Learning Object-Based e-Learning: Content Design, Methods, and Tools

Selecting LO development tools

When you are ready to develop your e-Learning course, you may wonder which LO development software you should use. There are a variety of tools on the market. Among those, I will discuss Articulate® Studio (including Presenter™ and Quizmaker™), TechSmith®’s Camtasia Studio™ and Adobe® Captivate™, based on my experience as an end-user. I have no affiliation with any of the corporations.

Although it is possible to use any one of these tools to develop different types of content (as shown in Table 5), each one has its unique features that make it more useful than others, depending on the LO content and the method you have chosen. For example, if you are developing instruction to teach mostly declarative knowledge, you will be able to use any one of the three tools, but you may find Articulate particularly helpful. It is easy to learn to use, and Quizmaker provides a variety of features for constructing test questions. If you are developing technical demonstrations (“show and tell”) and simulations (“let me do it” and “test me”), you will find Camtasia or Captivate quite useful. To quickly develop a series of branching sequences in your lesson, Captivate’s branching feature will come in handy.

Table 6 provides a summary of selected features of each tool. I reviewed the most recent version of each tool at the time of writing. Since describing the selected features of each tool in detail is beyond the scope of this article, I will discuss the following three features: (a) feedback provided in knowledge testing, (b) demonstration and simulation of technical skills, and (c) branching for soft skills.

Feedback provided in knowledge testing

When testing knowledge during practice or in an assessment at the end of a lesson, you can provide different types of feedback:

1. No feedback — A learner completes a series of questions without receiving any feedback.
2. Answer-specific feedback — When a learner submits an answer to a question, provide feedback specific to the chosen answer.
3. Question-level feedback — When a learner submits an answer to a question, provide generic feedback on that question.
4. Test-level feedback — After a learner completes a test, present a summary report of the test results. The report may include the test score, a review of chosen answers, feedback on the answers, and a pass or fail result.

All three tools discussed in this article can provide each of the different types of feedback in slightly different ways. But, compared to Camtasia’s quiz function, Articulate Quizmaker and Captivate provide more options to choose from, such as inserting an image on a question screen, enabling quiz review, shuffling answers, and randomizing and pooling questions from a question bank. Therefore, it is helpful to check whether or not it is critical to use these options in your e-Learning project before choosing a tool.

Demonstration and simulation of technical skills

Camtasia and Captivate provide features that allow you to easily capture screen movement and to develop demonstration and simulation types of e-Learning content to use for technical skills training. For example, to demonstrate how to use a new learning management system, use either Camtasia Recorder or Captivate’s software simulation option to capture screens with cursor movement and sound effects. One thing that you want to keep in mind is the types of video output files that these two tools produce, especially if it is important to produce a consistent type of media files to make them readily reusable in other projects. Captivate produces swf files. Camtasia Recorder produces camrec files, but you can import them into Camtasia Studio and then produce other types of video output files, including swf files. You can use this feature in Camtasia as a file converter.

You can use both Camtasia and Captivate to develop a simulation type of e-Learning content. With Camtasia, you can add a transparent Callout with a Flash Hot Spot to make your clip interactive — for example, you can have learners click on a certain spot on the screen in order to proceed. Captivate has a more sophisticated built-in function that allows you to easily record and produce training (practice) simulation and assessment simulation files. Also, you can store data obtained from a “test me” type of Captivate simulation on your learning management system, which is not available in Camtasia’s Callout with a Flash Hot Spot function. However, Camtasia provides simple but useful video editing features and you can use it as a video editor; you can import video clips, and then easily cut or split portions of the clips, add clips together, remove audio, or show picture-in-picture. Articulate does not have such built-in features for screen capture and editing, but instead, you may present a step-by-step procedure with images, import Flash video files, or insert Web URLs into PowerPoint slides.

