To add the captions, you need a specially formatted file, with text, or text and time points. You can create this file yourself, or get some help from YouTube.

Request a Machine Transcript

For newer video, the transcripts are automatically created after you upload the video. You can skip this section, and go to the Download the Transcript section, below.

For older videos, you can request a machine transcript of the audio track.

• Log in to YouTube, and view one of the videos that you’ve uploaded.
• Above the video, click Captions and Subtitles, to see the options for adding captions or a transcript.

• Click the button for Request Processing (English only).
• Then, wander off and do something else for a day or two, while the transcript is prepared.

Download the Transcript File

The message says it will take a few days to prepare the transcript, but I checked less than 24 hours later, and my transcript was ready.

• Click the Download button, and save the file (in sbv format) to your computer.

Revise the Transcript File

I opened the file in Notepad++, to see what it looked like. Some of the transcript looked fine, like line 20 shown below. Other text, like line 23, weren’t so good. Sure, some of the video might be a bit boring, but none of it is gross!

So, I listened to the video, while making some corrections to the transcript. For example, line 23 was changed to, "When you see the warning, click Enable Macros."

Then I saved and closed the transcript file.

Upload the Transcript File

To upload the revised transcript file:

• Log in to YouTube, go to the video page, and click the Captions and Subtitles tab.
• Click Browse, and select the transcript file.
• Select a Type — either Caption File or Transcript File. The file that YouTube created for me had both times and text, so I selected Caption File.

For the Type option, YouTube describes the difference between a caption file and a transcript file:

• A "caption file" contains both the text and information about when each line of text should be displayed.
• A "transcript file" on the other hand just contains the text of what was said in the video. If the video’s in English, YouTube can use speech processing algorithms to determine when the words in a transcript should be displayed.

• Add a file name (optional), then click Upload File

See the Captions

On the video, click the Play button, and the captions start rolling.

There’s a Transcript button that you can click, to see the entire transcript. It’s interactive, so you can click on a line, and go to that point in the video.

Pros and Cons

There were many things to correct in the transcript file, but it was much easier to use that file, with the times added, than to create a transcript from scratch. Also, there was some entertainment value in seeing how my tutorial was translated.

The captions block the bottom 1/2" or so of the screen, and that might cover some of the tutorial material. However, for anyone with English as a second language, or a hearing impairment, the captions will probably be a useful addition to the video.

The Transcribed Video

Here’s the video, so you can see the results for yourself. If you can’t see the captions in this embedded video, you can go to the YouTube page.

What do you think of the captions? Is it something you’d add to your own videos?

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When I got the JavaScript Live Course email from SitePoint.com, I followed the link to see what the course was about. There was a video with the course leader describing the content and delivery, and a link to see the course outline.

In the 3-week course there are 4 online sessions per week, with a live Q&A session each Friday. There’s also a private online discussion forum where you can get help with the practical exercises.

So, I signed up. Maybe I’ll learn a few things about JavaScript that I can use in my business. What’s really of interest to me though, is seeing how someone runs an online technical course. How will everything work? Will they hit any snags? What will the customer experience be like? What materials and training methods work best?

The answers to those questions are certainly worth much more than $9.95, and might help me plan an online course of my own.

Are you signing up? If you are, let me know, and we can sit in the back row of the class, or work on homework assignments together.

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This week I posted a few 12 second videos, showing quick Excel tips, and also posted the videos to my Contextures YouTube channel.

It’s interesting to see what you can record in such a short video. There’s certainly no time for idle chit chat, so you have to get right to the point, and do a quick demo of a useful technique.

Already a couple of the short videos have received 4 or 5 star ratings on YouTube, so I guess someone likes them. I’ll do a few more, after the holidays.

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I’m still not sure exactly what types of interactive learning people are using. This weekend I experimented with Camtasia Studio, testing its hotspots feature. Users can click on the video, in a specific location, and you can take them to a different spot in the video.

On the Contextures Blog today, I posted a short article on Removing Duplicates in Excel 2007, with a short video.

My goal was to publish an interactive version of the tutorial, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the result. I need to refine the jumping around process, and probably the audio should be deleted from that section.

Anyway, if you have a strong stomach or good sense of humour, here’s my first attempt at video with interaction. Skip to the 1:40 mark to see the interactive section.

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I took a quick look at both sites. Edufire looks like it would be great for running training sessions and small classes. ShowDocument lets you upload and work on files, so that could be a good way to work with a client, without having to install anything.

Bob Ryan commented that he plans to use DimDim for his business. I set up an account there, and ran a trial meeting, which worked well, but my screen settings seem slightly different, after using their screen sharing option.

For yesterday’s meeting with my client, I tried Office Live Meeting (OLM). Before the meeting, I set up a practice session, the tested the controls and settings. You can upload files, and share the screen, or a portion of the screen. Also, you can share a specific program, so that’s the option I used most of the time.

