: 5 Infographics Sharing Key FeaturesCreating Graded Multiple Blanks Assessment Type in Articulate StorylineHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?

E-learning courses on orientation training, safety training, etc., can be made interesting, instructionally and visually, by adding scenarios and ‘real’ images. But, how can you make product training courses interesting and engaging, apart from using product images? We, as online course designers, usually have a mindset that product training courses are simple and straight forward with less scope for creativity. This is completely wrong. Product training courses can also be made engaging. Let’s see how. In this post, I will share my experience of developing an engaging and interactive e-learning course to deliver product training. The first important thing was to gain the learner’s attention. So, we started the course with a small video on dos and don’ts of using the product. The second thing was to engage the learner on every screen. But, the client had a requirement that the course should not have audio. Here, the main challenge was to avoid content overload. We chunked the content thoroughly and presented the ‘need-to-know’ content as info-graphics and ‘nice-to-know’ content as click-to-reveal interactivities and as PDFs in resources section of the course. There is a thumb rule that every 3rd screen should be an interactive screen; we followed the same in the course to strike a balance between static and interactive screens. The next important thing was to reinforce learning. At the end of each topic, we used formative assessments. Here, to keep the learners’ interest high, we used game-based formative assessments. Games enable courses to be more interactive and ensure deeper involvement in the learning process. Instructionally, the course was going well. Then came a big challenge of improving the course visually. We created a real laboratory environment where the product is actually used. We used this as the background theme throughout the course in various styles. We also created characters and their attire to suit their real workplace. We used video bits to provide guidelines for using the product. In some places, where videos were not provided, we created animations. All these visuals elements added a lot of value to the learning process. Here are some screenshots from the course. Creating instructionally and visually rich product training courses is not so difficult. I think, if we pay attention to these small things, we can to create engaging product training courses. Do share your thoughts. Related PostsGuidelines for Content Chunking to Design Effective Online CoursesHow to Create Section 508 E-learning Course Using Flash3 Reasons Why Problem-based Learning Is Effective Learning

In today’s corporate training scenario, eLearning courses serve multiple purposes. They facilitate knowledge transfer, improve performance by targeting specific areas and also provide just-in-time, bite-sized learning modules, on-the-move. Thus, they don’t just impart knowledge, they make knowledge specific and result-oriented by making it available where and when it is needed the most. For instance, a short module on a new product can be provided to the sales people before they talk to a client. Given this context, e-learning courses need to be effective and efficient in two aspects - getting across the learning points to learners and doing so in a manner that facilitates quick knowledge absorption, retention, and recall. The Challenge Enabling efficient knowledge absorption lies at the heart of e-learning. This is where instructional designers need to bring in their teaching skills. They can present the matter in a logical, easy-to-understand way only if they have a clear idea of it. Presenting the subject in a way that best facilitates knowledge transfer is often a challenge. Often, we tend to complicate the topic by presenting it with too many "effects" which distract learning, or we over-simplify things and make the e-learning mundane. The Solution We have an effective tool at our disposal. It is very simple but yields powerful results. That is ‘Content Comprehension’. It is the process of becoming familiar with the content, understanding the flow and what it says. Instructional designers need to spend ample time on this activity to gain this familiarity. But content COMPREHENSION is often relegated to the background in the quest for finishing projects and designing courses with the "wow" factor. We forget the fact that only a thorough understanding of the subject will show us the most appropriate way of presenting it. For instance, for a training course, at the first glance, adding videos demonstrating the product usage and benefits might seem the best option. But, after spending time on understanding the content, you might actually identify the potential to add secnarios or ‘click-and-explore’ interactivities that add make learning more relevant. Having a clear idea of the content will ease the subsequent steps (such as deciding the course strategy, tone and extent of the audio) and make them more impactful. Since the content will be your guide, you will not loose sight of the goal. This will help you define your main strategy and select the auxillary elements. Tips for Content Comprehension Skim the entire content rapidly Identify content that needs to be read in detail Make notes or annotations according to your preference - this will prove to be a big help in understanding Ask yourself questions and see how the content answers them (you can convert sub-headings into questions) Put yourself in the learners’ shoes - this will help you select the best way to teach  So, ensure you understand the content thoroughly and develop courses which will answer your learners’ learning needs anywhere, anytime. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning CoursesWays to Use Emotional Design in eLearning4 Tips to Design Learner-centric E-learning Courses

