Macromedia Dreamweaver e-Learning Toolkit: Building Web-Based Training with Coursebuilder

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Doyle's book is supposed to be an introduction for Dreamweaver extensions, CourseBuilder and Learning Site. CourseBuilder writes javascript for learning interactions (multiple choice questions, etc.) and Learning Site helps manage information from a course website within a database. The book strikes me as poorly edited or proofread (a whole paragraph is repeated on p. 81, for example). Readers are directed to the author's web-based training website for resources in ways that feel like you are reading an infomercial, but then, when I took the bait, I found that links to the resources were dead anyway. Text and tables repeat the same information, making it seem like the book has been "padded" to reach the editor's page count, or like the author believes he is writing for particularly dim-witted readers.

To those looking for help with Dreamweaver and other Macromedia tools in e-learning applications, I would recommend two other books: Using Dreamweaver to Create e-Learning (Garin Hess and Steven Hancock) is a first-rate introduction to CourseBuilder, with clear and engaging tutorials.  Even better, perhaps, is MX eLearning (Jeffrey Bardzell), which does almost nothing with CourseBuilder, but demonstrates how to build interactions using the javascript that Dreamweaver will write through its behaviors panel, as well as Flash and ColdFusion.  This is an "advanced training from the source" book and non-threatening to people who don't think of themselves as coders but want to begin to make sense of html, javascript, actionscript, etc.

Rating:
Summary: Totally Absorbing
Review: I wanted to get some experience with developing web based training. I didn't have much Dreamweaver experience, so I appreciated the overview chapter on Dreamweaver.

I really liked the hands on approach to the book, particularly the abundance of examples to work with on the CD. Doyle did a great job of walking through creating tests step by step so I never felt lost.

I didnt get into the database stuff at the end of the book, so I can't speak to that material. But everything else was very helpful!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book. Practical advice. The big picture & the details.
Review: Say you're a Web designer or technical writer given the job of designing a computer-based training course. You go to your boss with a $2 million budget request. Your boss says, "Here's 45 dollars. Go buy Doyle's book." This is the type of informal, lively writing style you'll find in Mike Doyle's "Dreamweaver MX e-Learning Toolkit".

If you, like me, wouldn't know where to begin designing an e-learning course, and especially if you know your way around Dreamweaver, you'll treasure this book.

This book describes the free extensions to Dreamweaver that let you build an online series of pages that give information and allow the viewer to do activities and answer questions, optionally recording the results and sending them to a database.

Mr. Doyle's book is filled with real practical examples and tips that come from someone who has used the product on many-a-learning project. The book advises some things to do in advance (storyboarding), some best practices, a few gotchas to avoid, and ways to customize the default appearance and functionality that the Dreamweaver extensions build for you. You will be spared hours of trial and error. Trust me on this.

In addition, he provides several full-length courses that he has developed that show you what's possible, and provides a useful collection of themes, graphics, and buttons.

The book goes beyond just what steps to take to create an online course by describing what the Dreamweaver extensions are doing behind the scenes. Knowing what is actually happening helps you figure out why unexpected behavior is happening and how to get the results you want.

My favorite part of the book is Part 2, where the author provides one chapter for each type of quiz question (true/false, multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, etc.). This is an excellent reference you can refer to when you want to create a specific type of interaction or question.

Of the dozens of books I've bought on Web design, this book is hands-down the most valuable book I own. Whatever Dreamweaver or CSS knowledge you have already mastered will be helpful, although the book provides quick lessons on these topics also.