Strengths & Weaknesses of the Path-Goal Theory

The Path-goal theory is straightforward in theory.  It says that an effective leader has to attend to the needs of subordinates.  The leader should help followers define their goals and help them figure out what path to take to reach these goals.  When obstacles arise, leaders should help subordinates overcome them.  Now that you have a good understanding of the Path-Goal Theory please post some strengths and weaknesses of the Path-Goal Theory.  As a reminder, participation in the forums and discussions accounts towards your grade for the course.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE:  HOW TO SET-UP A LINK ON A SLIDE TO OPEN ITEM IN RESOURCES.

1.            Add file to the Resources in your player.

2.            Navigate to slide you want to link to the file attachment in Resources, and select the text/image/object to be hyperlinked.

3.            Go to the Insert tab, and click Hyperlink.

4.            Select Jump to URL/File from the Action drop-down list.

5.            In the File field, type the below (replace Filename.pdf with the name of file, including file extension, same filename and ext as on in resources-MUST BE EXACT):

story_content/external_files/Filename.pdf

6.            Select the event to execute trigger from the When drop-down list, such as "User clicks". trigger:

7.            Click OK.

*Will not work in Preview, Publish, save to desktop, open in browser, MUST ALLOW ACTIVE X.

PENNDOT WEBSITE ERROR CAUSES ISSUES FOR PERRY COUNTY RESIDENTS - ALSO NEW BLOOMFIELD PA AUTO BROKERS ARE RUDE AND UNHELPFUL

PENNDOT WEBSITE ERROR CAUSES ISSUES FOR PERRY COUNTY RESIDENTS - ALSO NEW BLOOMFIELD PA AUTO BROKERS ARE RUDE AND UNHELPFUL

State Representative Keller:

Recently I tried to do the simple task of getting my driver’s license photo updated.  I have my camera card in hand so this should be an easy task.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  This email is to inform you of a few things that went wrong with hopes your office can take measures to fix the issues.  Because everyone I contacted doesn’t want to take ownership of it or do anything fix the issues.  It seems everyone I was involved with is ok with just accepting it as it is and not care that this misinformation causes unnecessary hardship on individuals, especially those in Perry County.

Per my camera card I went to PennDOT’s website to locate a driver’s license photo center.  When I search using my zip code of 17047 (Loysville) or search by county (Perry).  I'm directed to go to New Bloomfield PA Auto Brokers Office, however they are NOT a photo center.

I called and left a message at the above on Friday, 8/29 and because it wasn’t return I did so again on 8/30.  I wanted to confirm that they would be open on 8/30 because of the holiday.  Since I never got a return call, I decided to stop in during posted hours on 8/30.  As soon as I entered I was informed by a very rude PA Auto License Broker employee (Snooty boy wearing sweater vest in August) that the above location is NOT a photo center.  I explained that according to the PennDOT website it is and that I left two messages before arriving, noting that if someone would have taken the initiative to return my call I could have saved a trip.  I then asked where the closest Photo Center is.  The rude employee then told me in Duncannon.  I asked if he could give me their number so I could call them to see if they are open.  He replied, “their number is unlisted.”  I said, “yes, I understand that, could you please give me the number or call it for me.”  He again said, “the number is unlisted.”  I replied, “but you have the number don’t you?”  He then said, “the number is unlisted that is all I can say”.  I was obvious to me by his tone and his words chosen that he had the number and just did not want to be helpful.  This employee put more effort into not being helpful than what it would have took to be helpful.

So I ended up driving to Duncannon, only to find out that they were closed.

Later, I search on PennDOT’s website some more.  I find it interesting that the Perry County Photo Center in Duncannon cannot be located using PennDOT’s website using Perry County or Zip closes to me feature.

Heck I even typed in Duncannon’s zip of 17020 and it sends me to the PA Auto Broker’s in New Bloomfield where the snooty sweater vest boy works.  So using Duncannon’s zip code doesn’t even find Duncannon!

I find it disturbing that:

A. PennDot’s website is wrong listing New Bloomfield as Photo Center and doesn’t even locate the proper location in Duncannon.

B.      That the snooty sweater vest PA Auto Broker employee stated he and his employer is aware of issue and don’t seem to care, and make it a point not to be helpful when the error cause citizens of Perry County problems/issues.

C.      That the Duncannon Photo Center number is unlisted?  Per snooty sweater vest boy.

I posted my distaste for the PA Auto Broker’s in New Bloomfield on my Facebook page.  Within an hour I had at least 6 others express similar issues.  With that said, I think the contract the state has with them should be pulled.  I also hope you can use your office to get PennDOT to fix their website to save others from the awful experience I had.