According to a survey conducted by E-Learning Guild in the year 2013, Articulate Storyline is the most frequently used authoring tool. It’s because Articulate Storyline is very easy to use and comes with many in-built interactivities. Articulate Storyline has a wide range of features such as triggers, motion paths, eyedropper tool, animation painter etc. Its default features help online course developers create a course in quick time. It enables you to design a customized GUI (Graphic User Interface), in order to make the job of GUI designers easy. Articulate Storyline makes the learner’s life easier by providing a free-flowing menu which tells the learner about the modules in the online course. This tool is highly customizable and has many in-built interactivities. Activities are an integral part of an online curriculum.This is because at the end of each module, you would test your learner only by conducting an activity. Now, let us see why Articulate Storyline is the ideal authoring tool to develop curricula? Hope you find this post interesting. Do share your views. Related PostsRapid E-learning through Storyline Tool: 5 Infographics Sharing Key FeaturesHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?Revealing 3 Hidden Features of Articulate Storyline - An Infographic

Are your learners feeling bored of the online courses you have created? In spite of creating highly interactive courses, are you learners dropping out of the course half way? The e-learning world today uses many powerful rapid authoring tools, which have built-in interactivities, for creating interactive courses in very less time. But, do you really think only having interactivities in the course would ensure learner engagement? If no, then what else can be done to ensure your learners are completely engaged in your course? The answer is simple - a good instruction. But, how can you design an online course that provides good instruction? Well, you need to have a good instructional strategy and focus on other important aspects. Today, I will share 5 tips to provide good instruction which ensures learner engagement. 1. A crisp and meaningful course title Long titles can pull off the learner’s attention and make him feel overburdened. So, you must ensure that your course title is crisp and meaningful avoiding unnecessary information. For example, the title "Safety in Sheet Metal Handling during Stamping Operation" can be written as "Sheet Metal Handling Safety". 2. Effective and motivating learning objectives Adults feel the need to know why they have to take the course. They should be told what they will be able to do after taking the course. So, showing appealing and motivating objectives right at the beginning ensures the beginning of a good instruction. For example, a learning objective like "By the end of this eLearning course, you will be able to handle and dispose data based on its type" can be more effective and motivating rather than the learning objective like "This eLearning course deals with the types of data and the process to handle and dispose them". 3. Audio only where necessary We create e-learning courses for adults who can read the content for themselves faster than a narrator. It would be distracting, if the narrator slowly reads out the complete on-screen content. So, it is better to provide detailed audio only for slides that need explanation. For example, you can provide detailed audio explanation for complex graphics. But, for simple and self-explanatory slides, you need to only introduce the learner to the learning point and ask him to read the rest of the information. 4. Natural and conversational tone of narrator To ensure a better and an immediate connection with your audience, it is important that the narration sounds authentic and is informative. You need to see that a sense of ‘reliability’ is created. . This goes a long way in making the learner feel that you are an expert in the topic. Your online course would be more effective if the narration is natural, personable and conversational and not unnatural and self-reading. 5. Learner interaction with content Interaction with the content means much more than clicking on tabs or numbers. You need to make sure the interaction makes the learner think. For this, you need to add activities and use scenarios and ask him what he would do in such cases. It is also a good idea to start with ice breakers. You can find many more innovative ways to make him interact with the course. These tips will help you make your instruction effective to engage the learner and ensure that the objectives of your course are met. So, what are you waiting for? Start designing online courses with these tips in mind, and if you have more of such tips, please share them through your comments. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning Courses4 Tips for Developing E-learning Course Using Rapid Authoring Tools5 Undeniable Reasons to Love Interactivities in E-learning

