I Came, I Saw, I Learned...

Social Media: How to Search for (and Actually Find) Your Old Tweets

by AJ George 

Last week I wrote an article about the WWDC announcements and wanted to link back to some interesting articles I'd tweeted in regard to iPads in the classroom. Searching through old tweets (particularly when you are a frequent tweeter), however, can be a bit of a nightmare. Luckily there are some free sites that will handle this chore for you.

Snapbird

The site I used was Snapbird because it is super fast and super easy. Just fill in three fields: what kind of twitter item you are looking for (a timeline post, a direct message, etc.), who posted it, and keywords. Done.

Topsy Advanced Search

Topsy Advanced Search is also fast and easy, but with more specific search options. This could save you a lot of time if your search query returns a lot of results.  My search was very simple, so Snapbird was all I needed. However, what if I wanted to do a search for my tweets about iPads, but I didn't want any of my video tweets to show up? I generally preface my video tweets with the word "video," so, using Topsy, I can elect to omit any results containing "video." This could also be useful for general Google searches, as you can use Topsy to search Google as well. 

Google

Of course, the Grand Poobah of search engines, Google, can accomplish this task for you as well. However, if you have particularly lazy fingers, this way might seem a little bit like work.  Additionally, I'm not sure why, but this method flat out did not work for me. I did the same search for "iPad" that I did on the other sites, but nothing showed up on Google. I tried other keywords that worked fine, but all searches using the keyword iPad came up blank. But since this method of site-specific search works not only for Twitter, but for all sites, I suppose it's worth a mention.

Enter your query in this format: 

site:twitter.com inurl:"username" keyword

So, for example, if I want to search my own Twitter for posts mentioning iPads, my query would look like this:

site:twitter.com inurl:"andrayajgeorge" iPad

Using Boolean operators (OR, AND, and NOT), Google site searches can become even more specific. As with Topsy, you can use Google search to omit results. All you need to do is add a minus sign (-) in front of the word you'd like to omit. Using the example above, if I wanted to search my Twitter feed for posts on iPads that didn't mention video, my search query would look like this:

site:twitter.com inurl:"andrayajgeorge" iPad-video

Are you using another Twitter search site with great success? We'd love to hear what you're using. 

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AJ teaches a live, 3-hour class that offers tips/tricks for improving the look and feel of your PowerPoint presentations: Slide Sprucing: Remodeling Lackluster PowerPoint Slides for eLearning and Presentations. 

Adobe Captivate 6: What a Character!

by Kevin Siegel  

If you've spent time working with the Microsoft Office Suite, you  can appreciate how Microsoft provides free images that can be added to a slide with just a few clicks of the mouse. What kind of assets have historically been included with Captivate? Beyond some canned animations, not much. I've always felt that the lack of free quality images was a major shortcoming within Captivate.

With the newest release of Captivate, Adobe has addressed that shortcoming. If you visit the Insert menu in Adobe Captivate 6, you'll find a new Characters menu item.

After selecting Characters from the Insert menu, the Characters dialog box will open. There are multiple Categories, each containing multiple posed models that you are free to use in your projects. According to Adobe, the Characters will be updated from time to time, so you will likely gain access to even more Characters over time. 

 

Pick a Category, select a pose, click the OK button, and the selected image will appear on your slide. Anyone who has spent hours trying to find cohesive images of people for use in an eLearning project is going to be really excited about this new feature, especially since the background has already been removed from each of the Characters. The inserted Characters can be resized just like any other image. And just like that, you've got yourself an eLearning guide for your lesson.

Note: If you don't have many characters, visit the Adobe Captivate trial download page and download the eLearning Assets. Once the assets are installed, you will find that several posed characters have been added to Captivate.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online Captivate 5 classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced). Our Captivate 6 classes will ramp up in August.

Writing & Grammar: Do I Need a Comma? Compound Sentence versus Compound Predicate

by Jennie Ruby  

Even grammar instructors hate some grammar rules. I myself hate one grammar rule in particular: the injunction against putting a comma in a sentence with a compound predicate. Do you feel me, man? Ok, well maybe I need to explain what that rule is before you can sympathize.

