Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format Webinar

Two weeks ago I delivered a presentation at the DevLearn 09 Conference on: Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format which focused on how one can deliver a range of content using the ubiquitous PDF format. During my session I showed my participants how I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended, Adobe Captivate 4, Camtasia Studio, and Adobe Presenter to create rich and engaging eLearning assets. Using a combination of these tools it is possible to create some interesting materials that can be shared with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. One of the real take aways from the presentation is that it is now possible to embed video in your PDF's which your users can view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.

The presentation was well received and it occurred to me that there may be others out there who may benefit from this presentation who were not able to attend the DevLearn 09 Conference. I am in the process of putting together a 1 hour long webinar to show you how to make the most of the tools you have at your disposal. There will be a nominal fee of $19.99 to attend the webinar but your return on investment will be huge. You can pay and register for the webinar by clicking on this link.

In the webinar you will learn how to:

• Create interactive handouts in PDF format with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
  
• Embed a SWF and FLV File into a PDF
• Create PDF Portfolios with a range of rich media
• Create Flash based eLearning assets with Adobe Presenter
• Upload a Captivate SWF file to BlackBoard as a zip package
• Embed Adobe Captivate SWF files into your projects
• Output your Adobe Captivate projects in PDF format
  

The Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format Webinar is scheduled for January 11, 2010 at 1:00 pm EST. To Register click here. Plan now to attend!

DevLearn 09 Follow-up

After nearly a week out of the office attending the Adobe Summit and DevLearn 09 Conference I'm back in my office catching up. I met some really wonderful people and really enjoyed the conversations we had about the state of eLearning. It was very exciting to meet up with professionals in this area who I have only interacted with online for the past couple of years. To say the least, we are living through some really interesting and exciting times when it comes to learning and how to capitalize on the power of the web for eLearning.

I had over 50 participants at my session Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format and focused on how one can deliver a range of content using the ubiquitous PDF format. During my session I showed how I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended, Adobe Captivate 4, and Adobe Presenter to create rich and engaging eLearning assets. Using a combination of these tools it is possible to create some interesting materials that can be shared with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. One of the real take aways from the presentation is that it is now possible to embed video in your PDF's which your users can view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. During my demonstration I showed how you can embed SWF files into a Word document and create an interactive handout which can be saved as a PDF file. In fact this is the way I recently created my ebook Technology Supports for Writing. There a lots of ways to use PDF's to create handouts and eLearning materials using Adobe Acrobat Portfolios. You can take a look at this video that I created to give you some ideas of how you might use the Portfolio feature in the work that you do. To get a copy of my handouts from the conference you can download them from the DevLearn 09 Web site.

Speaking at the DevLearn 2009 Conference

I am really excited to have my presentation accepted this year at the DevLearn 2009 Conference which will be held in San Jose, CA from November 10-13, 2009. This is a great opportunity for me to share how I have been using eLearning in the work that I do teaching graduate courses in educational and assistive technology. I will be speaking on the topic of: Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format. It is also an opportunity for me to meet some of the renowned leaders in the field of eLearing and learn the latest from some of the best in the field. While I'm out in San Jose, I will also have a chance to spend Monday at the Adobe Learning Summit 2009, an all day conference focusing on learning more about the Adobe products and how to best use them to put together innovative eLearning materials.

Here is a synopsis of my presentation for the DevLearn 2009 Conference:

Using the ubiquitous PDF format, it is now easier than ever to deliver your digital assets for your students to view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. Today you can also take advantage of screencasting software (Adobe Captivate and Camatasia Studio) that can be integrated into a PDF Portfolio. These technologies now let you incorporate rich media into your courses, and deliver them as a PDF.

In this session, participants will learn how to create PDF Portfolios that can contain Word documents, graphics, Excel spreadsheets, and video, and deliver your final document in one PDF file. You will learn how to use Adobe Acrobat Extended Pro with Adobe Presenter to create e Learning materials from your PowerPoint slides that you can publish as a PDF. You will also view a recently completed eBook project called Technology Support for Writing that incorporates SWF videos.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create a PDF Portfolio using a variety of file formats


• How to create e-Learning materials from your PowerPoint slides using Adobe Presenter


• How to integrate SWF videos from Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate into your PDF Portfolios


• How to deliver your PDF Portfolio with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader


• How to add SWF videos to Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

If you you are interested in eLearning this is one conference you will not want to miss. Hope to see you there.

Adobe Presenter 7 Updated

Adobe Presenter, one of the key rapid authoring tools in the Adobe eLearning suite, has released an important product update. Paresh Kharya, the Project Manager for Adobe Presenter, has covered some of the key highlights of this release in his post on the Connect User Forum.

A couple of key feature enhancements that are sure to get users excited are:

• Improved PowerPoint Conversion and PPTX format support: This update would include support for various PowerPoint SmartArt Animations. It would now be possible to work with and synchronize PowerPoint SmartArt animations. This release would include enhancements for improving the flash conversion fidelity of embedded images in PowerPoint. The release would also enhance the conversion fidelity for various text and shape effects created in PPTX format. Resolved issues where alternative text inserted using PowerPoint was not being exposed to screen readers. Based on what I’ve seen, the PPT conversion capability with this update will whip the other presenters out there.

• Tighter integration of Captivate Content in Presenter: We have enhanced the support for embedding Captivate created flash content in Presenter presentations. Captivate content having full motion recordings would now play properly without the need to manually copy the Captivate output files to Presenter data folder. We have also fixed issues related to loss of display fidelity when Captivate content would sometimes get imported with incorrect dimensions.