Technology has permeated into all aspects of our lives, and today, it plays a major role in the way we obtain information and learn new things. It has also enabled us to stay current, relevant and informed about aspects that matter to us, giving us more control and power to make informed decisions. Just as it has impacted all aspects of our lives, it has also influenced the instructional or training format adopted by learning and training professionals. Today, teachers, instructors and facilitators are expected to know and use technological tools as part of their jobs. Some may have already started doing it while others may be lost in the deluge of tools and applications available to them. Here is an eBook that compiles the list of technological tools and applications that today’s training managers can use to expedite their tasks and job responsibilities. Related PostsCreative Ways to Present Click on Tab Interactivity in E-learning Courses - An InfographicHelp! Answering the cry of ‘eLearners’The Limitations of Instructor Led Trainings

Welcome to today’s blog post. It’s been quite some time since something really interesting happened in the eLearning industry; something that could bring in a new face to the domain, something that could leave a mark for years to come. A couple of months ago, the renowned career skills educator company Lynda.com has been purchased by LinkedIn for an amount of $1.5 billion. The amount and the acquisition has taken many experts by surprise, leaving a few that have already visualized the learning revolution which could surface only through social media integration into learning. Let’s dig a little deep into the origins of Lynda and try to understand what this acquisition means to the future of the training industry. What is Lynda? Back in 1995, Lynda Susan Weinman, a 40 year old multimedia professor started a website to help her students with her books on web design. Today, the website serves all the training needs of its users with hundreds of videos on several categories such as business, design & development, photography, video and many more. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynda_Weinman) Why Lynda’s special? There are several hundreds of video-based courses on the web that teach the same subjects as Lynda offers. But what makes Lynda special? Lynda always had a special place when it comes to product quality. The quality of the content produced is regarded as the best in the industry. The content producers at Lynda are the secret behind this accomplishment. Lynda always focused on employing industry experts with profound knowledge that take learners through the subject with ease. Every e-learning company puts its heart and soul in developing courses that engage learners especially when the training is mandatory. Lynda hits a home run here with the unmatched quality standards in terms of content and clarity. LinkedIn with Lynda; what could this mean? The main aim of LinkedIn is to serve working professionals and connect them with job opportunities. But the users can make good use of these opportunities only if their skillset matches the requirements. And Lynda offers nothing but skill development courses. With their missions aligned, these two companies together could be a helping hand for job-aspirants globally. Imagine the redesigned job-search feature in LinkedIn that not only connects you to the job matching your skills, but also will notify you of additional skills you can acquire(from Lynda) in order to receive a better opportunity. Looking from another perspective, this acquisition will also emphasize the effectiveness of video-based learning in skill development. Even after the rise of advanced e-learning programs such as simulations and virtual/augmented reality based learning, videos stand as a great resource for learning. Post the acquisition, Lynda’s instructional methods have become even more popular and, this could mean a deviation in learning trends towards video-based learning or what I would like to call v-learning. Finally, integration of social media into learning is the best thing any learning professional can wish for right now, and this acquisition has made it a reality. Let me end this blog post with a reference to one good v-learning website I’ve come across recently, examfear. This site hosts a huge number of educational video lessons to help the students of classes IX to XII at no cost. Hope this blog post is informative. Please share your views in the comments section below. Happy Reading!! Related PostsIs Google Wave a flop?Creative Ways to Present Click on Tab Interactivity in E-learning Courses - An InfographicAre you Ready for eLearning with the Right Infrastructure?