Many thanks,

Timothy N. Kuhn, M.S.I.T.

P.S. Please feel free to contact me.

Embed Video into PDF that is iOS and Windows Friendly

Insert/Embed Video into a PDF using Adobe Acrobat

 (m4v format recommended)

1. Start with your Word Document
2. Save the Word Version
3. Then Save As a PDF Document
4. Using Adobe Acrobat open the PDF Document
5. Using Adobe Captivate (Can use Articulate as well, but unfortunately Articulate will not publish to MP4 Video Format directly, however I did find this work around, a bit time consuming but it works… http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/22515/253488.aspx )

*I recommend having a title slide, perhaps topic slides, and end slide throughout the video.  Video could have music and/or narration also.

Select Captivate Record Button, select slide you want to insert recording after, click ok, then setup the recording window.

   Save Completed Captivate File

  Publish to MP4 format (This is where Captivate is a bit nicer/more robust)

  Rename the published MP4 (.mp4) file extension to M4V (.m4v).  Note this is not required, but I recommend this so that once the video is inserted into the PDF it will play on both iOS and Windows devices.  You will likely get a warning message when you rename the file extension.  Don’t sweat it!  Everything will be ok.  Click Yes.

  

OPTIONAL (Create a Poster for the Video.  A Poster is basically an image you want to display in order to promote someone to click the video to play it):

  Use GIMP, SnagIt, Photoshop whatever is in your arsenal to create two images.

  Merge the two images

    Save As FilenamePoster.jpg

    Open PDF document using Acrobat

   Go to Tools>Content>MultiMedia>Video

   Draw Video Box, clicking and Dragging cursor/mouse.

   This window will pop up.  Browse to M4V file, then click the Show Advance Options.

   Select options as desired.  Below are the ones I changed.

   Video is now inserted

   You may want to also attach the video.  Could even attach several formats of the video as a backup plan in case someone needs certain format.

Articulate: Best method for Closed Captioning

Update from original post!  Below are screenshots of better instructions.

Articulate Closed Captioning (Best Option)

 

Original Post:

First I want to say I'm a fan of Articulate and eLearning Heroes, however I'm also a fan of Captivate, and one thing that functions much better in Captivate than Articulate is Closed Captioning.  With Captivate you can type in notes and click a box to make notes CC, then add a cc button to the skin/player.  That simple in Articulate, not so simple.

My method gives user on/off control, uses variables to remember on/off setting from slide to slide, and does NOT involve duplicating slides/layers, which can be a maintenance nightmare and makes projects file size larger than necessary).  Which is why I prefer my method over some of the other great methods that I found on Articulate eLearning Heroes (such as placing cc text boxes on timeline, placing cc text in player resources, and/or having cc button trigger to a duplicate layer with cc text.

My method involves using text boxes to display cc text when cc on and off buttons are clicked.  The cc text boxes can be placed in a scrolling panel if there is a lot of text.  The biggest issue I had was getting the CC to be default to off on the initial slide.  After some "playing" I was able to overcome this.

The trick is to have on the first slide only the trigger “Change state of cctextbox to Disable when the state of ccOn is not hidden” .  However before doing so it is necessary to select the textbox and add a Disabled state, edit the disabled state to display no text/just a textbox.  When using be sure to duplicate slide two for use for rest of project.  The first slide is different, has the above mentioned additional trigger to default CC to off.

Again I like this option best because user can turn on, turn off, it is defaulted off, doesn’t involve making two versions of slides or layers, and if you have a lot of text you can still put the cc text into a scrolling panel.

On first slide highlight and create a new state of Disabled for the textbox.  Edit the Disabled state of textbox to display no text.

Slide 1:

Slide 2 to end of project:

Articulate: Horizontal Scroll Panel (Create Timeline)

Articulate Storyline has a insert Scrolling Panel feature, unfortunately it doesn't permit you to rotate the location of the scroll bar.  After some thought and "playing" I discovered that if you insert a shape with no fill then group the scrolling panel and the shape it will then be possible to rotate the scrolling window.  This is great for showing timelines and/or landscape documents for acknowledgement, etc.   Tip:  Create a T/F question to create an acknowledgement page.

1.  Insert Scrolling Panel

2.  Draw Scroll Panel











3. Insert item (image, document, etc.)  Note:  It will be side ways, but we will fix that in a moment.

4. Insert Shape with no fill.  Note: use No Outline if you don't want visible.

5. Select Scrolling Panel and Shape, right-click, Group

6. Rotate the Grouped Scrolling Panel and Shape by grabbing and turning the rotation handle.

7. Preview.  Now the Scrolling Panel can scroll horizontally.

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):