Using Wimba Create

Using Wimba Create

Description

This course is an introduction to Wimba Create where participants will be introduced to the most important functions of Wimba Create and shown how accessible content is created.

Learning outcomes

After completing this course you will:

• Understand how Word and Wimba Create work together to generate eLearning content
• Know about the most important accessibility problems that may arise when generating eLearning content
• Be able to use Wimba Create to generate accessible and well-structured eLearning content

Contents

1. Getting Started

2. Creating Sections

3. Splitting into Pages

4. Applying Text Styles

5. Tables

6. Adding Images

7. Adding Hyperlinks

8. Using the WCr tools

9. Using Selftest Questions

10. Blackboard

1. Getting Started

1.1 Start up Wimba Create

Open the sample document and start up Wimba Create.

To do this:

1Start up Word.

2Open the Word document called CG Workshop 1.

3Save it under a different name (e.g.Earthquakes_Karen).

4Click the Add-Ins tab, then from the Wimba Create button, click Start Wimba Create.

5When the Splash Screen appears, click OK

TheAdd-Ins tab will contain various buttons:

2. Creating Sections

2.1 Create sections

If you have a large Word source document that will translate into many pages of HTML, you may want to divide it into Sections. This splits up your material and helps learners to navigate through it.

The best way to think of a section is as a level 1 page, with normal pages as level 2 pages. The sample document falls naturally into two sections, the first on volcanoes and the second on glaciers. To mark the two section headings:

1Select the heading All about Earthquakes.

2From the Home tab, apply the cgSectionTitle style to it. You will notice that along with standard Word formatting, you now have additional Wimba Create formatting options, beginning with the letters cg.

NB To open the full Styles list, click the Styles dialog box launcher at the bottom right of the Styles section on the Home tab.

3Repeat step 2 for the heading All about Glaciers.

4Return to the Add-Ins tab, click the WimbaCreate button and generate the course and preview the sections and pages.

5Save your document and close the browser window.

2.2 Generate the course

Now generate the course to see the effect of your section breaks. To do this:

1Go to the Add-Ins tab, click the WimbaCreate button and choose Generate Course.

2In the dialog that opens, choose a folder to save the generated course in.

3When the message box shows that generation is complete, check the option to Preview in Browserand click Close to close the dialog box.

4When your browser opens showing the generated course, try navigating through the pages.

5Close the browser window.

2.3 Change the course title

When you return to your Word document, you will see a Metadata table displayed at the top of the page. General information about your document is held here. From the Metadata dialog box you can change the course title that is displayed at the top of each web page, and you can ad information about the author:

1Click in the relevant table cell and insert the required information.

2The only change that will be visible when you next generate the course will be the new course title.

3Generate the course again and preview the pages. When asked for the output folder, the one you previously used will already be selected. Simply click OK.

4View the title change, then close the browser window.

3. Splitting into Pages

3.1 Split into pages

You now need to mark each point at which a new page should start.To do this:

1Select the first heading, Earthquakes.

2From the Home tab, apply the cgPageTitle style to it.

3Repeat this for the other headings in the document.

4Save your document.

Tip: The F4 key is a standard Word shortcut to repeat the last action. This means you can apply the cgPageTitle style to the first heading in the normal way, then select each of the other headings and simply press F4.

Info:Word page breaks have no effect on the generated output, but you can insert them wherever you want in order to make the source document more readable.

3.2 Generate the course

Now generate the course to see the effect of your page breaks.To do this:

1. Go to the Add-Ins tab, click the WimbaCreate button and choose Generate Course.
2. In the dialog that opens, choose a folder to save the generated course in (usually the same one as used in step 2.2 above).
3. When the message box shows that generation is complete, check the option to Preview in Browserand click Close to close the dialog box.
4. When your browser opens showing the generated course, try navigating through the pages.
5. Close the browser window.

3.3 Control section display

You can control the way Sections and Pages are displayed in the Settings dialog box. For example if you have a great many pages you may want to only display the Section headings in the Navigation bar. To control these settings:

1Go to the Add-Ins tab, from the WimbaCreatebutton choose Settings.

2In the Settings dialog box, choose the Navigation tab.

3Adjust the settings under Sections.

4Generate the course and preview the new section settings.

5Save your document and close the browser window.

3.4 Change the design scheme

Wimba Create has eight default design schemes. The design that you choose to generate with affects the appearance of your generated course. To choose a design scheme:

1Go to the Add-Ins tab, click the Wimba Createbutton and choose Settings.

2In the Settings dialog box, choose the Generaltab.