It is well-known that training programs delivered in the native languages of learners are more effective. People are emotionally connected to their mother tongue and can comprehend the learning content, easily and effectively. With increasing number of multinational companies (MNCs) using eLearning to train their global workforce, the demand for high quality online course translations is on the rise. Most MNCs are seeking to outsource their eLearning translation projects to vendors in countries such as India, to save time and money and focus on their core business activities. But, how can you choose the right organization to translate your online course? Well, you need to ask 6 questions before inking a deal with an eLearning translation services provider. Hope you find this post useful. Do share your views. Related Posts5 Things to Avoid While Choosing E-learning Translation Vendor 4 Steps That Simplifies E-learning Translation and Localization Process - An Infographic5 Tips to Improve The Quality of E-learning Translation - An Infographic

So, you’re in and getting started with eLearning. Now that you’re developing courses for your organization, your focus should be on standards of eLearning. A standard is a frame of reference which qualifies what is good and what is not. The standards of eLearning help you improve the quality of learning delivered through online courses and track and report learners’ performance. The ASTD has come up with certain standards of eLearning courseware development and categorized them into 4 groups, and one of them is about compatibility. The compatibility standards address the relationship between the courseware, operating system and related applications. There are four simple but important standards under this group, and let us see what they are in the info-graphic below. Hope you find this post interesting. To learn more about what makes a great course, download the complete eBook. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning CoursesWant to Gain Expertise in Instructional Design? 4 Things You Need to Learn - An InfographicPersonality Types of Learners and their Effect on Learning

We have discussed the importance of instructional design strategy, in online course design, in my previous blog. In this blog, we will be discussing about visual design strategy for e-learning. Visual design is another important component that we need to decide on, as part of the "Design Approach". The main objective of an e-learning course is to create a strong impact that facilitates learning. This objective can be achieved by using visuals effectively. In e-learning, visuals can be in the form of illustrations, diagrams, charts, graphs, drawings, photographs, graphics etc. Paul Martin Lester, a professor of visual communication says: "Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images." This is something that, most of us are attracted towards visuals than the written word. Aren’t we? Coming to e-learning, both under-use and over-use of visuals result in poor delivery of learning and compromise the efficacy of the course. One should always remember that not all graphics are equally effective; some visuals can actually depress the learning. The best way to overcome this problem is to combine both visual and non-visual content in a judicious way. Let us now see how visuals facilitate a positive impact on the learner. Visualization helps in organization and construction of concepts Visualization can be used to: Compare two items, as the pictures speak for themselves Facilitate multi-dimensional display of information. When there are many factors that need to be assimilated, a visual display helps more than text/tables Visualization helps create mind maps, as learners proceed along the course For instance, let us now see how visualizing content can impact the efficacy of the course on safe driving practices. Option 1: Option 2: From the given example, I’m sure that many of you will choose option 2 over option 1 as it is clearer in terms of delivering the key message and creates a lasting impression in our minds. Studies show that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, 80% of what they see and do. Human brain interprets images faster than words. So, the use of visuals helps us recall the content better.  So, we see that visualization plays a key role in learner engagement by conveying the key message of the course effectively. Hope you find this blog informative. Do share your views. Related PostsBest Practices of Visualization for an E-learning CourseBest Practices of Visualization for an E-learning courseImportance of Visual Communication in Elearning

It is common knowledge that online training is self-paced and dropout rates are high. Therefore, the greatest challenge before an instructional designer is to develop a learner-centric e-learning course that keeps learners engaged throughout. However, every organization has its own instructional design process for developing e-learning courses. A good instructional design process is one that ‘smoothens’ the overall development of the e-learning course. Here is an info-graphic which lists 6 phases of an effective instructional design process. Hope you liked this post. Do share your views. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning CoursesRole of an Instructional Designer in E-learning Course Development - An Infographic4 Tips to Design Effective Navigation for Your E-learning Course - An Infographic

