How to break down a huge file

[Gracie_Li]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone had ideas on how to break down a huge file. I have a Captivate file which is close to 1,500 slides. The content itself is small and manageable of 123 slides including knowledge check questions. The course explains how to use one of our software products so we provide our students with procedures and demonstrate how they work. My issue is that once I added in the demo slides, my file is huge and doesn't work properly due to this fact. As it is so large, the programming doesn't function properly (i.e., button states, etc.), some images or buttons are not displayed, etc. 

Any ideas on how I can manage this better?

[Stagprime]

Here is my advice. Take it as you would or as much as you can despite its brevity.

As a rule of thumb, always break down material into as small of chunks as reasonable.

I like to keep all videos under 10 minutes.

I like to keep text narration on slides under 1 minute.

What I like about the smaller bites of information is that the learner can consume them quickly and feel a sense of progress.

I like the saying that goes something to the effect of "Inch by inch, its a cinch. Mile by mile, it takes a while."

It ties to learner motivation. If you have 10 small things that allow the learner to see their progress they just might finish despite the struggle because they see the light at the end of the tunnel. On the other hand, if it is one ginormous thing, they might become overwhelmed and give up or not participate as fully.

I do not know your software product but perhaps there is a good way to section the course. A module for each section (file, edit, view, etc.) Perhaps a module for common sections. Perhaps one task at a time. Maybe a separation of basic, intermediate, and advanced functions of the software. Again, I do not know what would make the most sense for your software but these may hopefully spark some ideas.

I might even suggest brainstorming the minimum required skills needed to make your software serve its purpose and make that the focus of the "Main" module. Other tasks might fall under a more advanced course.

Perhaps you break it down by quiz or demo. If you have several demos of various features, perhaps you use that as the separation factor.

Again, hopefully this helps and if I misunderstood the question, please let me know.

[Gracie_Li]

Thanks for your input. I have already done most of these. The problem is that this is a certification program consisting of 21 hours of training which the learner completes along with various hands-on exercises and a final exam carried out directly in our product. Once they complete everything, they are then certified for three years after which time they would need to be recertified or advance to the next level. We already have three different levels of certification for this one product and all are approximately the same length in time.

I was looking for suggestions on how I could program the demos. My initial idea is that the learner could 'call' a demo when the demo button was clicked which would lighten the initial file into bits, however, this would represent more maintenance.

Any other suggestions?

[Stagprime]

So the Captivate modules are stored and called up directly from your software program...?

...and if a person purchases your software, they get all of the training modules when they install it?

Or do the Captivate modules reside in the cloud with pointers from the software?

I can see how this might get complicated quickly.

[Gracie_Li]

Companies/individuals purchase our software products and if they want to be trained and certified on the product, they would also purchase training. The online training is housed in our LMS and we would give them access to it.

When I mentioned 'calling' up the various demos, I meant the initial training module (developed with Captivate but housed in our LMS) would have links where when a demo button is clicked, a new window would open displaying the simulation demo.

[Stagprime]

OK - so all is housed in the LMS with paid access to the training.

So when you say "call up" a demo, you would be linking from one Captivate file to another?

I realize that you might be limited by what your LMS will allow from an organizational standpoint.

Another reason I like smaller chunks is that I can choose to offer freedom to the learner.

Call it a respect for prior knowledge, if you would.

Learners, especially adult learners, will appreciate the choice of testing out of material they already know versus what they would consider wasting time being forced to watch/listen/read or perhaps speed-mashing the next button.

In my larger courses, I separate content from activities from exams. In the course, I refer them to the activities so that when they have spent the time they feel they need in the content, they can move on to the activity.

You mentioned "more maintenance" and perhaps that is a relative term or perhaps based on the admin capabilities your LMS offers.

I like the smaller Captivate files so that if an issue is identified, I can hit just that one small file without affecting the grander scheme.

Also by keeping it modular, I find it easier to maintain in the long run. If a certain section is updated for some reason, I have less dependencies to worry about if I have to add or remove content.

[Erik Lord]

What are these 'Demo Slides' that are taking up so much space?

[Gracie_Li]

The demo slides that we have incorporated within the module are actually simulations on how the software works. Also developed with Captivate so that if something changes, we could modify quickly without having to completely redo everything

.

[LineP]

When you say "demo" is it then a true software simulation or is it a recorded screen with no interactivity?

Do you have any plain video content in your project?

/Jacob

[Gracie_Li]

Our demos are demonstrations of procedures in our software products. The student is presented with the procedure then they view a demo of it. For the demos, the only interactivity is a play bar and guide explaining what they are seeing when needed. In some of the courses we use the same files for a 'your turn to try' where the learner needs to actually perform the procedure with no hints, so full interactivity.

As for plain video content, we do have some but very basic. We used to only use video to demo but every time there was an update to a feature in our software products, we would need to recreate the video and edit it which is very time consuming.

[Erik Lord]

So...if the 'demos' are non-interactive, how about this:

-publish those CP demos as MP4

-upload those to a private YouTube channel

-embed those YouTube videos in the piece using the YouTube widget

That keeps these large videos out of your actual project, and will provide better performance as they're served from a streaming service (YouTube).

Save the actual CP content itself for the surrounding content - information, 'your turn to try', and quizzes.

If you need to keep the content all in one overall project, getting the linear videos out of the project and delivered via YouTube should help significantly.

Otherwise, the best approach is as Stagprime is suggesting, break it up...but how well that works with your requirements is very dependent on the features of your LMS (for example, can you setup a 'course' in the LMS with several 'lessons' - each lesson being a smaller CP piece...and the user cannot get credit for the 'course' unless all 'lessons' are completed)

[Gracie_Li]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

I have decided to split this module of the program into smaller, more manageable bits to keep everything together.