Adobe Learning Summit 2009

Adobe + eLearning…

What: A conference that discusses the latest eLearning tools, practices, and skill using applications from the Adobe eLearning Suite

When: November 9, 2009 // 8:00 am to 7:30 pm

Where: Fairmont Hotel // San Jose, CA

Keywords: eLearning, learning technologies, virtual classrooms, Connect Pro, Captivate, Presenter, Adobe eLearning Suite, education, inspiration

Benefits: Connected with DevLearn 2009 // Reception at Adobe headquarters (also known as “heaven” to us techie designers–”woohoo”)

What Can Adobe Captivate Do For You? (Pt. 1)

Lately, I have been using Adobe Captivate 3 for some of everything: presentations, interactive lecture content, practice activities, quizzes, etc.

This video is just a beginner demo introducing the software; I will continue to post some of the more eLearning relevant ones as I find them. Special thanks to YouTuber: rzanotti….Enjoy!

My Top 5 Authoring Tools

Authoring Tools, What are they?

Authoring Tools are software applications used to create/author eLearning content. They may have interactive multimedia capabilities and the ability to publish content in a variety of formates (SCORM, HTML, CD Rom, LMS, etc.). They are a great way to blend learning environments and introduce technology into the classroom by creating interactive, web-based lectures, practice activities & quizzes.

In this digital age of over flooding the market with tons of programs that do the “same dang thang”, I present to you my Top 5 Authoring Tools:

1. Adobe Captivate
   • A flash-based eLearning tool with great interactive content presentation and assessment tools; great multimedia packaging
2. Trivantis Lectora
   • Easy to use authoring tool with great assessment and multimedia capabilities
3. eXe
   • eLearning xHTML editor with such ease of use any teacher or beginning ID could use it, also integreates easily into LMSs
   • FREE and easy to use
4. CourseLab
   • eLearning authoring to, FREE and easy to use
5. Microsoft PowerPoint (w/ Adobe Presenter aka Breeze)
   • Presentation software that is good for training and tutorial purposes when used with Adobe Present

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Letting the Work Flow with InDesign CS3 (Pt. 1)

InDesign vs FrameMaker…What is the difference?

Since they both are used for DTP needs, that was my question. This morning, I viewed a really good tutorial that  answered that question. To give credit and thanks, it was created by the people over at Lynda.com (YouTube ID: “lyndapodcast”).

This InDesign CS3 Tutorial focuses on workflow and showing how efficient InDesign3 is for these tasks:

• Creating a layout
• Creating text and image frames
• Importing text and images from non-ID files
• Editing  imported frames
• Working with multiple layers
• Working in between multiple Adobe programs (as I do daily).

…Know of any other good tutorials out there that cover Adobe products?

If so, Please comment to this post with the URL.

***More information on InDesign CS3 found here!

Adobe Technical Communications Suite = Sweeeeeeeeet!

“They’ve done it again!” Adobe’s Technical Communications Suite is just that, Sweeeeeeeeet!

Finally!!! I am so proud of them for actually recognizing the needs of the eLearning and Instructional Design communities. I simply think it is “hott” idea that couldn’t have come any sooner. Some of the most effective software programs I have used for instructional design and learning media are included:

• Adobe FrameMaker8: for all our technical document publishing needs (You already know how I feel about FM8.)
• Adobe Captivate 3: for creating some of the hottest & interactive (Flash-based) courses, presentations and assessments
• Adobe Acrobat 3D: Okay, Pause! I have yet to use 3D because I do not need do much collaboration on engineering and architectural type of projects (i.e. those where I have to view ‘all sides’ of an object…Urgh! Blah!). Still, it’s a niiiiiice product for those who need the whole “3D Collabo”
• Adobe RoboHelp 7: for the creation of help systems. I have used this product once before during the development of a mock Computer-Based Training (CBT) Learning Program. But, from what I recall, it is also really helpful for any designer or new media artist who has difficulty relinquishing all control over to IT.

Applause.

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Adobe FrameMaker8: The Answer to My Technical Writing & Layout Prayers!

I was thinking of doing a whole ‘page’ dedicated to Adobe Products and their role in Educational Technology. Specifically, for the instructional designers responsible or interested in Desktop Publishing (DTP). But, for the sake of time…one post will have to do for now.

For my current position as an instructional designer, I was asked to have some knowledge of Adobe FrameMaker8 (FM for the purposes of creating structured templates for documents to be accessed by students in an online learning environment. Another eye opening moment in the Instructional Technology Design job search! Previously, MS applications such as Word and Publisher are what I preferred to utilize for my technical writing documentation. A new application just meant more time dedicated to a program that the next job wouldn’t even consider. So I thought!

Since working with FM 8 over the past few months, I learned there is a huge advantage to using this authoring/publishing software. As with just about all of the products created by Adobe, FM 8 takes into consideration the needs of (instructional) designers with varying levels of talent in document layout and use of white space. For a person who used to own a Coogi Sweater Dress, tasteful layout was not necessarily my best skill.

Therefore, I honor Adobe and the FM 8 Team for making my job a bit more enjoyable. Here are some of the features of FM 8 that I enjoy most:

1. Typical word processing/publishing projects can be combined with XML to create more visually stimulating templates for books, newsletters, reports, data sheets, etc.
2. When converted to a pdf, FM 8 will automatically create bookmarks based upon the layout and hierarchy of the document. Such a time saver when you have a 10+ page document to map/bookmark.
3. Ability to include rich, multimedia from Adobe Flash and Adobe Captivate (both of which I use heavily for the creation of learning objects and assessments)
4. MS Excel Graphs and MS Word Documents are easily integrated into the FM 8 templates.
5. There are a fair amount of structured and unstructured templates that I have used to lay the foundation for creating templates that fit my needs.
6. Top 5 Templates: FAQ, Index, Graduate Thesis Paper, Newsletter, and Harvard Outline…all of which can be time consuming when developing from ’scratch’
7. Picks up where InDesign leaves us hanging…FM 8 is made specifically for the creation of looooong, exhausting template-based textual documents (i.e. eBooks or eContent for an online course).

Obviously, these are the opinions of a fairly new Instructional Designer. For more info on Adobe FM 8, check the following resources:

• FrameMaker FAQs
• FrameMaker Tutorials & Training
• InDesign vs FrameMaker
• FrameMaker vs Word

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer