Sequentially Organized Captivate Tutorials

[bobd41216025]

Hi,

We are absolute newbies, totally green. Captivate 2017 is our first experience. Can anyone please direct us to tutorials which are designed to start with the most basic functionalities before moving to sophisticated stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated. In gratitude

[Paul Wilson CTDP · Accepted solution]

My videos on YouTube are all over the map. I started making videos before I realised that there was going to be over 270 of them, but good news. I started organising them into playlists. See if this somewhat helps: 

https://www.youtube.com/paulwilsonlearning/playlists

In particular, check out the getting started playlist. 

[Lilybiri]

Visit Lynda.com , they have several sequential video courses, some better than others. I am a daily visitor of Lynda.com, not for Captivate but for other Adobe applications which have not only a lot more courses, but often of a better level.  I'm looking for those courses that will increase my skills, rarely for basic courses. I am not only a  Captivate trainer

My blog has its focus more on advanced techniques like advanced and shared actions, creating custom question slides, tweaking etc. I have some basic articles, but not a sequential course.

Question Question Slides in Captivate - Captivate blog

Curious about Variables in Captivate? - Captivate blog

Drag&Drop tips - Captivate blog Drag&Drop in 2016 with Captivate 9 - Captivate blog

Drag&Drop in 2016 with Captivate 9 - Captivate blog

Tips - Learning Interactions - Captivate blog

You can download some free tables from these articles (including the forementioned Learning Interactions article)

System variables in Captivate 8/9 and 2017 - Captivate blog

Using Quizzing System Variables - Captivate blog

You did read my article about Skills for newbies, which has several links to related blog posts.

The big problem with most Captivate courses, especially videos, is that they (almost) never explain WHY something is being done in that work flow, which alternatives you have, and they mostly lack any tips for good practice. Acquiring good practice can seem superfluous for newbies, but they can save tons of hours later on. This is my experience due to the consultancy and training jobs I have.  There are quite a lot of questions on the forums and other social media from users stuck with a video work flow when wishing to apply it to a slightly different use case. That is what I mean about not explaining WHY nor alternatives.

You could also have a look at Kevin Siegel's books (IconLogic), which come with projects.

[bobd41216025]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for responding to our pleas and for posting the informative links to help newbies in the lurch, in need of succor. Your undeniably professional videos and coherent presentations are a boon, rescuing us with the precise solution whenever we are lost.

[Paul Wilson CTDP]

Thanks, Bob. Some people are critical of video as an instructional technique but the modern learner is frequently looking for this sort of method. In fact, I heard today that Netflix might be the next big learning platform of the future. 

The overwhelming feedback on my YouTube channel has been extremely positive. In over 2 years of making videos, I have only had a handful of negative comments on my videos. The great part about YouTube is that each video has its own comments section below the video. If users have a slightly different use case they can ask a follow-up question. I believe I have been very successful in answering almost every question asked (there have literally been thousands).

To me, I can’t address every single possibility but instructionally speaking I think it’s good practice to give a small solution that points learners in a direction where they will also learn through self-discovery. For example, you can tell a new user that it’s a best practice to label all their objects, however, users really understand this when they try to write their first complex advanced action and have to reconcile the difference between SmartShape_271 and SmartShape 472. So do my videos address every possibility? No, but they give the foundation in five to ten minutes.