Summary: Use a transparent image to create a video hotspot question.
Difficulty: Easy

Quizmaker ‘09 – Always impressive!

The Learning Technologies conference in London was a great opportunity to meet up with clients in the UK as well as show off some of the exciting features of Studio ‘09 Pro. One visitor enquired if it were possible to have a hotspot question on a video. Never one to underestimate the power of Quizmaker ‘09, we explored the possibilities together.

And sure enough, a video hotspot question is possible.

First, here is a simple example:

The learner needs to click on a specific place on the video to get the answer right, in this case, one of the characters.

This particular example show how you could have a multiple choice type question based on a single video for language learners. I used a program called Crazy Talk to create the video.

You could have a hotspot question over any regular video or PowerPoint animation that you have imported into Quizmaker ‘09 as a SWF file. Another idea would be to show the beginning of a process for using a particular software program and asking the learner to select on a button in the interface which has a certain function etc to continue in the process.

The actual hotspot area and the correct answer spot remain static.

Having a hotspot question over a video can make your question more engaging and fun.

How do you do it?

The principle is easy. Have a video as the background to your question and then place a transparent image on top. Although the user thinks they are clicking on the video, they are in fact clicking on a transparent image. This obviously works best if the “correct answer” on the video does not move around, or, if the final image or frame in the video/animation shows the correct answer and the learner knows they have to wait until the last frame before they click.

User PowerPoint to easily create a transparent image.

Have a look at this Screenr where I show how you can create a transparent image.

Create the video hotspot question.

1. Now that you have a blank picture to use, open Quizmaker ‘09 and create a new Hotspot type question.
2. Make sure you save your quiz.
3. In Form View, select Choose Image.
4. Navigate to your blank picture and click on Open.
5. You’ll see a grey box appear in the question.


 

6. Now go into Slide View and the grey box will disappear.
7. Locate the “invisible box”. You should be able to select it. You can move this around as you please. This will be the part of the screen which the user can click on for the hotspot question.
8. Insert your video by going to the Insert tab and selecting Flash movie.
9. If you want your users to review the video again before answering the question, make sure you have selected “Show movie controls” in the Flash Movie Properties dialog box.
10. It is now up to you how you position the video. You might have to move the hotspot box out of the way to be able to select it and move the video. Remember though that when you have finished, the hotspot area needs to be over your video. If necessary, right click on the video and “Send to Back”.


 

11. You can also resize your hotspot area as you like but you want to make sure it covers the whole video.
12. Finally you need to create the spot the user needs to click on to get the question right. Still in Slide View, go to the Insert tab and select “Add Hotspot”.


 

13. Decide what shape you want your hotspot to be, and draw it on top of the video.


 

14. Make sure you have entered a question in the question box at the top of the screen and click “Save and Close”.
15. Your video hotspot is ready for testing.

Screenr demo

Here is a Screenr of the process.

Notes

A number of articles and posts have been written about the hotspot question in Quizmaker including this one which shows how to have a simple multiple choice question using the hotspot.

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