Adobe Captivate new features

Aug 12, 2013

Hi there,

I was asked to check out Captivate and it's new features. Just as a matter of interest, will Articulate Storyline be adding similar features to the next upgrade:

For example: 

Interactions library: including games

Learning notes

Tin Can

Social media engagement

Kindest regards,

Ange

11 Replies
Harri S

Hi Angela,

When you mention learning notes do you mean notes that the learner can access to aid understanding - such as putting all narrated script in a tab that can be accessed for those without audio or are you referring to the ability for learners to make their own notes onscreen?

In terms of Storyline, the first is possible, the latter is not. 

Angela O'Brien

Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Yesterday I was asked to take a look at Captivate 7 and found a couple of interesting features.

I use SL and really, really like the software, so I was wondering if  a feature like 'learning notes'  (where participants can type their own notes on screen) would be added someday as well as interactive game templates. 

That's it really, so I'm sorry for the confusion

Kindest regards,

Ange

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Hi All,

I've been following this discussion because I'd love to have a relatively elegant way for Learners to add and insert notes. I've participated in a past discussion about this. In this thread there are some alternatives.

Michael, I the lightbox idea is nice, but the disadvantages that may it clunky IMHO for the Learner are still there. But, I'm thinking you may have a workaround (aside from Javascript, I mean, although if you could provide all the code, I'd be game).

So, one way to create a lightbox learner notes slide, for anyone who's wondering, would be to

1. Create the slide and insert a text entry box on it, sizing it to take up most of the slide. I put my slide in a separate scene.

2. Make the slide available as a tab on the player

 - From the Home tab, click Player (in the Publish group)

 - With the Features tab active in the Player, click the icon for Add under the Player tabs list

 - Give this tab a name, e.g., Learner notes

 - Indicate alignment

 - Action: lightbox slide

 - Slide: select the slide created in step 1

 - When: user clicks (this tab)

Now Learners can access their notes from any slide. But, limitations:

  • Each time they go back to the notes to type in text, previous text is selected. They must click outside this area, carefully position the insertion point...
  • When the text entry box is "filling up" while one is typing, a scroll box appears. That's great BUT when Learners return to their notes, the scroll box is no longer there. When they first get to the slide they see the notes that are at the top. When they click IN the slide they see the notes at the bottom, and the text is selected. They must click outside to deselect the text. AND
  • If they went to get to the top of their notes, they can do so with a mouse wheel, but there's still no scroll bar UNLESS they first use an arrow key, in which case the scroll bar appears.

These are all the same things I encountered as I tried out the different options listed at the other thread. So, as it stands now, I find it very clunky for Learners and would not recommend it. UNLESS you have a workaround for all of this?

Michael Hinze

Rebecca, I do agree using a lightboxed slide is a band aid-solution (and I don't have a workaround for the issues you listed), but it may be sufficient in some cases. For example, I used this approach once, where learners had to watch a video and make note of hazards they saw. I used a long text entry box in a scrolling panel and that provided more than enough space for the notes. In this particular scenario, the lightboxed slide worked okay.

I too would love to find a more polished solution though. BTW, for those who don't have Captivate, the 'Note Taking thingy' Angela mentioned looks something like this.

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Hi Michael,

Tx for replying. I suggested a scrolling panel in that older thread where community members were sorting this out. I was hoping you had some solutions. I worry that the distraction of this "clunkiness" (my term) diminishes learning (cognitive overload).

Out of curiosity, is the "note taking thingy" in Captivate minus all of those problems?

Michael Hinze

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro said:

Just came across a great video tutorial (via Linked In) by James Kingsley on creating and printing notes using triggers with JavaScript.

Michael, perhaps this is what you were referring to. Since James provided the JavaScript, I was good to go. Very nice! Y'all can find it here


Rebecca, thanks for sharing this. I had JavaScript in mind for writing/saving the notes, but this solution looks a lot for promising!

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