Using Adobe Captivate simulations in Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server

At first glance, it may not seem that there is much use for Adobe Captivate 2 content in an Adobe Acrobat Connect. After all, Adobe Acrobat Connect has built-in screen and application sharing functionality. Should that not eliminate the need for Adobe Captivate 2 simulations? In a word, no. Screen sharing allows only one user at a time to control the application. In addition, the shared application is a real live application that may contain critical data that you cannot use for training purposes. Or, perhaps it’s a beta version of an application with unresolved issues that have to be fixed—your viewers won’t be impressed with that. There are many cases where it is useful to have Adobe Captivate 2 content in an Adobe Acrobat Connect. Here are a few:

• The instructor would like each student to be able to interact with their own copy of the simulation.
• The simulation needs to include captions or instructions unavailable in a normal screen share.
• The simulation needs to remain interactive in a recording of the meeting.
• The demonstration needs to be performed to exactly the same standards every time.
• The presenter is not an expert on the software being demonstrated.
• The demonstrated software is an early alpha or beta version.
• The results of the user interacting with the application need to be tracked.

As you can see, there are an abundance of cases where Adobe Captivate 2 content is useful in Adobe Acrobat Connect context. The good news is that using Adobe Captivate 2 content in Adobe Acrobat Connect is easy. Simply import the Adobe Captivate 2 Flash file into an Adobe Acrobat Connect content pod. That is it!

Each participant will get his/her own separate copy of the simulation to interact with. If the meeting is recorded, those viewing the recorded meeting are still able to interact with the Adobe Captivate content. The recording technique used by Adobe Acrobat Connect is unique and preserves the interactivity of onscreen objects. Instead of simply seeing a video of what happened in the meeting, users can view the recording and interact with the Adobe Captivate simulation, just like the live participants.

100% preloader for Adobe Acrobat Connect

If you publish to the Flash (SWF) output, the default preloader for Adobe Captivate is set to load 60% before starting to play content. If you choose to display content inside Adobe Acrobat Connect, you must use a preloader that loads 100%. If you publish content to Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server, Adobe Captivate automatically applies such a preloader, unless you changed the default. The file published to the server is available in your content library on the server.

In case you choose to publish locally first, Adobe Captivate already provides a 100% preloader for you. Use the following steps:

1. Open your Adobe Captivate project.
2. Open the Preferences settings either from the Movie menu or Publishing dialog box.
3. Select the Start and End tab.
4. Make sure that you have selected the Loading Screen option and click the ”…” button to browse for the SWF file.
5. Browse to and select the Adobe Acrobat Connect Preloader.swf file and click the Open button.
6. Click OK to close the dialog box.
7. Publish using the Flash (SWF) output format and share the content with meeting attendees.

Sharing content with meeting attendees

You can share Adobe Captivate content with meeting attendees at any time. Simply load the Flash file into the share pod in Adobe Acrobat Connect with the following steps:

1. As a presenter in a meeting, click the Share button in the content pod you would like to use to display the Adobe Captivate content.
2. Select Documents.
3. Select the options: Select from my Computer… and browse to the SWF file on your hard drive, or select the option, Select from Content Library… if you have already published content directly to Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server.

The Adobe Captivate Flash file automatically loads into the pod.

Figure 1. Selecting content to share with Adobe Acrobat Connect attendees

Controlling playback

Once you load the Flash file into your pod, you can choose to:

• Walk through the content yourself and let students watch
• Allow the attendees to practice
• Synchronize the attendees’ screen with your position in the simulation (this functionality is only available if you include playback controls)
• Use pointers and the white pointer to focus attention to specific areas in your Adobe Captivate Flash file.

When you include playback controls in your Adobe Captivate content, the share pod is in synchronized mode. This means the meeting presenter controls the playback of the Flash content and all attendees are synchronized to the presenter’s view. By default, the playback pauses, allowing the presenter to choose when to start the playback.

The Sync button on the bottom of the pod displays as a pressed button image.

Figure 2a. By default, when the Sync button for the content pod is selected, the presenter guides users through the Adobe Captivate Flash (SWF) file

This playback mode is helpful if you are demonstrating a linear task or running a recorded demonstration. Keep in mind that interaction results such as feedback and rollovers are not visible to attendees. Attendees also do not see the Adobe Captivate playback control. Your attendees, however, can use rollovers as interactive features in this mode.

