For years, software training was primarily text-based with a few screen shots. Then, in the 1990s, the first mainstream e-Learning tools appeared: ScreenCam, Qarbon Viewlet Builder, Camtasia, RoboDemo (now Captivate), and others. These tools let us create e-Learning in days rather than weeks or months. If we’re willing to accept “good enough” rather than “perfect” results, we can even create e-Learning in hours. It won’t be perfect, but it will do the job.

Participants in this session will see this “down-and-dirty” development capability by watching the creation of a small e-Learning movie from start to finish in under an hour. You’ll learn how to define the task, set up the authoring tool, capture the screens, and add a basic set of features such as text captions, interactivity, and a title. At the end, you’ll see a rough but usable movie. This demo is based on Adobe Captivate 5, but you could create the movie using similar tools such as Camtasia or Mimic.

In this session, you will learn:

 

  • How to define a minimal set of properties for the authoring tool in general and the movie in particular
  • How to think out the task to record and test the flow by performing quick dry runs
  • How to create a rough movie consisting of captured screen frames
  • How to decide how much to enhance those frames (“good enough” versus “perfect”)

Handout(s)

Recording