eLearning, Tutorials, and Simulations Mike Hamilton V.P. Product Management MadCap Software mhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

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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 MadCap Mimic TechSmith Camtasia Frame-based Specialized in eLearning Specialized in single-source publishing Traditional video Specialized in live action

Software demonstrations Software tutorials Software training What Can We Create? Software demonstrations Software tutorials Software training Software simulations Interactive graphics Photo-based training

Stages of Interactivity Full Simulation Multiple Paths Data Input Realism 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

Create tutorials that are: 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 Storyboarding forces you to: A process used to design and develop multimedia presentations and web-based 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

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 Branching “Click to Continue” “Show Me” Branching Decisions Quizzes Simulations

Linear Interactivity “Click to Continue” “Show Me” 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

Think of a movie as a flow chart Branching Think of a movie as a flow chart Frame Frame Frame Frame Frame Frame Frame

Think of a movie as a flow chart Branching Think of a movie as a flow chart Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 5 Frame 4 Frame 6 Frame 7

Branching …but, in a straight line Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 5

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 + = $240 £155 Shure SM58 $100 £65 Lambda Lexicon $140 £90

Audio

Audio + = $130 £85 Shure SM48 $50 £33 Lambda Alpha $80 £52

Audio Snowball $100 £65 Snowflake $60 £39 Yeti $150 £97

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 mhamilton@madcapsoftware.com