If you, as a presenter, wish to allow attendees to practice the procedure themselves in a Adobe Captivate simulation, deselect the Sync button and ensure that it shows as displayed in Figure 2b.

Figure 2b. A deselected Sync button

The synchronization of presenter and attendees is only possible when you include playback controls/skin in your Adobe Captivate 2 content. If you load an interactive simulation without playback controls (which helps prevent learners from skipping content), Adobe Acrobat Connect automatically recognizes Adobe Captivate 2 content and starts playing the file for all attendees. Keep in mind that the pod Sync button has no effect without playback controls/skin in the Adobe Captivate 2 Flash file.

When you unsynchronize the share pod containing Adobe Captivate flash files, the playback controls become visible and active to the attendees, so they can control the playback individually. In interactive simulations, participants can now interact with the content and receive feedback based on their responses. This is a very effective use of Adobe Acrobat Connect; all attendees can practice and learn from their own mistakes while you, as the presenter, are still available to answer questions using voice over IP or the moderated chat features.

Figure 3. An interactive simulation within Adobe Acrobat Connect

Tip: It is a good practice to ask participants to change their status once they have completed the interactions or finished watching the demonstration.

Figure 4. Direct users to indicate their status

When you press the Sync button again, Adobe Acrobat Connect removes control from all attendees and every user will see the same Adobe Captivate slide as the presenter.

Using the Pointer and Whiteboard

At any time, you can use the pointer to point out certain areas in your simulation, keep in mind that all mouse clicks are active. When clicking your slide to show the pointer, you trigger click boxes and the resulting actions on that slide. Using the pointer is helpful when you walk attendees through the simulation before giving them access to practice. Simply press the Pointer button (Figure 5) at the bottom of the pod.

Figure 5. Example of the pointer tool being used to bring attention to an area of the simulation

Once you click inside the pod, the pointer will be visible to the attendees (Figure 6).

Figure 6. The pointer button

You can also use the white board to highlight areas or provide additional information. The white board uses another layer on top of your loaded Flash file. To control and interact with the simulation, you must disable the white board by clicking the white board button (Figure 7).

Figure 7. The white board button

Figure 8. Example of using the whiteboard highlighter to focus on a menu item inside a simulation

Audio considerations

If you include audio in your Adobe Captivate Flash files, the audio plays with the Flash file on the attendees’ machine. If you use voice over IP (VoIP), the participants will have their speakers turned on already and can listen to the audio. If you use a telephone conference call, tell your audience to turn on their computer speakers to hear the audio in the Flash file.

Keep in mind that playing the Flash file on your own system also plays the audio. A good practice is to turn the volume on your speakers down or turn them off completely. You can also mute your microphone for the duration of the Flash file playing. This prevents your audience from hearing an audio echo (through their own speakers and your own microphone or the phone conference) with a slight delay.

In a conference call, you may want to ask other participants to mute their microphone while audio plays.

Content scaling inside Adobe Acrobat Connect Pods

Before developing Adobe Captivate 2 content you plan to use with a Adobe Acrobat Connect, do some tests to find the optimal size for your needs.

Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server scales content to fit nicely in your pod. On a resolution of 1024 x 768, your standard content pod has a default size of about 815 x 580 pixels. If your content is captured at a smaller size such as the Adobe Acrobat Connect-Full Slide preset size, it will automatically be displayed at the correct size inside the pod. If you resize the pod to a smaller size, the content automatically scales to fit inside the smaller pod. Keep in mind that scaling Adobe Captivate content down may make small fonts difficult to read.

Pressing the Full Screen button (Figure 10) displays your meeting on your entire screen.

Figure 9. The Full Screen button

On a 1024x 768 resolution, your pod will be 1022 x 738 pixels. This should be your maximum capture size if you audience uses a 1024 x 768 screen resolution.

Score tracking in Adobe Presenter

Tracking scored Adobe Captivate 2 files is only possible by publishing directly to the Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server from within Adobe Captivate 2. To track score data inside Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server, you must first publish to Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server and load the Adobe Captivate 2 Flash file (.swf) through the content library into your pod. Tracking results will be available in your Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise Server report.

 

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