In our at the end article, we looked at using graphics in e-Learning. Now, weв ll peep another big factor for creating blossoming circuit interactions в " Adobe Flashв" . Bright is a vector-based animation and interactivity programme that allows you to actualize everything from clean animations to compound interactive applications. With its built-in programming talking в " ActionScript в " Illumination is fully scriptable and can communicate with assorted backend database languages. Thanks to the antecedent Blaze product appeared (from Macromedia), the e-Learning regional has worked with Flare developers and engineers to cook up Shine content augmented and aggrandized accessible in e-Learning environments.
With its feature-rich information of capabilities, built-in components, and e-Learning output templates, Light makes a parcel of doctrine for maximizing direction content. In this article, weв ll spotlight some of the essential features of Brilliance and how they can constitute your courses shine.

1. Animations for Step-by-Step Procedures

In 10 Tips for Using Graphics in e-Learning, we saying the consequence of using graphics in courses, to strengthen how chipper they just learning objectives. We talked approximately disparate delivery methods for conveying paragraph matter, and one of those methods was animation. Glowing uses timeline-based animation, which makes it fully manifest to physique lively movies. Graphical elements may be created directly in Flash, on the other hand a majority of developers account other tools that they are exceeding comfortable with в " largely Adobe Inventive Suite. With Flash CS3, you can just now import native Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop files. You can still change в layeredв files from these programs into Film Clips and animate the identical layers using keyframes in the timeline.

In e-Learning materials, step-by-step procedures can be largely tricky. Conclude of the latest lot of furniture that you had to settle together. How brave were its instructions? One of the matters IKEA does bright-eyed is its non-text directions for assembling its furniture. These instructions are pure imagery. Obtain that impression a method further, and you gain animation. An animated step-by-step instruction is still enhanced capable than static imagery. During an animation, you can highlight particular areas, utilize animated arrows, and clean-cut a learning just yet deeper naturally and effectively.

When the American Business agreement Bridge Confederation (ACBL) asked SyberWorks to practise a series of courses for its Bridge-playing members, we used Flash to concoct animated card-playing sequences, and to instance specific turns in games. The card images were prepared in Adobe Illustrator, imported into Flash, and converted into Movie Clips. Using scripts if by ACBL, we created animations for everyone play, to clarify the rules that it represents. Other graphical and matter elements were added in Flash to objective outside parts of the animation. These courses are instantly delivered to hundreds of Bridge players across the country.

2. Inconsiderable Audio Integration

Adding audio to an HTML-only method presents difficulties for line developers. First, multiple audio formats are available on the net today: WAV, AIF, MP3, M4a, etc. All the more worse is the all-inclusive array of audio-player applications and their file-type associations, both for Mac and Windows platforms. Having users download specific players is a distraction from the order material, and a plausible source of more problems.

Flash, however, supports distinct audio formats and plays them all using the Flash Player, which has a 98% bazaar penetration. The Flash Player is available in all larger browsers and platforms, and is much fitting available in extended Internet appliances. You can easily import nearly any audio file, add it to the Flash timeline, advise the Flash movie, deliver the course, and be quite undeniable that users testament be able to hear the audio without having to download an additional player.

Another dispute with audio is that, whether a sound dossier is not locate up to в stream,в there is a chance that some of the sound may blop out. Flash has built-in streaming capabilities, so you can be assured that your audio content will be delivered to users without drop-outs and gaps.

At SyberWorks, we custom Flash for in-course audio content. Audio is recorded in our audio lab and saved in a popular format. The document is then imported into Flash. ActionScript is used in conjunction with on-screen buttons, to avow users to management audio playback. This interactive audio information can then be attached to any course, using the SyberWorks Lacework Author application.

3. Trail Guidance

How canny is your succession navigation? By в smart,в I close can it communicate with your LMS? Most in-course manoeuvring is delicate colorless and perfunctory. Provided you spice up yours with Flash, your courses will ripen into bounteous useable.
On account of Flash can donkeywork with SCORM and AICC courses, on-screen buttons can be scripted via ActionScript to packages calls to the LMS for definite conditions. A press-stud at the boundary of a class might letter a stop statement to the LMS, signifying lesson completion and triggering extremely actions. Another button might automatically submit the results of a quiz.

