Screencasts and Software Simulations in Online Training #19

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

• Here’s a Simple Screencasting Tip That Will Save Time & Frustration
• How to Create Screencasts You Can Be Proud Of
• How to Use This Free Screencasting Tool for E-Learning
• Here Are Some Time Saving Tips for Your Next Software Demo
• Using Improv’s Principle of Agreement to Create Better Screencasts
• How Freelancers are Using Social Media for Real Results

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:

• Patricio Bustamante kicked off the challenge with a story-based example for the health care industry. The combination of photographic backgrounds and illustrated characters help make this an engaging example. Nice work, Patricio!
• Ana Lucia Barguil followed up with a fun example featuring a character-based introduction to a selective collection module. Check out Ana’s source file to learn how she built it. Ana shared another e-learning character example for Google Hangout training and the Storyline source file. Thanks for sharing your source files, Ana!
• Joseph Ramanui shared a wrecking ball of an example with another video game-based demo. Joseph is doing some really great work with Storyline.
• David Anderson shared a retro e-learning character example.
• Bruce Graham unleashed the lovable Story Lion into the challenge. Words aren't enough; you’re going to have to see it to believe it. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
• Jeff Kortenbosch took things in a different direction with his video-based character. Jeff later shared a discussion on changing characters throughout the course. Always enjoy seeing what Jeff puts together!
• Jonathan Atleson avoided obfuscation with a clear and simple example of using characters in his Word Choice demo. Jonathan’s next example featured a character-based quiz on recycling. The game-like feel of his example inspires a lot of possibilities. Great work, Jonathan!
• Montse Anderson first shared an leadership scenario followed by an interactive quotes demo.
• Christopher Lind shared his e-learning character example highlighting key features of a college. Great example of multiple character dialogue in courses. Well done, Christopher!
• Melissa Cline-Douthitt combined photographic backgrounds with custom illustrations in her character-based e-learning example on career assessments. Great work, Melissa!
• David Lindenberg shared screenshots from a training module designed to help clinicians form answers to FAQs about their care program. Great work as always, David!
• Kimberly Bourque declassified her character-based example to show a fun solution for categorizing candidates. In her second example, she shows a neat tabs approach to character scenarios. Great job on your first course, Kimberly!
• Alicia Durham shared an example of custom photographic avatars combined with learner options to use the avatar’s guidance. Love it!
• Paul Alders jumped in with one of the more popular requests we see for giving learners the option to choose their own course avatar. Great demo, Paul!
• Rebecca Lindsay created a character-based navigation design that helps learners review candidate qualifications.
• Ian McConnell shared a fun and educational demo that shows different types of characters and how to use them. You can read more about Ian's demo in his blog post. 
• Rıdvan Saglam shared a creative character example that features a fun twist. Great example, Rıdvan!

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.