The word "compound" in grammar means you have two of the item in question. A compound sentence contains two sentences. A compound noun is two nouns. A compound adjective is two adjectives. And a compound predicate is two predicates. A predicate, of course (goes without saying, really, doesn't it?) is the verb's part of the sentence: the verb and its entourage of stuff that can follow a verb: a direct object, an adverb or two, an indirect object, and so forth. (Grammar mavens: the technical term for the stuff belonging to the verb is "complement.") Here are examples showing a compound sentence and a compound predicate:

Compound sentence

Her job was to answer every single email message, and she did it very well.

Compound predicate

In her job she answered every phone call and replied to every email message.

In the compound sentence the part after the word and is a complete sentence. Notice the comma before the word and. In the compound predicate the part after and is just a predicate.

The Rule

Do not use a comma in a compound predicate. Do use a comma in a compound sentence joined by and (or another coordinating conjunction).

The Challenge

Put a comma in each of the compound sentences. Leave out the comma in each of the compound predicates. As always, I look forward to seeing your answers.

1. The ice cream truck entered the neighborhood and turned on its loudspeaker.
2. The loudspeaker sputtered to life and children came running.
3. Children were not the only patrons of the ice cream truck but the adults tended to arrive more slowly.
4. Icy-cold confections soon moved through the neighborhood and dripped multicolored sweetness on the sidewalks.
5. A dog licked the sticky pavement under its owner's feet and a cat looked disdainfully down from its perch on a porch railing.
6. The truck trundled to the end of the block and turned out into the traffic of the main street but it left an indelible mark on the memories of the children.

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Our answers to last week's challenge are brought to you byRebecca Fleisch Cordeiro. She has correctly noted that all of these clauses and phrases are adverbial--answering questions such as when, where, and why the action in the sentence occurred or occurs.

1. Until the barn is full, we will continue to deliver hay. 
Adverbial clause "until the barn is full"... needs a comma
2. Until yesterday, we did not know the groundhog was under the shed. 
Adverbial phrase "until yesterday," less than 5 words, comma optional; I put it in so reader will pause
3. Because the hawk was flying overhead, the small birds hid in the bushes. 
Adverbial clause "because the hawk was flying overhead," so needs comma
4. Because of the hawk's cry, all of the squirrels froze in their tracks. 
Adverbial phrase "Because...cry" with 5 words, so I left the comma in
5. During the cool and damp early morning hours, we stayed on the screened porch. 
Adverbial phrase "During...hours" with more than 5 words, needs comma
6. While the children played in the pool, we sat in the shade.
Adverbial clause "while...pool", so needs comma
7. After you click the icon once, you must wait for the picture to fully load. 
Adverbial clause "after...once", so needs comma
8. After lunch we will cover photo filtering. 
Adverbial phrase "After lunch," less than 5 words, comma optional. I left it out.

Correct answers also came from Vicki Hendricks, Sonia Verma, and Jing Ping Fan (JP).

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If you like Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.

eLearning: Apple's WWDC Announcements and the Industry Impact

by AJ George 

At the 23rd annual WWDC, Apple announced its new lineup of Macbooks and new stuff Siri has learned, as well as (some pretty cool) new features coming with iOS 6.

For eLearning professionals, a couple of the new iOS 6 features may be of particular interest. With the new release, you'll be able to simply circle items on-screen that you'd rather learners not touch while they work within an app (the settings button, for example). You will also have the option to enable single-app functionality. So, for example, if you'd like to administer a test via iPad, you'll be able to ensure that your learners can't leave the app to search for an answer. (Of course, that won't stop the kid with the 35 foot long cheat sheet in his pocket, but it's certainly a start.)

I thought the announcement was pretty exciting for the mLearning crowd as well, so I turned to Twitter to dig up some of my past tweets on iPads for education.  Maybe these new technological tweaks have got you reconsidering the iPad for your organization?  

• 103+ Interesting Ways to Use iPads in the Classroom
• Apple's iPad Officially Passes the Higher Education Test
• Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the iPad
• Schools Across the Country Adopt the iPad 
• Why iPads Aren't Ready For Classrooms... Yet 
  (There are two sides to every story, of course! This was from January 2011. Do you think some of the new operating system features have made iPads more classroom ready?) 

