Welcome - Getting Started with Presenter '09

[David Anderson]

Welcome to the forums!

We're glad you're here. We know you're anxious to get started so we prepared some resources to help you get the most from Presenter '09.

• Welcome Screencast

Tutorials:
Presenter '09 product tutorials provide a general overview of the most common features. The Community Tutorials cover a range of features and were created by members in Articulate's elearning community. New tutorials are added each week by users just like you.

• Presenter '09 Product Tutorials
• Presenter Community Tutorials

Presenter '09 Getting Started Screencasts:

• Record narration
• Sync animations
• Add annotations
• Controlling slide-advance behavior
• Overview of the player template
• Controlling view modes of your player
• Customize the sidebar
• Insert a movie
• Adding a quiz or interaction to your course
• Add an attachment
• Overview of publishing
• File management basics

Community Resources:

• The Rapid Elearning blog: practical elearning tips & tricks
• The Word of Mouth blog: the latest news on Articulate features, tutorials, & events
• Twitter - Follow the team on Twitter

E-learning Examples:

• Customer Spotlight
• Rapid E-learning Blog

Customer Support:

• Feature Request
• Contact Us
• Presenter '09 KnowledgeBase: Subscribe via RSS

[nealrdavis]

Hi David ... and Jeanette. (...this is not exactly a quick reply. Sorry)

I'm not sure which one of you to address in this quick reply, but I guess that doesn't matter. I assume that both of you and perhaps others Art team members will read it some time.

You both have a laid a very helpful trail of cookie crumbs for the newbie Articulate user to root out! I'm kind of snuffling around now...have started mulling over an incredibly simple couple of powerpoint slides to begin with. ... to introduce my new project on our company intranet. Just wanted to let you know.

I am still wrestling with how to best approach my goal and respond to learner's needs and also keep the company happy ... with regard to my corporate English training role at PTTEP. My biggest initial problem..not yet solved..is how to use what little time I have on e-learning development on/with a huge (3000+) target audience. I've got all levels of learner, from beginning to near native speaker level proficiency in English, and, well, I am not sure that my beginning skills with Articulate are going to be sufficient for such a large number various level learners.

I'm not really asking you--I have to figure this out myself. I've been a trainer now for ... shudder ... almost 30 years. Got my MA in EFL back in 1976 from the University of Hawaii. At any rate, I wanted to compliment both of you and I much appreciate your efforts. I am quite happy with my progress .... although I think that I have spent too much time learning about and participating in Facebook (widely used by Thai employees here) and Twitter (not so many--this was for my own personal benefit).

Never mind ... It's time to really begin to address the issues that IMMEDIATELY face me, as I begin to use Articulate to supplement other training work I do. ( Musing? What kind of simple interface with my learners is going to be the most successful???? Hmmm. A newsletter? No, too long. I think a microblog type of shared contact with them is the way to go. They certainly don't want a fully-fleshed out course! I'll have their attention for only a few minutes. Get an idea of my agony? No reply needed. <smile>)

Cheers ... and before I forget ... my original reason for posting this was to say to you after seeing more and more and more resources ..... sigh ..... Oh, no, more reading. There's just so much to read. LOL. I'll be in touch with all of you.

Neal

[Jeanette]

Hi Neal It can indeed feel overwhelming when you look at the vast possibilities of all that you can do with your e-learning tools... especially when you're considering how best to dip your toe in the water & create your first course. I think you're doing the right thing by choosing a short, simple piece of content - something that you can tackle in a reasonable amount of time, and will give your audience a taste of what e-learning can offer.

Keep us posted on your progress - and feel free to start a new discussion thread here in the forums so you can describe your project in more detail. (It'll probably get more views as a separate thread, than if it were appended onto this one.) Keep asking questions as they come up, and definitely tap into the generosity of the community here - it's a great place to share ideas/outlines/samples, and to give & receive feedback! We look forward to hearing more about your new course!

[nealrdavis]

Hello Jeaneatte, David, Tom, & the Articulate Team,

I trust that you will forgive me for addressing this post to all of you.

First, thanks for the encouragement Jeanette, although I fear the word "course" is not really going to apply to my efforts; and, I appreciate your suggestion that I might consider starting a new thread, ... which leads me to ...

Question, please, team?

If I were to start a new thread, something entitled along the lines of "My First Articulate Studio 09 Project--Sharing a Corporate E-Learning Experience", (I can be very pedantic and pretentious at times LOL ), in which community forum and under which threaded discussion would you suggest that I post it? Or would one of the blogs be more appropriate?