Branching for soft skills

It is possible to make a branching menu with all three tools. With Articulate, you can create menu items with hyperlinks that open specific slides, and with Camtasia, you can add a transparent Callout with a Flash Hot Spot to each menu item, and set each one to jump to a certain frame. But, Captivate’s built-in branching capability can make the task much easier. This branching feature supports the use of a PBL method to teach ill-defined soft skills. Although you can view it as a series of questions and answers at a glance, the important key lies in the development of systematic branching with constructive feedback in each step that helps learners reflect on their choice of action and develop cumulative learning.

For example, let’s say that Colleen, whom I introduced to you in the opening story, was tasked with converting existing classroom training materials on workplace discrimination to an e-Learning course. She was provided with the existing print materials, and other resources such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Website (www.eeoc.gov/types/). Now, she has to conduct a detailed content analysis in order to determine the type(s) of content to deliver, and she needs to select effective instructional methods and media types to design the course. She can better answer a question as to which software she should use when she has this big picture of the overall parameters of the project. A course on workplace discrimination likely requires acquisition and application of a set of principles (e.g., what constitutes discrimination, and why?), as well as related concepts (e.g., who are “covered individuals?”), facts (e.g., “In Fiscal Year 2006, EEOC received 13,569 charges of age discrimination.”) and processes (e.g., steps to follow when filing a discrimination-related complaint).

As indicated in Table 5, she may use any one of the three software programs to develop this e-Learning course. However, if Colleen intends to implement a PBL strategy in the lessons, she may want to consider using Captivate to develop a scenario-based environment with a role-playing technique.

For example, in the scenario, an employee (which is the role that the learner is playing) is told by her employer that the she would not be able to receive service credit for the time she took off during her maternity leaves (adopted from http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/benefits.html). She is surprised, and does not know what to say immediately. To help her understand the situation better, you can provide links to additional resources; for example, explanations about what constitutes discrimination, information about the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and records of treatments that other employees in the company received during their non-pregnancy-related medical leaves. Then, you can prompt the employee with a question with several options, asking what she should do. She receives immediate constructive feedback on her action. And, she continues with the next step of simulated role playing.

What’s next?

The previous sections provided an overview of LObased e-Learning content design and an introduction of several LO development tools. Before starting a new e-Learning development project, it is helpful to review sample e-Learning programs that your colleagues recommend or demo programs available on the Web, and to try several tools such as the ones introduced here. Most vendors provide a free trial version for a limited time. Online documents and video tutorials are also available on their Websites. For example,

Articulate Quizmaker:

• www.articulate.com/products/demos/quizmaker/getting-started/
• video.techsmith.com/camtasia/latest/edu/showme/enu/cs_showme.html
• video.techsmith.com/camtasia/latest/edu/howto/enu/howto_cs4.html
• Captivate: www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/
• Also, “Getting Started Tutorials” videos come with the software.

But, always remember that a good product comes from a good design. Donald Norman’s advice (1988) on the design of everyday things applies here: “The choice of software should not be used as an excuse for poor design.”

References

Bloom, B. S., M. D. Engelhart, E. J. Furst, W. H. Hill, and D. R. Krathwohl. 1956. Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals (Handbook I: Cognitive domain). New York:

David McKay Company, Inc. Cisco Systems, Inc. 2003. Reusable learning object authoring guidelines: How to build modules, lessons, and topics [cited December 1, 2004]. Available from http://business.cisco.com/servletwl3/FileDownloader/iqprd/104119/104119_kbns.pdf.

Clark, R. C. 1999. Developing technical training: A structured approach for developing classroom and computer based instructional materials. 2nd ed. Silver Spring, MD: ISPI.

Clark, R. C., and G. L. Harrelson. 2002. Designing instruction that supports cognitive learning processes. Journal of Athletic Training 37 (4): 152-159.

Dick, W., L. Carey, and J. Carey. 2005. The systematic design of instruction. 6th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Gagne, R. M. 1977. The conditions of learning. 3^rd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Hodgins, W. 2002. The future of learning objects [cited December 1, 2005]. Available from http://services.bepress.com/eci/etechnologies/11/.

Merrill, D. 1983. Component display theory. In Instructional design theories and models: An overview of their current states, edited by C. M. Reigeluth, 279- 333. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Norman, D. A. 1988. The psychology of everyday things. New York: Basic Books.

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