Lots of screenshots - how to display in interesting way?

I've been in similar situations. In one case, I was able to utilize callout bubbles that overlay the screen shot. On any given slide I was refering to only one portion of the screen, so I simply placed the callout over the section that wasn't in focus at the time.

Another option could be to use a smaller version of the full screen shot and then zoom/explode the focus area. That way you're still getting the perspective and full-size detail without necessarily taking up the entire slide with the screen shot.

Hi Andrew! That's a great question!

Is your course going to be an immersive type of thing, where you want to give learners practice with performing a task? If so, you could use simple PowerPoint hyperlinks on your screenshots and have the learners actually perform the steps they need to know, like in this example.

Or, if your course is really more of a reference piece or job aid, which learners will use to look stuff up or find out about specific functions or features of your software, you might try some ideas like this:

• If you make the content explorable, learners will be less likely to zone out. An Engage Labeled Graphic is a nice tool for compressing a lot of content into one explorable interaction. Here's a quick example I threw together, with a couple screenshots from E-Learning Heroes. The cool thing about Engage is that anytime you add an image to a segment or portion of an interaction, you can add a magnification icon, so that learners can see it larger if they want. Click on the two red asterisk markers in that example to see what I mean. The resulting window has screenshot with a zoom/magnify icon. This might help you avoid jamming lots of little screenshots onto one slide. Here's the source file in case you'd like to look at that.
• Quizmaker has a similar feature where you can add an image and include the zoom icon. So you could also use the same approach if you decide to build content in Quizmaker. Quizmaker is obviously a great tool for assessments, but you can also use it for interactions and course content too.
• You could also use the trick of creating zoom effects with Presenter and multiple slides. Here's a blog post that explains how to do that.
• Have you thought about perhaps using screencasts instead of screenshots? That might be another way to avoid making the learner page through lots of slides full of images. We have a free web-based tool called Screenr which allows you to create your own screencasts and then download the (unbranded) MP4 - which you can then insert right into your course. MP4s work great in Presenter, Engage, and Quizmaker. In fact here are some examples where David used Engage to "package" a series of movies... maybe that same approach would work well for you too.

Hope that helps trigger some ideas for you! Feel free to share more about your project and folks can continue to help brainstorm.

@David - ooh, great idea to use callouts or annotations. The spotlight annotation might be especially nice.

One effect I been toying with involves two copies of the screenshot (Actually three). Take one copy and increase the transparency. Take another and crop down to the area you want highlight. Place the crop over the area in the faded shot. Place the untouched shot on top of all and do an exit animation that fades. away. It makes it look like you're highlighting that one smaller area.

Hi All,

Thanks for such great suggestions, it's helped a lot

Nice, so how do I make system training more interesting and interactive?  I know that in health care we can tell the story of how the patient interacts with the clinician an then relate that to what the clinician does in the system. Does the group have any more suggestions?

Thanks

If some of the required interactions are "Click here to execute/access", then create a transparent shape over the proper area on the screen shot and attach a link to proceed to the next/correct slide.

If a required action is to select an option from a drop down list, or to type in information in a text field, you could use Quizmaker to replicate these actions.

To me, the important thing is to present them with real-world scenarios and let them start interacting with the "system" right away. I am not one to do the whole interface overview all at once ("This button does this, this field is for that, this icon/menu means this"). Instead, I get the learner right into it by presenting them with a real-world situation ('The patient/customer/client needs this...") and then walk them through how to perform the task in the system ("...so first click in this field to..."). Then I utilize as many different scenarios as needed to cover all necessary tasks and to reinforce through repetition.

If your culture allows you to have a little fun, you can incorporate some fun themes. I recently did systems training with a Mission: Impossible theme, complete with a mission controller (an animated avatar) and a countdown timer for each scenario which, apart from creating a sense of urgency, also reinforced the real-world time constraints found back on the job.

So let your imagination go. I'm sure lots of other heroes here have other great ideas!

Thanks!  That is great information. I look forward to any other answers.

It can also help a lot to tie the tasks you're teaching to specific values or consequences. I.e., show a brief scenario that illustrates what happens if the learner enters a value wrong, or doesn't complete a task properly. For example, a customer doesn't get their order and it costs the company $X in repeat sales. Or maybe there's a safety angle you could take... a line worker receives faulty information because of inaccurately entered data, so they consequently doesn't take the proper precautions, and an accident happens. Something that is meaningful/impactful to the learner, that ties to a broader purpose or mission that they can identify with.

I was going to suggest Jeanette's approach as well.  Tie every (or most) action to something dramatic like money or the patient's life chances, etc.  For instance, if you do not fill out this chart correctly, the patient takes a turn for the worse or something of that nature.  The way I am saying it doesnt sound so nice right now but you get the idea, I think

Thanks, all of your input is very helpful.  I have been doing system training for many years.  The switch to eLearning brings practicality into a greater focus.  These ideas will guide my future projects.

Thanks again