More appropriate learning experiences are possible, by reason of the complete interface is completely customizable, and buttons are also accessible to cause in Flash. If you want, you can yet application its built-in lib of buttons to fabricate your plan navigation.
At SyberWorks, we retro-fitted some existing e-Learning courses (developed for restaraunt employees) for our LMS, plentiful with all of the calls bottom line for progression status and completion. These Flash-based courses had a cohesive glad eye and caress that was all the more and compelling than a plain-text HTML lattice experience.

4. Creating Simulations

Some software tools, such as Camtasia and Captivate, are designed solely for creating software simulations. They annex advantages and disadvantages, and SyberWorks does appliance them, along with other simulation software packages. On the contrary what if the software you itch to contrive a simulation for isnв t available on your platform, or lone works at the end a clientв s firewall?

When the Palm Steersman came out, I had the fitness to discover a software simulation that showed latest owners how to apply the device. Because the Palm software matchless resides on the Palm Pilot, I couldnв t handle a PC-based software-simulation part to select screens. So I used my scanner and Photoshop, imported the screens and artwork into Flash, and created the simulation.

At SyberWorks, we are currently working with an Internet convention whose proprietary software (for security reasons) by oneself works on computers persist their firewall. In that we canв t install or convenience their software in-house, we had to activity to the clientв s point to share shade shots. Those images were then imported into Flash, captions and highlights were added, and the course data came to life.

5. Video

Video is becoming expanded prevalent on the interlacing these days, with the rise of YouTube and other video-streaming services. Video can significantly appreciate course materials, nevertheless (as with audio) it can be gargantuan to manage, due to multiple video formats and players. On the PC, AVI is the governing format and Windows Media Player is the universal player. On the Mac, MOV is the format of election and the Quicktime Player from Apple is the ruling player. However, there are other video formats and players, including Genuine media / Corporeal Player and others.

When Flash MX 2004 was released, video was a greater component. And with Flash CS3, video has be remodelled even easier to incorporate. You can deploy video on your own server or on a committed Flash Streaming Video Server, for extra bandwidth. Flash has its own video format, called Flash Video (FLV). Flash videos can be played by any Flash movie (SWF) file, so no extra player is necessary. In fact, a majority of the movies endow on YouTube were done in the Flash video format.

A short demonstration video, not longer than 1 minute, can be embedded in a Flash movie. Anything longer than that can be linked to a Flash movie data and establish to progressively download from your server. If you are expecting a quota of traffic and keep longer movies, you should call a Flash Video Streaming server. There are bounteous of these FMS services away there, and SyberWorks uses UpStream Networks to host our larger videos.

With Flash and ActionScript, it is besides feasible to determine another than dependable play videos. Cue Points can fundamental off of specific video frames, to check other events. And the recent captioning naked truth can add closed captioning for video segments. At SyberWorks, we created a video of a speaker presenting a slideshow. Cue Points in the video triggered salient paragraph to appear, and prepared it seem that the viewer was in reality on-site, watching the latest presentation.

However deal in in brainpower that video is processor-intensive. Excogitate your audience and the minimum method requirements imperative to glimpse streaming Flash videos. Dropped frames and inconsistent playback can come off on slower machines.

6. Drag-and-Drop Interactions

A lucid multiple-choice beseech can be forcible in testing situations, but drag-and-drop interactions can add frequent fine features of an interactive process. With drag-and-drop interactions, you can simulate experiences that mimic the factual world.
Using Flash and ActionScript, drag-and-drop interactions can be created from scratch, using hitTest properties and if conditionals to check if an phenomenon has been dropped on a specific target. If the thing has landed on its equitable target, the handle shows a correctly response or visual/audio feedback. If the article is not dropped on its exactly target, an incorrect response or visual/audio feedback can occur.

In Flash, you can access built-in drag-and-drop (and other) interactions, by going to the Window menu, then to Familiar Libraries, and then to Learning Interactions. The interactions are ActionScript 2.0 only, but acquire all of the features all-important to build manifold desired interactions. You can then cause the Flash Element Super intender to configure interactions, replace their text, and transform the conditions of their tests.

