My Two Loves…Articulate Storyline and Captivate (SCORM Document Acknowledgement Box)

I hope my title didn’t alarm my wife and family.  Obviously they are my true loves, but with that said I do have two loves when it comes to eLearning software.  Articulate is a bit more intuitive and user friendly, however I still have loyalty to my original love Captivate.  There are some limitations of Articulate, but not many…it is a great product.

Recently I was presented with a problem.  How to make a PDF SCORM compliant, so that a user could review the document and acknowledge that they reviewed it?  My solution first came to me while playing in my Articulate sand box.  I simply created a True/False question slide, modified the words True to say “I acknowledge” and the word false to say “I do NOT acknowledge” (however this can be placed off the slide to make it hidden).  Then I inserted a Web Object, which displayed a PDF that was located on a “hidden” webpage.  Once published as a SCORM enabled project the LMS system will report Acknowledgements (True) as a PASS and the latter (False) as a FAIL.

After words I was left wonder if the same was possible in Captivate.  And sure enough it was.  It wasn’t as easy or intuitive, but it can be done.  With Captivate it is necessary to create the quiz True/False slide, modify the wording (but have to use Adobe’s side quiz properties panel for some parts), insert widget (Web Object widget, if you don’t have it is a free download, just Google it), then adjust the timeline a bit, and then publish with SCORM enabled.

I then felt the need to share my discovery to anyone who may be interested.  Largely due to the fact I wasn’t able to find this discovery already published on the worldwide web.

I can see this setup being a HUGE benefit for many departments (especially HR) where there are a lot of PDFs (or any type of document) that require reviewing and then acknowledging.  Much better this way because it is all packaged neatly and will generate easily into LMS reporting.

Below are some images from my Articulate and Captivate Test files (the most famous troubleshooting filename of all time, lol):

 

 

 

Toy R Us is more like Rip U Off!

After 3 weeks for constant fighting with Toy R Us to fix what should have been a simple order I'm resorting to posting my story to my blog in hopes that it may be resolved.  If nothing else my rant will hopefully make me feel better.  Below is a timeline of my saga with Toy R Us:

12/16/12 @ 11am:  Tried ordering the below 7 items, 1 to be delivered to my house, 1 for pick up at Mechanicsburg, PA,  and 5 items to be picked up at Harrisburg, PA:

1.       $39.99 Hello Kitty CD (note: CD) Player (pick up @ Mechanicsburg, PA)

2.       $34.99 Fun Years Keyboard (pick up @ Harrisburg, PA) (Note: Ordered 2 of these, see #3)

3.       $34.99 Fun Years Keyboard (pick up @ Harrisburg, PA) (Note: Ordered 2 of these, see #2)

4.       $29.99 First Act Microphone w/Stand (pick up @ Harrisburg, PA

5.       $19.99 Dora Explorer Electric Guitar (shipped to my house)

6.       $9.99 Duracell 16 pk. AA Batteries (pick up @ Harrisburg, PA

7.       FREE item, First Act Microphone without Stand….Promotion:  Purchase $100 or more of musical instruments, get FREE Microphone without Stand

12/16 at approx. 11:30am:  After about 30 minutes of frustration I was unable to get Toy R Us online website to give me item #7 First Act Microphone without Stand for free so I called 1-800-Toy-R-Us for assistance.

Note to self:  This is where I should have decided to just purchase my items somewhere else, because everything goes bad from here.

12/16 at approx. 1pm…YES, 1pm!!!  (2 hours later) a Toy R Us rep assures me that the only way to fix the issue is to have all items shipped and offered to expedite for free.   However this means I can’t use my 15% in store coupon (worth about $27 on my order).

12/17: Rec’d lots of emails stating items cancelled and reordered, however one catches my attention.  It was me being charged for my FREE item $19.99 Microphone.  Called and spoke to another rep (very rude rep), who then put me through to another rep, who then forwarded me to a third rep.  I was told problem was resolved.

12/18: Rec’d another misleading email, called and was told everything was fine.

12/19: Rec’d Guitar, keyboards, and batteries at my house.

12/20: Rec’d microphone w/stand at my house.

12/21: Rec’d Hello Kitty clock radio, however it was not the Clock Radio CD player I order (note: CD player)

Called and spoke to a rep who forwarded me to a rep. named Angel, who said she will mail me the correct item and a return label.  (Note: she actually mailed me the same wrong item and a return label, but I don’t know this yet!)  She apologizes and says no way to get this by Christmas

1/3/2013:  Still no CD Player, I call and talk to a rep who forwards me to rep “Alena” (sp.) who then forwards me to rep “AJ”, who then forwards me to “Cindy”.  Cindy @ 6:07pm promises to have a supervisor call me back within an hour.  At 7:10pm I call and raise HELL.  Rep informs me that Angel sent me wrong item again and a return label for original wrong item, and that I should be delivered the 2^nd wrong item tomorrow.  As I’m on the phone I decided to check my account and discover I was over charged $186.82.  Being that I keep most of my money in savings and not checking, Toy R Us over charge of $186.82 results in a $30 NSF fee with my bank.  Now the veins in my neck are ready to explode!!!  Rep forwards me to rep “Tiffany”.  Tiffany and I are on the phone for at least an hour, she calls my bank with me on the line, my bank confirms the overcharges (not sure why Tiffany can’t confirm herself), but she was the most helpful rep so far.  Tiffany gives me incident # and assures me that $159.35 will be credited to my bank account within 2 days, but says there is nothing she can do about a $26.97 charge for my FREE? item and the $30 NSF fee.  She said she will ask to have a corporate rep call me back.

So 3 weeks after my initial Toy R Us contact/order I am still out $56.97.  And that’s only IF the $159.35 is refunded as rep “Tiffany” promised.  Not to mention the 15% in store coupon discount I had to pass up (worth approx. $27 on my order).