OLM was my favourite online meeting tool so far. I could pass the controls to my client, so we could both test the Access database that we were discussing.

I had to use Internet Explorer, instead of Firefox, and there are some components to download and install. But, most people have a computer that’s full of Microsoft products anyway, so that might not be too big a hurdle.

Dick had volunteered to be a guinea pig, if I tested WiZiQ again (thanks, Dick!). I’ll be trying OLM again, to see how some of the fancier tools work, so may he’ll agree to join that test session, if I set something up for later this week.

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The next day, someone in the WiZiQ customer support department emailed me, with a few suggestions for improving the audio. He also asked for details on the problems that I had with my uploaded Excel files.

In a followup email, he said that only a one-page portion of an Excel sheet will be visible onscreen. Most of the sheets that I create for clients are considerably bigger than that, so uploaded files won’t be too useful.

I did another test later, with my desktop running a session, and the laptop attending as a guest. That went better than the session with my client (due to better settings, not better guests!), so I’ll try WiZiQ again later.

For a free service, it seems pretty good. It will be a good place to practise this type of interaction, before moving to a paid service.

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A client wanted to learn a bit more about Excel VBA, so we arranged a phone call for today. He sent me a couple of workbooks to use during the session.

The Free Session

I thought it might help if we could both see the same screen, so I set up my first training session on WiZiQ, where I have a free account. I had attended a training session there in 2008, and it went reasonably well. There’s a whiteboard for interaction, and you can upload files to use during the session. You can also record the session, for attendees to download later.

The session was set up as private, and I sent an invitation to my client. He had to register and log in, but said the process was quick and easy. If I upgraded to an Organization account, attendees would not have to register.

A Few Problems

It took us a couple of minutes to sort out the optional settings for audio and video. I enabled my audio and video, and could allow attendees to share theirs.

The uploaded Excel files didn’t work too well. Instead of sheet names, I could select “Page 1, Page 2, etc.” from a drop down list. Only a portion of the sheet showed, which was a problem. There was no way to see the VBE, as far as I could tell.

We gave up, and used the phone instead, with each of us having the same workbooks open on our desktops. That worked fine, as it has in the past.

Try Again

Later, I went back to WiZiQ, and found a Share Screen setting. I’ll set up a test for myself later, and see if that’s a better option. Then I can round up a guinea pig or two, and try an online session.

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Only 2 people voted for short videos, but in the comments, Mathias said that videos were slowly growing on him, and I agreed. They can be a helpful supplement to written material, allowing you to see some or all of the steps performed. Maybe bookmarks or captions of some kind would help, so you could skim through the video, and get to the specific section you need.

What did surprise me was the 33% vote for interactive lessons. My experience with those is limited, so if you like interactive lessons, could you let me know where you find them?

I tried a virtual lab on the weekend, to test PowerPivot, so perhaps that’s the kind of thing that people find useful. The hands on lab let me test the PowerPivot without installing tons of stuff on my machine, and had written instructions at the side, to guide me through the steps.

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A. What kind of online Excel tutorials do you like best (explained below)?

(polls)

B. Have you always liked that type of online instruction, or did your preference change at some point in the Excel learning curve?

Written Instructions

When I started the Contextures website, my Excel tutorials had simple written instructions, with key points illustrated with screen shots. Sometimes I’d add a circle or arrow to the screen shot, or a line and label, to make things clearer.

For example, here’s a tutorial for Excel conditional formatting examples.  It has lots of words, and a few pictures. You can skim through the page to find a specific topic, or work your way from  top to bottom, trying the examples.

There’s also a link to a sample file that readers can download, to follow the tutorials.

Short Video Tutorials

A few years ago I dabbled briefly with Camtasia Studio, and created a short pivot table tutorial. It explained how to change pivot table data fields from vertical to horizontal (warning – the sound comes on immediately). Apparently I was speaking into a tin can while recording it, but it is short, and to the point.

In early 2008, I started recording Excel video tutorials again. The quality was a bit better, and I posted them on my Contextures YouTube channel, and embedded them in my website.

The feedback has been very positive, and the videos have been viewed thousands of times.

Interactive Learning

Recently, I heard about ViewletCam software that lets you create interactive videos. The output can be SWF (Flash) files, so you could put them on the website directly, since they’re much smaller than video files.

I haven’t tried this software, but it might be a good middle ground, where words aren’t enough and a video is too much.

Maybe people remember things better if they try them onscreen, instead of reading or watching.

Webinar

Have you attended any Excel webinars? I’ve signed up for a few non-Excel webinars, of varying quality, but nothing Excel related. In a webinar, you could see an Excel technique demonstrated, and ask any questions that you had.

What Do You Prefer?

So, going back to my original questions, I’d love to hear what you think. It’s not a scientific survey, just gathering opinions, so please vote, and comment on both questions, or just one, or make up your own question and answer that.

A) Do any of these online Excel training tools appeal to you?

B) If so, have you always preferred that type of online Excel training?

Thanks!

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