3Choose a different design from the Scheme drop-down list, then click OK to close the dialog box.

4Generate the course again to preview with the new design applied.

5Save your document and close the browser window.

3.5 Change the footer

From the Settings dialog box you can also change the footer that is displayed at the bottom of each web page. To do this:

1Go to the Add-Ins tab, click the Wimba Createbutton and choose Settings.

2In the Settings dialog box, choose the Generaltab.

3Type in a new footer and click OK to close the dialog box.

4Generate the course again and preview the pages with the new footer.

5Save your document and close the browser window.

4. Applying Text Styles

Tip: To select a paragraph in Word, put the cursor in the left margin so that the mouse pointer changes to an arrow, then select a line at a time.

4.1 Apply the BoxText style

Apply the BoxText style to some paragraphs in order to highlight them. This can be useful if you wish to draw the reader’s attention to a specific area of your course.To do this:

1Locate the page titled Seismology, The Study of Earthquakes.

2Select the paragraphWhen an earthquake occurs, the elastic energy… is called seismology.

3Apply the cgBoxText style to it.

4Locate the page titled Types of Seismic Waves.

5Select the paragraphBody Waves… through the body of the Earth and apply the cgBoxText style to it.

6Select the paragraphSurface Waves... through the body of the Earth and apply the cgBoxText style to it.

7Generate the course and preview the changes.

8Save your document and close the browser window.

4.2 Apply the QuoteText style

Apply the QuoteText style to a paragraph. This enables you to give a consistent appearance to all of your quotations.

To do this:

1Locate the page titled Flash Animation of an Earthquake.

2Select the paragraphThis animation was presented by… and Keith Richards-Dinger.

3Apply the cgQuoteText style to it.

4Generate the course and preview the changes.

5Save your document and close the browser window.

4.3 Apply the Definitions style

You can use the cgDefinitions style to give a consistent appearance to all your definitions. This is slightly different from the previous two styles: your selection must have the defined term as the first paragraph, followed by the definition in a second paragraph. You have to select the term and definition together and apply the cgDefinition style to them.

To do this:

1Locate the page titled Definition of a glacier.

2Insert a new blank line above the paragraph A glacier is a… pull of gravity,and type the word Glacier on the blank line.

3Select both paragraphsGlacier and A glacier is a… pull of gravity.

4Apply the cgDefinitionstyle to it.

5Generate the course and preview the changes.

6Save your document and close the browser window.

5. Tables

Accessibility point: People with sight impairment often use screen reader software to read out loud the text of web pages. If header formats are applied to the row and column headings of a table, the screen reader can make sense of the table data and read it out in a much more informative way.

5.1 Apply table header formatting

To apply header formatting to the table:

1Locate the page Glacier Speeds.

2Select the top row of the table and apply the cgTableColumnHeader style.

3Select the bottom four cells of the first column of the table and apply the cgTableRowHeader style.

4Generate the course and preview the changes.

Info:Wimba Create cannot convert tables that contain merged cells. If you have tables with merged cells you will need to redesign them before generating a course.

6. Adding Images

6.1 Insert the images

Now we’ll insert three images into the document.To do this:

1Locate the page Origin of Earthquakes.

2Select the line (origin_earthquakes.gif) and delete it.

3From the Word Inserttabclick the Picture button.

4Choose the file origin_earthquakes.gif and click Insert.

5Locate the page Seismology, The Study of Earthquakes and insert the picture seismograph.gif.

6Locate the page Types of Seismic Waves and insert the picture seismicwaves.gif.

7Generate the course and preview the pages with the images.

8Save your document and close the browser window.

Info:Wimba Create can convert Bitmap images but not Drawn images (lines and shapes that you draw in Word). If you have a Drawn image a quick way to convert it into a Bitmap is to cut it to the clipboard (CTRL-X), then from the Home tab, click the drop-down beneath the Paste button and selectPaste Special…, then from the list of options choose Picture(GIF).

6.2 Add Alt Text to the images

Accessibility point: You should always add Alt Text to your images. This text will be visible for people whose browsers won’t display the images, and will be read out by screenreader software for people who can’t see the images.

1Locate and select the image on the page Origin of Earthquakes.

2From the Format contextual tab click the Size dialog box launcher:

3The Format Picture dialog box is displayed. Click the Alt Text tab and type Graph showing the bending of rocks into the box, then clickOKto close the dialog box.

4In the same way add alt text to the other two images.

5Generate the course and preview the pages with the images.

6Close the browser window.

Tip: A shortcut to access theFormat contextual tab is to double-click the image.