• Fixed some of the audio errors and sound clipping

• This update addresses a number of issues related to making Presenter content more accessible.

You can download the Adobe Presenter 7 Update by clicking on this link. I plan on demonstrating how I use Adobe Presenter 7 at the DevLearn 2009 Conference in San Jose, CA in mid November. If you are planning on attending please stop by my session and say hello.

Back to Teaching

With the new semester just beginning I have been preoccupied with getting my graduate classes set up and running. It is always exciting to start a new semester full of new ideas and ways to deliver and instruct my classes. Last week I had a chance to use PollEveryWhere in my class and it worked like a charm. My students were impressed and enjoyed the opportunity to learn a new technology that they may be able to use in their classroom. I plan on using more digital assets for my hybrid courses using tools like Camtasia Studio 6, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Acrobat 9, and Adobe Presenter which I can utilize wtih BlackBoard.

For the past couple of months I have been developing an Assistive Technology eBook with a colleague, complete with video tutorials that should be out in a couple of weeks. More to come about this eBook in a couple of days. It is an exciting project and one that shows the true potential of these various tools for educational purposes. The final product will be delivered as a downloadable PDF file taking advantage of Acrobat 9 now being able to play video's with nothing more than Acrobat Reader 9. Boy we have come a long way!

So stay tuned to this blog for more information about the Assistive Technology eBook and my reflections on using more digital assests in my courses using the aforementioned software applications.

Inserting Flash Video (flv) into your Captivate 3 Projects

In addition to all of the rich interactive features that are included within Captivate 3 it is nice to know that you can insert video into your projects right within the application. In order to insert a video into your Captivate projects it must be in the Flash Video format (FLV). While playing around with Adobe Presenter 7, I found a way to use the web capture feature to record Flash Video with my webcam and wanted to share this tip with you.

If you have Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended installed on your computer you will also have Adobe Presenter 7 installed which gives you access to this feature that I highlight in the screencast. Using this feature will enable you to add Flash Videos to your projects which can go a long way to teaching someone a skill within your Captivate 3 project. Once you have the video saved in the FLV format it is very easy to insert it into your project, as you will see. So click here to view the screencast. Enjoy!

Adobe Presenter 7- Making eLearning Come to Life

While attending the NECC 2008 Conference this summer, I had the opportunity to sit through several of the Adobe presentations to see what new applications were on the horizon. Adobe was tauting their latest application called Adobe Presenter 7 which is a plug-in to PowerPoint. I would like to thank Roman from A & R Edelman for providing me with a review copy of Adobe Presenter and for his support. In a nut shell, Adobe Presenter 7, lets you convert your legacy PowerPoint applications into a Flash based presentation or PDF file. That being said, there is a lot under the hood of Adobe Presenter 7 which can turn your PowerPoint slides into a dynamic eLearning environment complete with video, navigation, attachments, quizzing, and audio. PowerPoint 2007, Adobe Presenter 7 installs a new Ribbon with all of the features. Adobe Presenter 7 is part of Adobe Acrobat 9 Extended version. Using the Help menu it was rather easy to build my first Adobe Presenter 7 presentation which included video, Flash based video tutorials that were authored in Captivate 3, and audio. Using a webcam I was able to include a video of myself introducing my company and services, which gave my piece a nice touch. Adobe Presenter 7 allowed me to customize the look and feel of the final project and even let me include PDF attachments which can make this a great way to deliver eLearning material on the web.

Having created Flash based software tutorials in Captivate 3, I could easily embed them in my PowerPoint slide presentation with complete control of how they behaved with the controllers. When thinking of the future of training, I for one am very excited by the fact that I can now embed Flash based videos directly into a PDF file which can be viewed with nothing other that the free Adobe Reader 9. This is a new feature with the release of Adobe Acrobat 9 this spring. Think about that for a moment. That is very powerful! With nothing more than Adobe Acrobat Reader 9, your students or clients will be able to take advantage of video and audio with the confidence it will just work. As long as you have Flash installed on your computer you can be sure that your presentation will deliver the content. According to the surveys more than 98% of all computer users have Flash installed. This is very exciting for me just thinking of all the possibilities of building engaging and interactive environments for others to learn new skills.


In the presentation that I created you will see how all of these elements have come together. I was able to include video from my webcam, audio from a lapel microphone, and Flash video tutorials, along with some training PDF files. What I'm most impressed about the product is just how well it wraps everything up and when you are finished you get a very professional looking presentation to share with the world. I found Adobe Presenter 7 easy to learn to use and without so much as a manual I was creating this highly interactive eLearning materials. Adobe Presenter 7 is a wonderful integrator, helping you to bring all of the pieces together to make for an exciting and interesting elearning experience. I for one really enjoyed putting this project together. Click here to view the presentation, right within your browser or if you want you can download the presentation as a PDF file here. The PDF file is 11 megabytes and will take a little time to download. This will give you some idea of the power of Adobe Acrobat in its current release. You will need to download Adobe Acrobat 9 Reader to view this presentation. Adobe Presenter 7 also allows you to create quizzes for the purpose of assessment, with a variety of different types of question formats that can be integrated into your learning management system (LMS). I will tackle this feature in another blog post later next week. You can download a trial version of Adobe Presenter 7 from the Adobe website.