toolbook 11 getting started with simulations

7/31/2019 ToolBook 11 Getting Started With Simulations

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/toolbook-11-getting-started-with-simulations 1/6

TOOLBOOK

SIMULATIONSA Quick Getting Started Guide



2

Contents

WHAT IS A SIMULATION?.....................................................................................................................................3

TOOLBOOK SIMULATION FEATURE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................3

STEPS ................................................................................................................................................................3

MODES .............................................................................................................................................................3

SCORING ...........................................................................................................................................................4

INSTRUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................4

FEEDBACK .........................................................................................................................................................4

ACTIONS EDITOR ..............................................................................................................................................4

MANUALLY CREATING A SIMULATION ................................................................................................................5

USING THE SIMULATION RECORDER ...................................................................................................................5

LEARNING MORE ..................................................................................................................................................6



3

WHAT IS A SIMULATION?

In the simplest terms, a Simulation can be defined as:

A series of screenshots and interactive ToolBook elements, which are progressively hidden/shown

within ToolBook to mimic the appearance and particular behavior of another application.

An example of this would be:

• For New Employee Training you want to develop a lesson to show employees how to log into the

HR System on the corporate web site and verify that their employee contact information is correct.

• The steps they'll have to know how to perform are:

1. Typing in the proper URL into Internet Explorer and pressing Enter

2. Typing in a User Name and Password on the HR login Screen, and clicking OK

3. Clicking on the Personal Information link

If you think about this example, there are two generic ways to teach this concept.

• VIDEO

You could simply record a video of this process and play it back to the user. This would be a sit-back-

and-watch approach, where the user can't interact, but rather can only watch.

• SIMULATION

Present the user with a simulation of the task, where the simulation is not a video, but instead a

series of screenshots and interactive elements such as text fields, and buttons.

This is the approach that ToolBook uses when talking about Simulations.

TOOLBOOK SIMULATION FEATURE SUMMARY

STEPS

A ToolBook Simulation incorporates one or more tasks that the user must accomplish (referred to as STEPS).

Examples of a Step:

• CLICKING on the File menu

• PRESSING the ENTER key

• TYPING a name into a field AND CLICKING the OK button

• CHECKING a Checkbox AND CLICKING an OK button

MODES

ToolBook Simulations can operate in 3 different modes, depending on your need.

• Demonstration

In this mode the user sits back and watches the simulation automatically progress from beginning to

end. Any needed mouse movements are provided by a simulated mouse pointer.

• Practice

In this mode the user is given textual instructions about how to interact with the simulation, and is



4

provided appropriate feedback if they interact incorrectly. The user may be asked to attempt a

specific Step again until they interact correctly or until they've exceeded their allotted number of

attempts for that Step.

• Assessment

In this mode the user is given textual instructions about how to interact with the simulation, and is

provided appropriate feedback if they interact incorrectly. If the user does not complete the specific

Step correctly on the first try, the simulation automatically progresses to the next Step.

SCORING

Each Step within a Simulation can be assigned a point value (score) that is awarded to the user if they

accomplish the step correctly. The score for all steps are rolled up into a single total score reported by the

Simulation object. This means that a Simulation is essentially a Question Object fully capable of reporting

scoring data to a Learning Management System.

INSTRUCTION

Since each Step represents a task that the user must perform, you can specify specific instructional text to

be shown to the user at the beginning of any given Step explaining what is to be accomplished during thatStep.

FEEDBACK

You can specify textual feedback to be shown to the user if they do not complete a step properly. You can

even specify different feedback text based on which attempt they are on. For example if they attempt it

incorrectly the first time, you can say "That is not correct, try again" but the fifth time say "Still incorrect.

Click on the icon that looks like a house."

ACTIONS EDITOR

The Actions Editor is the programming interface within ToolBook and the Simulation feature closely

integrates with it. You are able to write your own programming logic within the Actions Editor to be

executed at very specific times during the processing of the simulation, such as:

• When the Simulation starts

Typically used to prepare the page for the proper start of a simulation. This may include hiding and

showing certain objects, clearing text from various text fields.

• When the Simulation ends

Typically used to navigate the user to the next page once the simulation is done.

• When a Step starts

Typically used to prepare the page for the proper start of a Step. This may include hiding and

showing certain objects, clearing text from various text fields.

• When a Step ends

Typically used to prepare the screen for the start of the next step, which may include hiding the

current screenshot and showing a hidden one.



5

• When an attempt is made on a Step

Typically used to provide advanced feedback to an attempt on a Step. For example the Simulation

itself allows you to provide textual feedback for a Step, however if you would like to do something

more advanced...for example, to play a video in response to an attempt on a Step, you'd do that

here.

MANUALLY CREATING A SIMULATION

Creating a simulation manually, requires numerous systematic steps - which essentially involve:

• Adding a variety of screenshots onto a ToolBook page representing what the simulated application

is supposed to look like at different stages.

• Naming each of these screenshots with meaningful names.

• Carefully stacking the images on top of each other paying close attention to position.

• Hiding all of the images.

• Adding some optional Simulation elements to the page, such as a Continue button, a Feedback field,

and an Instruction field.

• Adding a Simulation object to your Page, from the Insert menu.

[Note: Only one Simulation object permitted per page]

• Configuring the Simulation with one or more STEPs to be completed by the user, where you will

visually make the user think they are interacting with the actual application by hiding/showing each

screenshot as needed.

• Adding interactive elements (clickable hotspots, fields the user can type into, radio/checkbox

buttons which can be checked/unchecked, etc.)

• Further configuring the Simulation Steps with what's expected of the user for each step. For

example, perhaps for Step 1 they are required to click somewhere, and Step 2 they are required to

type something into a field and click OK.

USING THE SIMULATION RECORDER

The Simulation Recorder was created so that instead of following the instructions above in the Manually

Creating a Simulation section, you could simply interact with your application, letting the Simulation

Recorder watch and record your interactions.

The recording made by the Simulation Recorder is not a video, it is actual screenshots and data about what

you clicked, where you clicked, what you typed, what you selected from a drop down selectors, etc. All of

this information is written into a file with a TBR extension (TBR stands for ToolBook Recording).

Once the TBR file is generated by the Simulation Recorder you can import it onto a ToolBook page using the

Simulation From Recording option in the INSERT menu.



6

The process of importing the Simulation will automatically add a Simulation Object to your page, add

screenshots of your application, add interactive elements, and configure the Simulation object with a

number of Steps.

Once imported, you can further adjust the Simulation settings as needed.

Why build a Simulation manually if you can simply record it?

• The Simulation Recorder does have some inherent limitations and may have problems properly

capturing all of the visual elements of your desired application.

• The Simulation Recorder tends to capture many more screenshots of your application than you

would normally use if creating a Simulation manually. This results in an auto-generated Simulation

which tends to be much more complexly designed and configured, and therefore more complex to

adjust/edit after being imported.

LEARNING MORE

Please consult Chapter 21 of the ToolBook User Guide entitled "Building Software Simulations" for a more

detailed breakdown of the Simulation Editor in ToolBook and the Simulation Recorder.

toolbook 11 getting started with simulations

Documents