At SyberWorks, we created drag-and-drop interactions to fair the multiplied custom-content needs of our clients. Doing a custom employ gives us entire driver's seat over both the gaze and stroke of course environments and the parameters of their interactions. Audio very helps to deliver user feedback for every action, and a ending screen tells users how effectively they completed the exercises.

7. Components

Flash comes with ready-made user-interface components that you can add to courses and configure washed-up the Component Inspector and the Parameters panel. These components include: Radio Buttons, Checkboxes, Paragraph Fields, clickable Choice Buttons, File Boxes, and Combo Boxes. Components in Flash CS3 are easier than ever to customize; simply double-click on a component and redact its в skin.в
ActionScript can telephone on a specific intent and crack whether its occasion matches a Boolean value, as in a Radio Button or Checkbox. You can even applicability ActionScript to countdown for specific conditions and reimburse firm values, to dream up your own quizzes and analysis interactions.

You can and dynamically renovate the content for components from an extraneous words file. So exercise operation is even easier now, using Flash Components and ActionScript.

8. Effective Contents

As mentioned above, Flash lets you pull issue into Aggressive Subject fields. You can import variables from a no problem topic file, or load passage from an HTML or XML file. Flash CS3 has expanded its capabilities to grasp XML files, with E4X.
You can extremely employ a loader entity to bring exterior words into subject fields. This loader protest has specific conditions that when met, will demonstration text when the loading is completed (or demonstrate an misapprehension indication if a disagreement occurred). Changing text can be formatted finished an outward CSS file, or using effortless HTML tags. But any text environment that will be accepting energetic text should chalk up all font characters embedded or fix to a manner font.

The better overhaul of using energizing text is flexibility. When the content of your utilize changes, itв s much easier to copper an out text case than to modify text embedded in a Flash file. Text that is imported dynamically is cached by the Flash Player, so be definite to bright your cache when you renew the content of your app.

9. Built-In Inquire Templates

In appendix to its built-in learning interactions, Flash too offers Request templates. Simply birr to File, then to New, and in the Templates section, grip the Interrogate category.

There are three Solicit styles to choose from. At the left of the stage, a Direction component provides instructions and is governed by the Component Inspector. You can construct adjustments to the full Appeal and choose creature options. Each frame in the Petition template has its own allot of learning interactions for you to choose from. So when you charge a multiple-choice question, you can write and cement the frame for multiple-choice questions and replace it as needed.

Itв s further evident to place up a Ask from this template. And by default, the Post settings are set to SCORM 1.2, for sending the templateв s Entreat results to an LMS. Weв ll gossip besides about that in the closest section.

10. Built In SCORM/AICC Bed

Flash supports the SCORM 1.2 and 2004 standards, as able-bodied as AICC. Any operate that you evolve in Flash (that needs to communicate with the SyberWorks LMS) must be в publishedв using these templates. Force to the Folder menu, and then to Announce Settings. Click the HTML tab and choose the grip template for the type of tracking you want.

In an HTML record that has been published by Flash, you will treasure a copious JavaScript file, containing all of the functions and variables compulsory to populate the Practice Programming Interface for the LMS. There are as well functions for connecting Sharable Content Objects with the LMS.


But cache in faculty that Flash does not fabricate a indicate list for its published content. So you may devoir to operate an outermost display apply to collect all of the components in your application, for upload to an LMS. (A instruct string is a library of all of the assets required for a course, including SCOв s, HTML, SWF, and other files.) The SyberWorks LMS supports all SCORM 1.2- and AICC- compliant courses, and our customer-service representatives can relieve you configure your present files, for hosting on our LMS.

About the Author:

Al Lemieux is a Senior Designer at SyberWorks, Inc.SyberWorks is a custom e-Learning solutions gathering that specializes in Learning Control Systems, e-Learning solutions, and custom online course development. Al is again a frequent contributor to the Online Knowledge Content Journal. The Online Practice Content Comic book blog looks at blessing practices, techniques, and trends in online familiarity manner and e-Learning instructional design.