Anybody have any ideas for building a training in Captivate that teaches about 30 vocabulary words (financial) that new employees will complete before proceeding with related training? The terms aren't terribly difficult or confusing. We're looking for ideas for teaching methods and hoping for "short and sweet" on this one... Any ideas are appreciated.

You could create short statements using each vocabulary word. From the statements, participants then select from a list of options the correct definition for each new word. Or, you could have a short, somewhat entertaining case study that uses the vocabulary words. Then have participants select the appropriate definition for each one.

Just last week, I ran across a Jeopardy template in the Adobe Captivate Exchange center. [URL=http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=p...ome&exc=22&loc=en_us]Captivate Exchange[/URL]

It is for Captivate 3, so hopefully you have that!

I think I understand the logic here -- the desire to make sure people know important terms before they move on to using them in the subsequent course work, however people tend to learn and retain vocabulary when it's taught/learned in context .

I think it's still a good idea to give people a head start by giving them an assignment before-hand. Give them the list of terms and make them try to find the definitions. These are financial terms that, by your own description, are not terribly difficult or confusing, so why not make them do the footwork?

Never spoonfeed when the learners can discover the answers themselves. They're far more likely to remember them that way.

I have other ideas for helping people retain and learn new vocabulary...but I'm not the designer at your place of employ; you are. Hopefully the bold statement above will give you fuel for your creative ideas.

Have you looked into basic methods books about teaching vocabulary? There's great stuff out there. Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=methods+of+teaching+vocabulary

P.S. Beware, once again, the tendency to select a delivery method before you're even sure what learning activity is best for the desired outcome.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Fanatic Facilitator,

Thank you very much for the suggestions. We will consider them all and are interested in checking out the Jeopardy template.