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AJ teaches a live, 3-hour class that offers tips/tricks for improving the look and feel of your PowerPoint presentations: Slide Sprucing: Remodeling Lackluster PowerPoint Slides for eLearning and Presentations. 

Adobe Captivate 6: HTML5 At Last!

by Kevin Siegel  

You've probably heard by now that Adobe released Adobe Captivate 6 late last week. Over the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting all of the new features. This week, HTML5.

Publishing in Captivate takes your source content and outputs it into a format that can be consumed (viewed) by the learner.

Currently the most common way to publish a Captivate project is as a Flash SWF, an excellent solution because SWF files can be used by the vast majority of the world's personal computers, browsers and operating systems. Your learners will not need Captivate installed on their computer to use a SWF, but they will need a modern web browser and the free Adobe Flash Player (www.adobe.com). According to Adobe, the Flash Player is installed on the vast majority of the word's computers.

Of course, SWFs have a problem. Learners using an Apple mobile device such as the iPad, iPod and iPhone (that's millions upon millions of potential learners) cannot use SWF content at all. Learners using an Apple mobile device who attempt to open a SWF are met with a warning that SWFs are not supported.

If you'd like to create content for the Apple mobile devices, hope is not lost. As an alternative to publishing a SWF, you can publish as HTML5. Lessons published as HTML5 will play on any computer or mobile device that supports HTML5, including the Apple mobile devices.

While most features you can add to a Captivate project will work when published as HTML5, not all features are supported (such as Rollover Captions and Rollover Images). Prior to publishing as HTML5, you should use the HTML5 Tracker that to flag features that are not supported. 

To use the HTML5 Tracker, choose Project > HTML5 Tracker. If the resulting window has anything in the list (as shown below), you'll need to make a copy of your project and remove the unsupported feature. If the HTML5 Tracker is clean, you're ready to Publish. 

 

To publish as HTML5, simply choose File > Publish. SelectSWF/HTML5 from the Publish formats at the left of the dialog box. 

 

From the Output Format Options area, select HTML5 and then click the Publish button.

 

While publishing SWF output typically results in just a few output files, HTML5 output yields several folders and files. All of the assets need to be kept together when posted to your web server. Any links you create to the HTML5 output should point to index.html, which will load all of the assets so it can be consumed by your learners.

 

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online Captivate 5 classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced). Our Captivate 6 classes will ramp up in August.

Our Adobe Captivate 6 Workbooks... They're Coming...

Now that Adobe has released Adobe Captivate 6, we are hard at work producing books and creating online classes to support the new version.

"Adobe Captivate 6: The Essentials" workbook is currently in the capable hands of our beta and proofreading teams. The book is expected to be ready to ship within the next few weeks.

The "Adobe Captivate 6: Beyond the Essentials" and "Adobe Captivate 6: Script Writing and Production Guide" books are on the stove cooking (they are both on the front burners).

Writing & Grammar: Commas and Clauses

by Jennie Ruby  

I wrote about commas in introductory phrases last week. This week let's take the issue of introductory elements a step further, differentiating introductory phrases from introductory clauses. But first, let's look at some answers from last week's challenge:

Once again, our reader Jing Ping Fan (JP) comes through with a perfect set of answers, annotated with explanations. Thank you! Her answers are perfect, but she also notes which commas are needed versus optional. Plus, bonus, she explains that number 5 needs the comma because the introductory element is a clause, not a phrase.

1. After the sudden afternoon rainstorm, three kids were rescued from a flash flood. (comma needed)
2. Before noon, we had already covered all of the class material. (comma optional)
3. In 2010 our outreach program was updated to include a Twitter feed. (comma optional)
4. Sometime after 2012 is when support for version 3.5 will end. (No comma)
5. Unless the creek floods, we will go kayaking tomorrow. (comma needed Note: When an adverb clause begins the sentence, use a comma to separate the two clauses.)
6. By the end of the session, we all understood introductory elements. (comma preferred)
7. Yesterday the website was down for an hour. (comma optional, but prefer not to add in this type of sentence)
8. Tomorrow is our deadline for completing these two modules. (No comma)

If your answers do not match the ones above, you still may have them punctuated correctly. For example, Audrey McAfee also used correct punctuation on all of the sentences, but she put commas in all of them except number 7. 

