Toolkit: Adobe Presenter 11

Adobe has updated Presenter with several new features inversion 11. Two I find very useful, but another really blew me away with what Ican now do with it.

For those who don’t know, Adobe Presenter installs itself asa new ribbon in PowerPoint. It is one of several that I compared in my May 2015review, the Battle of the PowerPoint eLearning Development Tools. However, as each tool isupdated, it’s important to know the new features of that tool, becauseselecting a tool based on old information may mean missing out on ways to makeyour instructional design better.

About PowerPoint-based eLearning authoring tools

You should be aware of some important facts aboutPowerPoint-based eLearning tools.

1. Windows applications can allow for add-ins, suchas adding ribbons in PowerPoint, but Apple Macintosh applications do not. Thatis why you won’t see Adobe Presenter or other similar tools in PowerPoint forthe Mac. However, Adobe does offer a separate Macintosh application for theAdobe Presenter Video Express application. I discuss Video Express below.
2. PowerPoint add-in tools assume that you willcreate much of your content using PowerPoint itself. They offer additional featuresthat are not resident in PowerPoint, or that are difficult to implement inPowerPoint, so that you can make your eLearning better than a simple linearexperience.
3. No PowerPoint eLearning add-in tool can have allthe features of those eLearning development tools that are installed separatelyor that you can access in the cloud. The PowerPoint add-ins are easier to usebut more limited in their scope. However, I find them very useful when myinstructional design needs are not too demanding. Also, they have become morepowerful with each new version. Finally, dare I say it, there are some featuresincluded in PowerPoint add-ins that are difficult to find in its more powerfulcousins. That is why Adobe offers Presenter as well as Captivate and Connect; eachis meant for different instructional design needs or delivery methods.
4. Presenter includes several features that similarproducts sometimes sell separately and also include as part of a suite. Thiscan make comparing tools confusing. Be sure to review the full feature set ofthese tools when comparing them.
5. Pricing can be a big factor when choosing one ofthese tools. Adobe Presenter can be had for $15 a month, a cost I consider verylow compared to other tools, but even a free tool might be a bad idea if itdoesn’t give you what you need. Presenter definitely does offer a great deal.

The Adobe Presenter 11 ribbon

Below isthe PowerPoint ribbon (Figure 1), cut into two for easier viewing.  Here I will focus only on new features, so Iwon’t touch on those options you see in the ribbon that were already residentin prior versions, unless they have had a significant update.

Figure 1: The Adobe Presenter 11ribbon in PowerPoint

What’s new—the very useful

1.       The Web Object

In Presenter 11, you can nowinclude a live Web window in youreLearning, of any size you wish. Why is this useful? It means that you cancreate stable content on your PowerPoint slides, enhanced with Presenterfeatures, and also include content that changes often on a web site that youcan then show within your lesson. A website is typically faster to update andof course some content, like that of news sites, is constantly changing.  You can access the new Web Object tool in theInsert section of the Presenter ribbon. In Figure 2 below, you can see thedialog that opens when you do.

Figure 2: Adobe Presenter’s WebObject

Notice that you can enter the URLand preview it in the dialog itself. If the website is changing, you will seethose changes happen in real time. You can also choose to let the learnerscroll and decide whether the website should auto load or only upon thelearner’s choice.  The result can be as Figure3 shows.

Figure 3: An example of using awebsite in your eLearning

You’ll also notice a place (theradio button and text entry in Figure 2) where you can put an Embed Code ratherthan a URL. This lets you show specific elements from a website that provideyou with this option. For instance, in the popular video website www.vimeo.com, you can copy the embed code of avideo, then show only the video in your eLearning (be sure you have permissionto do so). See Figure 4.

Figure 4: Find a video on Vimeo andclick the Share option. Copy the embed code and paste it into the Presenter dialog

The result will be the videoshowing by itself without the extra Vimeo website content, which you can embedinto your eLearning. See Figure 5.

Figure 5: The Embed code allows fora web object to be inserted without the rest of the website

2.       The YouTube Object

You can also now include a YouTubevideo in your eLearning. How is this different from embedding a Vimeo code?YouTube allows for more control, and this is reflected in the YouTube tool inPresenter. See all of the options in Figure 6. A particular one I really likeis the ability to show just a portion of a video by indicating the start andend times.

Figure 6: The YouTube options

What’s new—what blew me away

Adobe Presenter Video Express has been greatly enhanced. Itis a separate application that comes at no additional charge. You can purchaseit also for the Macintosh.

Video Express was already a very useful tool but now itoffers some cool features that I will find very handy:

1. When you start Express, you will see yourself onthe screen in a webcam.
2. Just draw a vertical line and a horizontal lineto define the borders of your head and shoulders. You can finesse the selectionfurther by using Shift to add and Alt to remove.
3. Now choose from one of several backgrounds thatPresenter includes or choose one of your own.
4. Start recording while you demonstrate theapplication you’re teaching on your computer. In other words, you’re creating asoftware simulation while you’re also recording yourself.

Once you’re done, you will have the ability to use thetimeline to determine when you appear by yourself, when the software demo isshown by itself, or when you both are on the screen. You can also use the niftyfeatures already resident to hide errant pop-ups, and zoom in and out. You canadd quiz questions, brand it further, and more. You can also putpicture-in-picture video in your video. Cool.

These figures show how it’s done.

The figures below show the result. The resulting video canswitch between just the spokesperson, the software being demonstrated, or both.

And the rest

1. Slide transitions now work when you publish toHTML5.
2. Adobe Presenter is now available in Arabic.
3. Characters have been added to the characterlibrary.
4. You can now publish to Adobe’s new LMS, AdobeCaptivate Prime (review coming), along with SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, AICC, andxAPI.
5. I should mention a feature that I hadn’trealized was already resident in Presenter—you can actually create separatequizzes within one PowerPoint file, each with its own separate scoring to sendto your LMS. That’s something that even Captivate can’t do!

My conclusion

Adobe Presenter does not take the place of Adobe Captivateor Adobe Connect. However, it has become a go-to tool whenever I already havePowerPoint content that I want to repurpose and greatly enhance. It very wellmeets my instructional design needs when they are not too demanding, and I’mgoing to start to make heavy use of its updated Video Express product. For $14.99a month, I have no problem recommending Adobe Presenter 11 as a valuable toolto keep in your toolbox.