Last evening, I had to cook dinner for my guests. I had some of the ingredients in the fridge, some in the shelf, some were in the bag that I just bought from the market, and the vessels were in different sections of the vessel rack. While cooking the first dish, I started running around for ingredients every time I needed one. I thought I will not be able to complete cooking before my guests arrived. Before cooking the second dish, I gathered all the necessary ingredients at one place. After completing, I noticed that the process for cooking the second dish went quite smooth and took less time than the first. Similarly, while developing an online course using a rapid authoring tool like Articulate Storyline, e-learning developers cannot find all the options or features at one place. Every option is put under a different category or tab. For example, the option to Insert Image is under the Insert tab; the option to edit the Slide Master is under the View tab; and the option to edit the slide size (Story Size) is under the Design tab. Sometimes, we may feel frustrated to click on various tabs to access different options. We may want them to be at one place for quicker access to reduce development time. Articulate Storyline provides you with one such option called Quick Access Toolbar at the top left corner of its interface. It is similar to the quick access toolbar in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. You can use this Quick Access Toolbar to display the necessary options for easy and quick access. By default, it consists of Save, Undo, and Redo options; and, with the arrow adjacent to these options, you can easily remove them from the Quick Access Toolbar by unchecking them. But, to add or remove other options, you need to use a different method. Today, in this blog, let us know how to add options to the Quick Access Toolbar and remove them. For instance, let us see how to add the Insert Picture option to the Quick Access Toolbar. Adding Options to the Quick Access Toolbar  Step 01: Click Insert tab. Step 02: Right-click on the option you would like to add to the Quick Access Toolbar. In this case, it is the Insert Picture option. Step 03: Select Add to Quick Access Toolbar from the list that appears when you right click on the option. You can see that a small picture icon is added to the Quick Access Toolbar. Similarly, you can add as many options as you want to the Quick Access Toolbar such as Align, Slide Master, Insert shapes, captions, characters etc. Now, let us know how to remove the added options. Removing options from the Quick Access Toolbar Step01: Right-click on the option/icon you want to remove from the Quick Access Toolbar. Step02: Select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar from the list that appears when you right click on the icon. You can see that the icon is removed from the Quick Access Toolbar. That’s it! This how we can add the required options to the Quick Access Toolbar and remove them when not necessary. So, what are you waiting for? Start adding the options that you access often to the Quick Access Toolbar and save your development time. Hope you find this tip helpful. Please share your thoughts through your valuable comments. Related PostsRapid E-learning through Storyline Tool: 5 Infographics Sharing Key FeaturesHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?4 Tips for Developing E-learning Course Using Rapid Authoring Tools

Recently, I was working on a software training project. The objective of the training was to enable users of the software to manage fuel levels of the assets in an effective way. The software is used by many users such as operations manager, equipment manager, administrator etc. Often, simulation-based strategies are used to deliver software training. But, in many cases, learners find simulations boring. But, there are certain situations where you need to use other approaches along with simulations. So, what are those approaches which make your software training courses engaging? In this post, I will share how you can use different approaches along with simulations to make the course engaging. The client had a requirement that the eLearning module shouldn’t exceed 5 minutes. The ‘raw material’ had content for different users of the software making it huge. Some of the content was common to all users, while some was role specific. Here, the approach was that we will have a separate overview module that is common to all users, which will be around 3 minutes. And, then we have small modules specific to each user/ role, which will not exceed 5 minutes. For the common module, we set the stage by giving an overview of the tool. We then introduced the roles and responsibilities of the users and what aspects the software can track. To enhance the course visually, we used characters for each role. Here, the user can select his role and learn more about his responsibilities, instead of viewing the responsibilities of all users. Once the learner knows his role, he is given a set of tasks. Here, a list of tasks specific to the user appears from which he can make his selection. Each task is treated as an eLearning module which is around 5 minutes. The module begins with a task. To complete this task, a demo (simulation steps) on how to do a task is shown. Here, an avatar of a senior manager is used to guide the learners. The manager takes the learners through the simulation steps which appear as callouts in an animation. After this, the learner is given an opportunity practice the steps. Some hints are provided to perform these steps. This way, he can learn easily apply the learning in his real life. Apart from this, to reinforce the learning and complete the learning cycle, assessments with adequate feedback are provided at the end of each module. Coming to the development of the course, we used Captivate 8 as it can be used to create responsive online courses which can be accessed on all devices. To conclude, though we use simulations for software training, it can still be made engaging by using different approaches. Related PostsSoftware Product Simulation - Captivate or Flash?Benefits of Using Simulations in Software Applications TrainingSAP Implementation - Are Software Simulations Enough to Train your Employees?