Karen L. Busser also sent in correct answers, and sheadded her own trick for telling whether the introductory word is really introductory: if you can move the introductory element to the end of the sentence without changing the meaning or changing the sentence into a question, then it is introductory. Once you are sure the element is introductory, you then decide whether the comma is needed by the guidelines mentioned in my previous article.

Mary Saunders sent in a set of correct answers, and added, "We use the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications(Third Edition), which states, 'Use a comma following an introductory phrase.'  This rule makes it easy for us!"

If you incorrectly punctuated some of the sample sentences, check this: a comma is required if the introductory element has five words. A short phrase of time or place is comma-optional only if it is less than five words: one, two, three, or four words long.

Let's now look at some introductory phrases that require commas. Did you notice the word phrases in that last sentence? To get to the next level with commas, you need to identify phrases versus clauses. Let's tackle that concept now.

Phrase Versus Clause

A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject-verb combination.

A clause is a group of words that does contain a subject and a verb.

Phrase: after the storm
Clause: after the storm was over [storm is the subject; was is the verb]

Phrase: Until noon
Clause: Until she arrived [she is the subject; arrived is the verb]

Phrase: Because of the flood
Clause: Because the river flooded [river is the subject; flooded is the verb]

Notice that a phrase and a clause may start with the same word! What makes one of them a clause, however, is a subject and a verb. The clauses we are focusing on here are, as JP mentioned above, adverbial clauses. That means they contain information explaining things like when, where, in what manner, and why.

Introductory adverbial clauses require a comma. Short (fewer than five words) introductory phrases of time or place do not. Their comma is optional.

Challenge: Phrases Versus Clauses

Identify each of these introductory elements as a phrase or a clause, and indicate whether a comma is required. As always, send your answers/comments directly to me.

1. Until the barn is full we will continue to deliver hay.
2. Until yesterday we did not know the groundhog was under the shed.
3. Because the hawk was flying overhead the small birds hid in the bushes.
4. Because of the hawk's cry, all of the squirrels froze in their tracks.
5. During the cool and damp early morning hours we stayed on the screened porch.
6. While the children played in the pool we sat in the shade.
7. After you click the icon once you must wait for the picture to fully load.
8. After lunch we will cover photo filtering.

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If you like Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.

PowerPoint: Another Polling Tool, Poll Everywhere

by AJ George 

I've previously written about Shakespeak, a tool that allows presenters to collect and display responses to open-ended and multiple choice questions via text, web, and Twitter. One of our readers, April Edmonds let me know that she has used an alternate polling app for her PowerPoint presentations, Poll Everywhere. I decided to give Poll Everywhere a try.

The concepts (as well as methods for audience participation) of both apps are very similar. After using both applications, I think they are solid choices if you're in the market for a polling feature to add to your PowerPoint presentations. The main difference between the two is that with Shakespeak you do the bulk of setup from within PowerPoint, whereas with Poll Everywhere, most of this is done on the Poll Everywhere website.

With Poll Everywhere, your multiple choice and open ended questions are created on www.polleverywhere.com. Working within the website you can hover over your created poll to change the settings, including the general look and feel. There is a decent amount of customization you can do, but since you are not editing it within PowerPoint (as you would be with Shakespeak), some developers may find it hard to get the poll to exactly match the design of the rest of the presentation. That being said, I fiddled around with the settings options and found that I was able to get it pretty darn close. There is also an option to add in a logo, so don't worry, you can brand that puppy to your heart's content.

 

After completing your poll and tweaking the design, you can either download, copy and paste the slide into your PowerPoint presentation, share it on Facebook, Tweet it, add it to your blog or web page, email it, or download it for Prezi presentations. While I do prefer Shakespeak's direct integration into PowerPoint from a design stand point, I think Poll Everywhere's ease in sharing across multiple platforms makes it a really great alternative. Which of the two is the better option really depends on what you plan to do with the polls you create.

Poll Everywhere is free at an introductory level. If, however, you would like to poll an audience larger than 40, moderate responses, or customize how people vote, you'll need to pay for the service. Click here for pricing plans. 

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AJ teaches a live, 3-hour class that offers tips/tricks for improving the look and feel of your PowerPoint presentations: Slide Sprucing: Remodeling Lackluster PowerPoint Slides for eLearning and Presentations. 

