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E-Learning Challenges
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Screencasts and Software Simulations in Online Training #19

DavidAnderson's avatar
12 years ago

Challenge of the week

This week your challenge is to record a screencast or software simulation. You can choose any type of topic that interests you.

Tools

You can use Articulate Storyline, Screenr, or Replay to record your screencasts. And any other tools you want—we really just want to see your examples.

Resources

Last week’s characters in e-learning challenge

E-learning designers have a lot of character and you showed a lot of creative faces over the past week. Before you screencast this week’s blockbuster training movies, check out the trailers from last week’s e-learning character challenge:

Note:

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.

Hope your week is screencastic, E-Learning Heroes!

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.

Published 12 years ago
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32 Comments

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  • SimonBlair's avatar
    SimonBlair
    Community Member
    HI Amanda,

    I've done a couple in Storyline, but since they show proprietary software I can't share them.
    I used some tricks that I've seen mentioned elsewhere in the ELH forums:
    - I took screenshots of every step of the given task
    - I used hotspots to let users click on various menu items and buttons (pro tip: include ones for the wrong areas, so that people can't just guess based on when their mouse cursor changes)
    - I changed the screenshots based on the hotspot clicks
    - I also included (because it was needed for a particular simulation) a text entry field
    • JayShuck's avatar
      JayShuck
      Community Member
      I like these tips, too, Simon. Thanks for posting. In my own work, I also add a message (often illustrated with a frowning character) for the layer or state that appears when the user clicks the wrong area, in which the user is either told why the click was wrongheaded and/or given a hint.
  • There's been interest in the Dallas User Group for this very topic, especially the software simulation in Storyline. Has anyone recently conquered this battle? We will be covering this topic in our August 5 meeting and may have space for an outside speaker (either live or pre-recorded).
    • DavidAnderson's avatar
      DavidAnderson
      Staff
      Hi Kimberly!

      Please extend an invitation to your group to share their examples in this challenge. Simulations is such a hot topic for users but really don't have a lot of examples. I'd really like to build up our screencast/simulation examples.
  • Sadly, I do not think our group has many to offer up either, hence searching outside of the group for a knowledgeable speaker. I may do something with a user guide that I'm building for our Salesforce team to try my hand at it. We shall see.