Businesses that expanded their translation budgets were 1.5 times more likely to report an increase in total revenue than their Fortune 500 peers (Common Sense Advisory, 2011). The last two decades have witnessed revolutionary developments in the L&D world. As companies are expanding their operations overseas, the need to impart effective training to multilingual workforces is ever increasing. While writing this narration script to the translation vendor for course translation, an instructional designer may overlook some aspects which may be really important. Here is an info-graphic which shares 5 aspects to be considered while translating online course narration scripts. Hope you liked this post. Do share your views. Related Posts4 Steps That Simplifies E-learning Translation and Localization Process - An Infographic5 Tips to Improve The Quality of E-learning Translation - An Infographic5 Proven Tips for Better E-learning Translations - An Infographic

Progress bars in e-learning courses are used to show the learner how much of the course he has completed.. Articulate Storyline, by default, doesn’t have an option to add progress bars. However, we have progress bars for individual slides. We can add a progress bar for an entire course in Articulate Storyline either by placing objects within the GUI (which consumes more time) or developing a HTML progress bar and inserting it as a Web Object into the course. Given below are the steps to add a customized progress bar in quick time to your online courses. Step 1: Develop a HTML page with <Progress> tag and format it as you want. Refer the screenshot below with 30% progress. Note: Make sure to save the HTML file as index.html. Remember that we can reuse the same file throughout the course by just modifying a number in the code. Step 2: Now, in the Insert tab of Storyline, select the Web Object option to insert a HTML page into Storyline. Note: If you want to insert the progress bar for all slides, then you must create multiple folders and place each HTML file with different ‘progress’ values in a separate folder. This is important because a WebObject inserts index.html file directly into the course from the path given. We can’t place multiple files with name index.html in same folder. Hence save all HTML files with the same name but in different folders. The screenshot below gives you a good idea. Step 3: In the window opened, paste the location of the HTML file, or browse for its location by clicking the folder icon as shown below. Step 4: Adjust the size and position of the Web Object on the screen. You can even place a portion of the Web Object off the stage. However, the output remains the same. Shown below are the references. Step 5: After inserting Web Objects throughout the course, publish the course and check the output. In this way, we can add customized progress bars to online courses. The main advantage of using Web Objects is that we can customize the progress bar to a great extent with simple modifications to the code. You can even use images to make the course visually appealing. Refer the screenshots below. However, these progress bars are just Read-Only (learners cannot move or drag) and can be used to enhance the look and feel of online courses. Hope this helps you. Please do share your views on this post. Related PostsHow to Combine Your Adobe Captivate Projects Into Single Course?Rapid E-learning through Storyline Tool: 5 Infographics Sharing Key Features4 Things About Articulate Storyline You May Not Know