Adobe Captivate 5/5.5: Removing The Web Page Margin

by Kevin Siegel  

I received an email from a Captivate developer asking if it was possible to remove the white space that appears between the browser toolbars and SWF when a lesson is opened within a browser.

In the image below, notice that there is white space above the SWF (just below the browser's menu bar). 

 

Admittedly the space that appears above a SWF isn't huge and it's not something that I had spent time thinking about. However, the developer in question was trying to minimize the need for a learner to scroll down and wanted to remove all unnecessary white space. 

Thankfully, there is a simple solution to removing the white space above the SWF. Unfortunately, the solution isn't found within Captivate. In fact, you will need to edit the published HTML file in a text editor.

To begin, publish your lesson as a SWF and ensure Export to HTML is selected from the Output Options area of the Publish dialog box. (This option is standard and is typically left selected.)

After publishing, open the HTML file in a text editor. (If you're using Windows, open the file in Notepad. If you're using a Mac, TextEdit will work nicely.)

Add the following simple line of code in the HEAD tag: <style>body {margin:0px;}</style>. 

Save and close the HTML file and then open in your web browser. The margin at the top of the page should now be gone. (In the image below, notice the white space between the menu bar and the SWF is missing as compared to the first image above.) 

 

Note: Special thanks goes out to Rod Ward of Infosemantics. Rod originally posted the code above on the Adobe Captivate forum. If you're looking for some awesome Captivate widgets, check out Rod's site.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Writing & Grammar: Do You Need a, Comma?

by Jennie Ruby  

Do I need a comma after "In 2008"? That is one of the most frequent questions I am asked in grammar classes. The answer I must give is that the comma is usually optional. For seekers of definitive answers with which to mow down the opposition, this "optional" nonsense is an unacceptable situation. So for them, and for you, if you are seeking definite answers, I must dig deeper.

First, let's distinguish the particular kind of introductory element for which the comma is "optional." But before even doing that, let's define "introductory element"!

An introductory element is a word, phrase, or clause that is placed before the beginning of the sentence. We have to make sure something is "introductory" before throwing commas at it. Here are some examples of introductory elements. In each case, we have a complete sentence even if we remove the introduction:

• Tomorrow, we must weed the garden. [comma optional]
• On Thursday, the trash truck ran over the mailbox. [comma optional]
• After the game, the kids ran to the convenience store to buy energy drinks. [comma optional]

Here are some examples of those same words and phrases used not as introductory elements, but as part of the sentence:

• Tomorrow was always her focus.
• On Thursday is when we plan to hold the kick-off meeting.
• After the game will be a good time to ask for a signed photograph.

In each of these sentences, we have a complete sentence only if we include the first word or phrase; the first word or phrase is actually the subject of the verb.

All of the examples above are one-word adverbs(tomorrow) or short prepositional phrases of time or place. These are the particular kinds of introductory elements for which most grammar guides say the comma is optional.

Most, but not all--I do have one grammar book on my shelf that simply states: Use a comma after every introductory element. But all of my other principal references--the Chicago Manual of Style, the Gregg Reference Manual, and Abrams' Guide to Grammar--say that the comma is optional after one-word adverbs and short prepositional phrases of time or place. And what counts as short? Fewer than five words.

So if these references tell us the comma is optional, how do we decide whether to use it or not? Your in-house style guide may clear this up for you. As an organization, you can decide whether to require the comma, or to forbid that comma, or to leave the decision up to each writer or editor on a case-by-case basis.

Check your in-house style guide (you have one, right?), and then tell me whether a comma is needed in these examples (be careful-they might not all be the kind of introductory element discussed above!): 

1. After the sudden afternoon rainstorm three kids were rescued from a flash flood.
2. Before noon we had already covered all of the class material.
3. In 2010 our outreach program was updated to include a Twitter feed.
4. Sometime after 2012 is when support for version 3.5 will end.
5. Unless the creek floods we will go kayaking tomorrow.
6. By the end of the session we all understood introductory elements.
7. Yesterday the website was down for an hour.
8. Tomorrow is our deadline for completing these two modules. 

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If you like Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Join her online and learn about Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Step-by-Step Scripts and Training Documents.