On with the IDTE Journey....Creating a Course using Captivate

So today, I had to commit to a topic for my project proposal. So many things interest me. I decided to do something that I know a lot about (no SME but me is somewhat of an advantage). In addition, I am passionate about this topic, so I am going to give it a go. Unfortunately, it is a somewhat nebulous topic that requires higher-order skills. I am a little afraid that I won't be able to accomplish all of the learning objectives. My topic is teaching spreadsheet design. This is an important topic. Excel is an important tool for business students to learn and master. Although spreadsheet programs like Excel provide powerful analytical tools for business, in practice, they are often created and used by people with minimal programming experience. Consequently, users can often develop spreadsheets containing critical errors, which, in turn, can cause significant losses for their businesses. Errors can be reduced, however, by learning and employing good spreadsheet design techniques. Good spreadsheet design also makes it easier to update and continue to use a spreadsheet over time. I hope that I will be successful in creating a module which accomplishes the objective of teaching and having students learn good spreadsheet design guidelines.

Captivate

This week, I have been learning how to use Adobe Captivate to design course content. There are many things I like about Captivate. It seems fairly easy to use and has a lot of options in terms of interactivity. My big want is to be able to build interactivity for software training. I am waiting to see whether Captivate is capable of this and whether I can operationalize this. So far, I really like the software and am looking forward to learning more.

First Post - Who am I?

Hi 

My name is Cynthia Frownfelter-Lohrke.  I have been in Higher-Education as a business professor for over twenty-three years.  I have taught at large state schools but for the past sixteen years, I have been teaching at a small liberal arts school in Birmingham, Alabama.  About five years ago, the business school was given a mandate to put all of our MBA courses online.  I had taught the graduate MBA MIS course for eleven years so I was asked to faciltate getting that course online.  In preparation for that process, I took a series of classes and earned a certificate in online learning.  It was a valuable experience but I felt that I needed more knowledge about learners, learning, and the interactions that come with online and blended courses.  I have now taught that course online four times and continue to evaluate and change it.  When the opportunity came about to study IDTE, I was excited and have been loving learning more about this field.  I am looking forward to learning how to create course content with Adobe Captivate.