How to create application (Excel) assessment with multiple answers

Report · Nov 10, 2015

I am trying to create an Excel application assessment with Captivate 9. The tricky thing is the assessment needs to be able to accept different ways of doing the same thing. For example, the learner can use the Ribbon, shortcut keys, or select/right click and use the window. Can Captivate do this?

Thank you.

Paul

Report · Nov 10, 2015

Not really with the default Assessment simulation. You can (manually) add shortcut keys to one of the other methods, but will never have three possible techniques.

Report · Nov 10, 2015

NEVER is a strong word.

I have at times created simulations that showed how to execute a task via more than one method. Sometimes this IS possible to do in Captivate and sometimes it is not.

I usually find the hardest one to replicate is the keystroke combinations that applications sometimes assign to tasks. When you are playing content from a browser, many of these keystroke combinations are reserved by the browser for its own use. This means you are stuck if your simulated app happened to need one of those that the browser already owns.

One thing that is problematic to simulate in Excel is selecting text in a cell, or dragging over an area to select a number of cells. Captivate doesn't really allow you to simulate those.

Apart from that you can usually fudge most other types of interaction.

Report · Nov 11, 2015

Three possible workflows? That would mean to capture different simulations, with each work flow that needs clicking or typing, not the shortcut keys which can be added later. All the rest has to be done with combining slides of the simulations, custom navigation and actions/variables. Tons of work, or can you explain an easy way?

Report · Nov 11, 2015

Depends on what you're simulating.

Take for example that a lot of apps have two or more ways to call a dialog. One way might be right-clicking on an item and choosing the option from a context menu. Another way might be just double-clicking the item. A third way might be via a menu option. At the end, the same dialog appears. You just need to provide the user with a way to use right-click, double-click, or single-click on a menu.

Some situations are easier. Some are harder.

The REAL issue is not which one is harder but which one/s your client demands to have; how closely they want you to try and mimic the original app.