Every year, millions of employees get injured or lose their lives due to accidents that occur at workplace. These accidents also lead to huge loss for the companies in the form of penalties. Workplace disasters usually take place due to lack of knowledge of safety processes and precautions. So, the solution is to make the employees aware of the risks. But, as safety training is mandatory, and the information that goes into safety training is basic and routine, it is essential to think of delivering safety concepts in an interesting manner. In this post, I will discuss a few topics on employee workplace safety and what we have done to make those courses engrossing. Slip, trip and fall injuries We usually think that injuries caused by slipping, tripping and falling are minor, which is not true. In certain cases, these accidents can affect people very badly for the rest of their lives. And, major injuries such as broken bones and spine and back injuries lead to medical expenses and make people unfit to work. So, if you are into manufacturing, then training your people on these accidents is a must. Realizing this, one of our clients asked us to create a course on slip, trip and fall injuries. We have used large, high resolution images throughout the course to give a rich look and feel to the course. We created scenarios to show the accidents that can take place and present the best practices. We used interactivities such as ‘click on tabs’ and images to explain the safety practices. Ergonomics According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 33% of workplace disorders/injuries reported are caused due to musculoskeletal disorders, and they cost around $2.02 billion to companies every year in terms of compensation. Travel safety and safe driving Due to globalization and business expansion, employees often need to travel. And, there are chances of personnel getting injured in travel-related accidents. Motor vehicle accidents could be fatal and can cost you heavily. A defensive driver safety program can help you in minimizing the risks, and thereby, keep your people safe on the road. It can actually be a refresher training program which can develop a deeper understanding. We developed travel safety courses to a few of our clients with main emphasis on practical exercises. So, we used an avatar (named Surakshaveer), videos and other click-on interactivities to make the courses enriching and help employees remember the essential points for a long time. Employee training and employee participation can greatly reduce safety-related threats or accidents. These were some of the courses that we have designed. I will share some more with you, in my next blog. Stay tuned to the 2nd post. How do you impart effective safety training in your organization? We’d love to know. Related PostsAccident Prevention Training Through E-learningRole of Safety Training in Reducing Workplace InjuriesTips for Creating an Ideal Safety Training Plan

Many a time, we are asked to develop courses on subjects that are mundane and wordy, leading to creation of courses that are uninteresting and successfully manage to kill learner interest. As much as we would like to blame the content, as designers, it’s our job to create magic even with the most boring subjects at hand. Here are a few tips that I have learned while creating e-learning courses. Tip # 1 Gamify to Create Fun We all love to play video games! Gaming is a powerful medium to instruct. You can use this approach for an entire course. For instance, you can have your learning objectives as a task or a mission that is to be accomplished, and each module can be treated as the next or new level of the game. The most innovative part about gaming is that your assessments can be turned into challenges such as board games and puzzles. With the help of gamification, you can turn subjects such as IT security, performance appraisals and food safety into fun to learn e-learning courses. Check out a few amazing game based courses we can create for you. Tip # 2 Use Decision Making Scenarios  The key to any good online course is making your learner think, and what better way can there be than creating scenarios that leave the decision in your learners’ hands. Decision making scenarios are like ‘what’s next’ scenarios. For example, you’re creating a course on how to ace a sale, and your target learners are new or junior sales representatives. The ideal way here is to create a scenario between the customer and the sales representative, where the customer asks questions and the response of the sales representative is decided by your learner! This practical approach helps in two ways. Firstly, it represents how a real life sales situation is like. Secondly, it has great recall and on the job application. Here is a decision making scenario that you can use to make learning more fun. Tip # 3 Do Away With Jargon  Most of the time you are more likely to receive subjects that are technical and hard to explain. In such instances, we move away from the conversational tone to a technical and business-like tone. While writing, you need to write as a consultant or an equal; never opt to write in an authoritative manner. You need to be conversational, yet professional at the same time. Let’s see how conversational writing simplifies learning. Authoritative: This course ‘Panic Disorder’ gives an overview of the ‘the symptoms and treatment’ for panic disorder, and demonstrates how to cope with this disorder.  Conversational: Hi there! I am John and I will guide you through this course ‘Panic Disorder’ that highlights the symptoms and treatment for panic disorder. I will also take you through how you can cope with this disorder. Let’s get started with what panic disorder is. Tip # 4 More Visuals, Less Text Let your visuals do all the talking. Making the learner read every line results in heavy cognitive load. Presenting information in visual chunks helps explain concepts and ideas faster and in a more systematic way. Processes, procedures, concepts, products, you name it and it can be presented with a high visual impact with the help of info-graphics. Have a look at how the food production chain is presented in a visual manner for better understanding. Hope you find these tips useful. How do you design e-learning courses? We’d love to know. Related Posts4 Effective Ways of Presenting Scenarios in E-learning CoursesGuidelines for Content Chunking to Design Effective Online CoursesVarious Ways of Using Videos in E-learning Courses