Bryan Zug's Flat Hatter Collaborative

Tutorials overlaid onto live software applications??

Posted by bryanzug - 2005/10/17

I am back from presenting at the Cerner Healthcare Conference in Florida (hello humidity!). Got an interesting question from the lively Q&A following my panel presentation.

A clinical applications analyst (who is an RN) asked if any of us knew of eLearning systems that overlaid help or tutorials onto live software applications.

While I knew I had looked at one about a year ago, I could not recall the name of the product or vendor at the time of the session. Did a Google desktop search this AM and found it (that application is significantly increasing my daily productivity for finding info I know is somewhere on my machine, but is at the blurry edges of my recall)

Was thinking of the Epiplex (unfortunate name, I know — gives a connotation of perplexing epilepsy, which I, for one, do not associate with positive software system training experiences).

Had first heard of it mentioned in an article titled “Simulation-based Application Training: A Case Study” from Bersin & Associates December 2004 “What Works in E-Learning” newsletter.

Sounded like an intriguing concept and since Bersin seems like a pretty credible eLearning consulting organization, I scheduled a demo. Here’s the details of what I learned.

Epiplex is a product of a company called Epiance. It’s got a feature called ‘Desktop Assistant’ that is described on their website via the following –

Delivers Cue Cards, onscreen support for complex tasks and processes that guide the user through the application, encouraging and enforcing best practices.

If anyone knows of other products/vendors offering this kind of approach, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear about them.

Cerner Health Conference 2005 Presentation

Posted by bryanzug - 2005/10/11

As promised, here are the files from my panel presentation “Web-Based Training: Effective & Affordable Solutions” from the Cerner Health Conference in Orlando on October 10, 2005.

The PowerPoint File:

http://elearningskinny.com/wp-content/cerner_2005_zug.ppt

The Flash .exe file demoing the Children’s CIS WBT structure and interaction model. (Intended for 1024×768 screen resolution):

http://elearningskinny.com/wp-content/chc_2005_bryan_zug_wbt_demo.exe

ASTD Techknowledge 2005 Presentation: Streamlining WBT Development with Macromedia Captivate and Flash

Posted by bryanzug - 2005/09/20

Here’s the .pdf handout to the ASTD Techknowledge presentation I gave in Las Vegas in February 2005 with my eLearning partner in crime, Karen Hofmann (every good eLearning technical developer needs a really great subject matter expert — and Karen is the Bees Knees).

It’s a case study of the first phase of development of our web based training (WBT) system using Macromedia’s Captivate and Flash toolset. Description from the session is below (along with a link to the ASTD file). Enjoy!

Streamlining WBT Development with Macromedia Captivate and Macromedia Flash at Children’s Hospital Seattle Presented by: Karen Hofmann, Bryan Zug, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center In this session, participants will explore the use of Captivate and Flash in streamlining software training WBT development. Participants will examine successes and lessons learned by the presenters who are internal content experts and WBT developers at Children’s Hospital Seattle. The session will include a short introduction to Captivate, demonstrations of Captivate to Flash functionality, a look at Children’s WBT development Flash templates, and an overview of the WBT development lifecycle. Learning Objectives:

• Apply the key strengths and weaknesses of Captivate and Flash in the full WBT development lifecycle.
• Use Captivate to support streamlined project deliverable timelines by reducing Flash developer resources required for course production of enterprise-wide WBTs.
• Enable novice, non-technical content experts to efficiently produce technical training content for your own learning audiences.

Sys-Con MX Developer’s Journal Article: Between a Rock and a Soft(ware) Place

Posted by bryanzug - 2005/09/20

Here’s a .pdf of the article I wrote for the March 2005 Edition of MX Developer’s Journal (a Sys-Con publications). It’s called “Between a Rock and a Soft(ware) Place: Streamlining Web-based training development with Captivate & Flash” and is the story from a technical web developer’s perspective.

MXDJ editor, Charles Brown, had some nice things to say about our work in the introduction to the issue, so I’ve included that in the .pdf as well.

I do have to say that I love the fact that they used the exact line I hoped they would use for one of the pullout quotes. It’s one of those that, as I wrote it, I thought to myself, that’ll make a nice pullout quote.

It reads –

When incorrect use of a system can kill people, you tend to be very serious about certifying that everyone using it has demonstrated correct completion of the system tasks that are a part of their job

That is so cool.

The MXDJ version of the article can be found at –

http://mxdj.sys-con.com/read/48958.htm

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