6.3 Add long descriptions to the images

Accessibility point: Alt Text is usually a brief one-line description of an image. If you are using complex images or diagrams, this may not be enough to convey the meaning of the image. In these situations you can add a long description of the image (sometimes called a “D-Link”) which adds a hyperlinked letter “D” leading to a separate page that shows a full description of the image.

1Locate the image on the page Origin of Earthquakes.

2Select the image and from the Format contextual tab click the Size dialog box launcher Choose the Alt Texttab.

3After the alt text press theEnterkey twice to leave a blank line, then typeThis graph shows that the fault line occurs at the point where rocks are bent in different directions.

4Click onOKto close the dialog box.

5In the same way add long descriptions to the other two images.

6Generate the course and preview the pages with the images.

7Close the browser window.

7. Adding Hyperlinks

7.1 Add an external hyperlink

You can add hyperlinks to your course that link out to additional resources. This can be useful in reinforcing ideas or concepts.To add a hyperlink to an external URL:

1Locate the page Additional Glacier Resources.

2Just after the text Link to additional Glacier resources press the Enter key and type Search on Google for glacier resources.

3Select the text of the URL below it and press CTRL-X to cut it to the clipboard.

4Select the text you have just typed.

5From the Inserttabclick theHyperlink button.

6Make sure Existing File or Web Page is selected in the left hand column of the dialog box

7Put the cursor in the Address box and press CTRL-V to paste the URL from the clipboard.

8Click on OK to close the dialog box.

9Generate the course and preview the page with the hyperlink.

10Save your document and close the browser window.

7.2 Set the link to open in the same browser window

Accessibility point: Hyperlinks that take you away from the course material are often set to open in a new browser window. This can confuse screen reader software, and it is better from an accessibility point of view to open hyperlinks in the same browser window as the main content.

To do this:

1Go to the Add-Ins tab, from the WimbaCreatebutton choose Settings.

2In the Settings dialog box, choose the Navigation tab.

3Make sure the Open hyperlinks in main window checkbox is checked.

4Click OK to close the dialog box.

5Generate the course and preview the page with the hyperlink.

Tip: It’s a good idea to make sure that hyperlinked text is a meaningful description rather than just a URL.

7.3 Add an internal hyperlink

You can link one page of your course to another page of it by using a bookmark as the destination.To do this:

1Locate the page The Formation of Glacial Ice.

2Underneath the paragraph on that page press Enter twice to insert a blank line then type Remember the definition of a glacier.

3Insert a bookmark at the place to which we want to link:

• Locate the page Definition of a glacier.
• Before the definition starts, type GlacierDefthen press Enter - make sure this is not inside the cgDefinition formatting.
• Select the word GlacierDef, then from the InserttabclickBookmark.
• Type GlacierDefagain in the dialog box, then click Add.
• The text GlacierDefappears in square brackets

4Now create a hyperlink to the bookmark:

• Go back to the page The Formation of Glacial Ice
• Select the text …definition of a glacier
• From the Insert tabclickHyperlink…
• In the dialog box choose Place in This Document
• Choose the bookmark called GlacierDef and click OK.

5Generate the course and preview the page with the hyperlink.

6Close the browser window.

…

8. Using the WimbaCreate tools

8.1 Adding Multimedia

1Locate the page Flash Animation of an Earthquake.

2Select the text (insert seismicity_animation.swf) and delete it.

3From the Add-Ins tab, click theInteraction button, then Media:

4Click the Browsebutton and navigate to find the seismicity_animation.swf file, select it, then click Open.

5Ensure the media type is Flash.

6Click the Accessibility tab and add a suitable description and caption, then click OK.

7Generate the course and preview the page.

8Close the browser window.

8.2 Creating a Popup

1Locate the page Earthquakes.

2Click at the end of the paragraph and press Enter twice to create some space.

3From the Add-Ins tab, click the Interaction button, then Popup.

4Into the resulting box, add the following details:

5Generate the course and preview the page.

6Close the browser window.

8.3 Creating Flashcards

1Locate the page Additional Glacier Resources.

2Click at the end of the paragraph and press Enter twice to create some space.

3From the Add-Ins tab, click the Interaction button, then Flashcard.

4Into the resulting box, add the following details:

5Generate the course and preview the page.

6Close the browser window.

9. Using Selftest Questions

Using the custom toolbar on the Add-Ins tab, you can create various question types. The exercises below show a text entry question and a true/false question. By all means try the other question types – they should be fairly self-explanatory, but you can also refer to the Reference Guide on Blackboard for further information.