#JohnWick_77_Challenge #4: CAPTIVATE PROJECT
When/Where started: JAN 2019 — Manila
In some respects the timing of this couldn’t have been worse. I had a subscription to Captivate but I’d not really done much with it. in late 2012 and 2013 I was an articulate Wiz in the work that I was doing with Kalibrr but that was hard to translate to Captivate now 5–6 years later. (If you have used MS Office for many years you know software completely changes every five years or so.)
The task the company assigned (Challenge #3) was to create a small learning project in Captivate based on how to use a specific feature of a mobile phone. Any readers who have not used Captivate or Articulate to create online learning need to quickly grasp that creators need to be proficient in both the creative and tech sides. Unlike most software where you create something and then quickly export it, these require the creator to have a deep understanding of SCORM formats.
SCORM for Dummies
Two essential software systems are required to facilitate e-learning. The first is the actual instructional material, or “content”. The other is a Learning Management System (LMS) which is responsible for directing the learner to relevant training, tracking the learner’s progress (things like score and current location) and maintaining the learner’s transcript. The essence of SCORM is that any content that conforms to the SCORM specifications will work with any SCORM conforming LMS. SCORM is the “secret sauce” that operates behind the scenes to make things compatible.
Back to my challenge — I did some pretty cool stuff with the Captivate software. There was a new feature that allows the creator — to stop a short demo video the learner is watching — at certain points to ask ‘knowledge content’ questions. If the viewer gets the question correct, they move on. If incorrect, the video automatically (if the creator coded it correctly) moves back to the exact spot in the video to review the content in question.
Thus the front part I created was pretty slick. However, I didn’t take the time to really look at the backend, which I should have because SCORM files are a real b***h to work with. It was two days after I submitted the project that I went back in and properly tested it with a few different LMS platforms and realized what I had sent in had not been configured properly for the LMS they wanted and would not work properly on the back end to collect the data needed. Needless to say that opportunity slipped through my fingers.
Live and Learn. (I hope!)
Thoughts, comments and any info about similar challenges you have undertaken are always appreciated.
