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Introducing Captivate to new users
Friday, January 28th, 2011I’ve been meaning to write this for a while but was motivated to actually do it when I met some people recently who told me “Captivate is hard”. They had taken a class at work but didn’t really use the software after that because it seemed to be too much effort. Before I begin my rant I want to be clear that I am talking specifically about one or two day in-person training, usually not professional training either.
First –
Some General Software Training Rules..
- Software is a tool. The goal for most people is to learn what features they need, which ones might be helpful, and to ignore what clearly does not apply to them.
- Users do not need to learn it or use it the “right” way – only the way that will work best for them, which is sometimes the “right” way and sometimes not.
- If you don’t know what software is for, using the software for the first time will be more confusing and frustrating than it would be if you had a sense of the software first.
- Frustration in users reduces how much room you have to help them learn. Teaching software is an art – helping people learn new pieces of information and guiding them to prioritize what they need to remember. Make it easier on both of you and reduce the frustration level as much as you can.
- If learning is not engaging and done with energy the students will have to work harder to focus on the material (this makes it harder for you – see above point).
Ok, now find someone who has taken a Captivate class. If person thinks the software is no fun and is really hard to use, my bet is that the training showed the software “the right way” (which is often a methodical tour of menus and the screen as the first topic). Ask that person how class started and you will probably hear “well, we opened the software and started to learn all the features”.
*buzzing sound* NOPE – care to try again?
That behavior is fine for teaching how to create mail merge in Microsoft Word, but Captivate is a product that needs to be introduced to most people. Saying “it makes training movies” or “It’s like PowerPoint with quizzes” does not give a clear enough picture for students who unfamiliar with e-learning tools. Before you show them the interface you need to help them to relax and be ready for what’s next The best way to do that is to show them the reason Captivate is awesome.
So… the first thing? Show what it does.
Have a few sample files, or links to ones you like. I’d suggest one or two pretty basic ones (one soft skills and one software sim if you can swing it) and then one really good one (so they can see what is possible at an advanced level).
Now you can turn on the software.
Second Step? – Learn the basic interface. One of the best ways to do this is to make a very fast little movie.
A software simulation can be a nice simple introduction. Pick a very, very basic skill (like changing the desktop wallpaper) and have the students make a quick sim. Be sure to let them know that this is just so they can see how the software works and this is NOT all they need to do in a proper recording.
What should they do? Have them get out pen and paper. Then put these steps on the board.
- Describe what you want to do
- Rough out the steps on paper
- Practice First
- UNDO ALL
- Record
- Publish/Preview
This is not the list for a final movie – it’s only for the very first movie someone makes. Have the students follow these (don’t forget the undo step). When they preview their movies you often will hear “Oh!” when they see what they have done and how much Captivate does for them.
At this point they will be in the software and looking at the interface. This is when you can show them different views and buttons.
Why not use an exercise file?
If you have people open a file they have never seen they will not automatically have an easy, relaxed sense of what the file is for. IF on the other hand, you have them review the file they just recorded you will have the benefit of automatic engagement on their part. This is their file, they know what they did – so now they will have an internal conversation that goes more like this…
“What is that? Oh, that’s when I was moving the mouse. Hey, there’s a label made for me – that’s cool”
rather than this…
“Ok.. what am I looking at? What are those things over there? Why is there a mouse icon and what is that blue thing? What are those little boxes for? Why is there text here? Do I have to type that?”
What’s Next?
There is a lot of information that goes into Captivate training and this post does not cover all of it – just the introduction piece. They will eventually need to learn about adding rollovers and hotspots, using sound, planning out a template, adding graphics, quizzing, adding PowerPoint files … you get the idea.
However – the MOST important parts of making Captivate movies are taking time to script and storyboard – this is often left out of “intro to captivate” material and that’s a huge mistake. If you don’t give them at least a little amount of practice making a script and storyboard most of them won’t really do it after class.
In a future post I will go into more detail about the rest of the class and show examples of scripts and storyboards.
The class is only the beginning of their learning experience
Make sure they leave with links to blogs, videos, and any other suggestions that will help them keep moving forward. Often the people who they work for will assume that a one , two, or three day training is all it takes to go from “never seen it” to “Subject Matter Expert”. Unless people have tried using the software, it is pretty common to have them assume that making a decent training movie is “practically magical” and that simply giving the software to someone (**bippity boppity boo**) “makes” them an e-learning expert.
Making a Captivate movie is easy. Making good and engaging Captivate is much more work – just like making a website or PowerPoint presentation is not that hard, but making a good ones? That’s a different kettle of onions.
Set your new users up for success by helping them have reasonable expectations about what kind of effort goes into making e-learning modules. If they get that it’s something they will get better at over time and that they will NEED practice, they will end up making much better work in the long run.
Captivate is a wonderful piece of software and making engaging e-learning should be a fun and exciting experience. Teaching a Captivate class is nearly the most fun you can have as a trainer – make it fun and memorable for them and you’ll get to “Oh!” much faster.
New widget for Adobe Captivate 5 released tomorrow (hopefully)
Friday, August 13th, 2010New widget for Adobe Captivate 5 released tomorrow (hopefully).
Captivate help
Friday, July 30th, 2010Captain Captivate
The blog is goofy (though that is hardly a bad thing) and has some wonderful information. It’s also the not-so “secret” identity of Josh Cavalier who is a very nice guy as well as a damn fine Captivate trainer.
Captivate 5 has a new look!
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010connectusers.com has a video by R J Jacquez, one of the “Senior Product Evangelists” (what a great title!). If you are thinking of moving to Captivate 5 check it out here.
From the Blog
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Monday, February 13th, 2012 - Photoshop CS6 Preview
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 - Photoshop compositing and the never ending road
Sunday, November 6th, 2011