Here, under Presenter? But, I plan (eventually) to expand my humble beginnings by incorporating Quizmaker, Engage, and the Video Encoder, should my stamina suffice and learner interest not wane.

In Tom's Rapid E-Learning Blog? I will make heavy use of content there, too, maybe the heaviest.

Or in General Discussion (... somewhere else? ...) because I will be using all 4 tools, the studio vs. just 1 or 2 tools? Although, admittedly, Presenter, according to my current understanding, will probably serve the as the foundation of the project.

I am certainly willing to share what I produce, invite constructive comment (along with a few smirks & cat calls too, of course--I've had my share over the years), and suggestions for improvement. This Articulate novice is going to need all the inspiration he can cajole out of those willing to take a peek at and react to what he produces, however rudimentary, and perhaps more importantly "boring". (... the death knell in my current situation)

Re-invigorating MOTIVATION and counteracting CORPORATE BURNOUT will always be the number 1 obstacle to success! Both in my learners and in myself!

So, where should I begin a new thread? Thanks for the time and any advice that you might be able to spare me.

Finally, if I may: Tom, the "social media--info overload" post on your Rapid E-Learning Blog really hit home with me. I made a conscious decision about a week ago to stop being distracted by Twitter. I was actually a little panicked about how I was going to track everything that was said by everyone I wanted to follow. And I kept finding more and more people to follow! Anyway, I am with you 100% on what you wrote. Excellent! (Gotta start filtering Twitter, Neal!!!)

David / Jeanette ... Just this morning I became a fan of Articulate on Facebook, but I haven't had time to explore the site yet. Will my "fan"-dom be communicated/posted to all my friends, on Facebook, too? I am getting a little concerned about how Facebook (and Twitter) forward / announce all actions by its members. A couple of times I have posted things ... assuming they were private and direct ... and learned that I had also just sent a message to everyone! Yikes. I didn't mean to do that. Lastly, what little l have seen of Art on Facebook looks good--is the goal largely to centralize (and share) everything Articulate related? Are you guys going to try to compile all Articulate "mentions" into this Facebook account?

OK .... I'll stop. If there's any way your team can help me from being soooooo wordy ..... it will be appreciated.

Cheers,

Neal Davis
Corporate English Language Trainer
(Energy Industry: Oil & Gas)
Bangkok, Thailand

[Jeanette]

Hello Neal -

So, where should I begin a new thread? Thanks for the time and any advice that you might be able to spare me.

Good question! And the good news is, we're not super-rigid about stuff like that. The General Discussion forum's always fine, but if your initial product is created all (or mostly) in Presenter, you could post in the Presenter forum instead (it might get more views there). And of course if you want specific feedback on a quiz or Engage interaction, you can post in the Quizmaker or Engage forums, respectively.

Once you post a thread, you could also link to it from other locations... like if you post a comment on Tom's blog, you could include a link to your thread, and ask for feedback from blog readers. Or in your Twitter status, you could tweet about how you're looking for feedback on a project, and add the link to your tweet.

I became a fan of Articulate on Facebook, but I haven't had time to explore the site yet. Will my "fan"-dom be communicated/posted to all my friends, on Facebook, too?

You'll need to check your privacy settings on your Facebook account. When you interact with a fan page on Facebook (like, if you become fan, or if you comment on one of our posts, or if you mark the "Like" button on one of the posts), your friends will probably see this in their news feed, and it'll likely show up as a news item on your wall. But you can customize who sees your updates/newsfeed/& other stuff you post. On Facebook, explore the area under Settings >Privacy Settings>Profile Information. Specifically the "Posts By Me" area.

Lastly, what little l have seen of Art on Facebook looks good--is the goal largely to centralize (and share) everything Articulate related? Are you guys going to try to compile all Articulate "mentions" into this Facebook account?

Our fan page is just another way to stay connected with our customers. It's a nice avenue because we can be a little more chatty than we are on Twitter since we don't have that 140-character restriction. Plus, a lot of folks just aren't on Twitter all that much, or they don't necessarily stop by the forums here as often as they'd like. So Facebook's just one more tool we're using to reach out - in an effort to connect with folks in the venues that are familiar & useful to them. There are of course lots of other social spaces that we could be playing in, but we're trying to choose the ones that are most used by our customers. Ultimately our goal is not really to be social media mavens - we just want to create really great e-learning software and serve our community passionately and well.