Arguments, Wikipedia, Networks, & Structure

Long Live? - Tony Karrer in eLearning Technology

Tony's response to Saul Carliner's response to The Learning Circuit's, "Workplace Learning in 10 Years."

Note: This is an interesting discussion in that we get entirely two different views on a vital topic of interest. However, they are not without their own mistakes. The most grievous is the opening remarks: Saul's, "Nearly all of the contributors predicted the death of the classroom" and then Tony's, "Saul Carliner, who is a person I know, like and respect (maybe a little less now)."

Saul should of omitted the reference to the Learning Circuits Blog since there were only one, maybe two bloggers in the discussion who actually predicted the death of the classroom (although others may have hint at it); while Tony should have omitted the reference to respecting him a little less now as the attack is now being directed towards the person rather than the ideas being presented. Arguments like these should cause us to reflect on the ideas rather than the person.

The next is one of the papers presented, Schneider's qualitative study. First we have to remember that this is "qualitative" study - the why and how of decision making, thus smaller but focused samples are studied rather than large random samples.

First Saul relies on this piece of evidence too much and does not point out exactly what this type of reseach is about. Tony responds that eLearn Magazine suggests this is a vetted article. (Someone is going to have to point this out to me because I don't see any such suggestions. The lead-in actually reads, "Saul Carliner contends not only is the classroom alive and well...". "Contend means to "argue," not that it is vetted.). Thus such studies help us to focus more on what should be further researched -- we can neither rely on them wholely nor can we dismiss them becqause of their size.

Anyway, really good posts that will hopefully lead to others... but we need more argument and less rhetoric.

Potemkinpedia - Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog

One of the main reasons that the most popular and most controversial Wikipedia articles have come to be more "accurate and free of vandalism" than they used to be has nothing to do with "sidewalk-like transparency and collective responsibility." It's the fact that Wikipedia has imposed editorial controls on those articles, restricting who can edit them. Wikipedia has, to extend Cohen's metaphor, erected a whole lot of police barricades, cordoning off large areas of the site and requiring would-be editors to show their government-issued ID cards before passing through.

Professional Networks in China and America - harvard Business School

In China, relationships are even more important to getting business done. The Chinese have a term for these relationships: guanxi. Guanxi literally means connections or relations, but also refers to the socio-emotional bond that ties people who do business together. Guanxi networks tend to have significant overlap between professional and personal concerns; it is not uncommon that a valuable business contact is also a close friend.

Unlike their Chinese counterparts, American managers are much more likely to keep personal concerns and business separate. Mixing the two is often considered unprofessional.

Structure More Effective In High School Science Classes - Science Daily

"Self-structured instructional practices - sometimes referred to as self-led inquiry - have many advocates, but this study suggests that this approach does not fit all students," Tai said. "Giving more guidance to some science students and more freedom to others seems likely to pay off in college."

"Student-led projects and investigations do not appear to be as productive as other approaches to teaching science in high school," Sadler said. "Increasing student autonomy may be motivated by the goal of providing experiences more akin to scientific research, but only the strongest students appear to get much out of such opportunities in most classrooms."

ILT, eLearning Tools, Visual Learners, KM, monitter, & T&D Magizines

Long Live Instructor-Led Learning - Saul Carliner in eLearn Magazine

Past performance suggests no change in the level of instructor-led training, at least, according to the most recent ASTD State of the Industry Report [1]. Despite a steady climb in the availability of e-learning, the overall percentage of instructor-led training is nearly unchanged: 71.97 percent in 2003 and 70.58 percent in 2008 (the most recent year for which statistics are available). What has changed, though not as significantly as one might expect, is the percentage of instructor-led training offered online, rising from 2.92 percent of all training in 2003 to 6.39 percent in 2008.

More flawed than the analysis of the numbers is the proposition that formal classroom learning will be replaced by informal learning, which will primarily occur online through blogs and social computing tools. Although it sounds exciting at first, and certainly appeals to the emotions, several practical issues - all of which are ignored by the contributors to the ASTD 2019 discussion - limit the likelihood that organizations would primarily rely on informal learning.

Authoring Tool Tips and Tricks - Paul Schneider in ASTD

While there is a plethora of authoring tools available to you as a developer, this article focuses on three common options: Articulate, Lectora, and Captivate. Although I'll focus on these tools, the principles and concepts covered here will generally apply to other authoring tools, though the buttons may be a different color, shape, or size!

Visual Learners Convert Words To Pictures In The Brain And Vice Versa - Science Daily

People who consider themselves visual learners, as opposed to verbal learners, have a tendency to convert linguistically presented information into a visual mental representation. The more strongly an individual identified with the visual cognitive style, the more that individual activated the visual cortex when reading words. The opposite also appears to be true from the study's results.

It has long been thought that propensities for visual or verbal learning styles influence how children acquire knowledge successfully and how adults reason in every-day life; however, there was no empirical link to this hypothesis from cognitive neuroscience.

When Knowledge Management Hurts - Harvard Business School

Professors Martine Haas from the Wharton School and Morten Hansen from INSEAD, for example, examined the use of internal knowledge systems by teams of consultants in one of the big four accountancy firms trying to win sales bids. They measured to what extent these teams accessed electronic documents and how much they sought personal advice from other consultants in the firm. They figured that, surely, accessing more knowledge must be helpful, right?

But they proved themselves wrong; to their surprise they found that the more internal electronic databases were consulted by these teams the more likely they were to lose the bid! Likewise for seeking advice from colleagues. This effect was especially pronounced for very experienced teams. These consultants were much better off relying on their own expertise than trying to tap into experiences by others, whether it was in the form of electronic assets or external advice.

monitter

Monitor lets you "monitter" the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying. It also allows you to enter in a radius (km or miles) at the top of the page that will only capture tweets within a certain distance from your location. In addition, you can download a widget for your site.

March 2009 T&D Magazines Online

ASTD

Training Magazine

CLO Magazine

Design, Captivate 4, *learning, Information, & Digital Pictures

The Real Driver - Metropolis

When you design for people, you should really know what you're doing to them both physically and psychologically. But what I learned through application is that this knowledge can become a superb form of market analysis. It is fundamental: if you know what people do, how they do things, what their reactions are - and if you can measure all this - then you have a foundation reference for what they could use or want. You don't have to go out and ask them, or track previous sales records, or determine what products are selling well.

Captivate 4: How to capture, store and display your user's name - Steve Howard's eLearning ++ Blog

The new custom variables in Adobe Captivate 4 make it fairly easy to capture, store and display your users name. Once stored you can also add the name to the Certificate widget and use it in many other ways.

m-learning: just another fad? - Learning Pool's Blog

During the mid to late 1990's we saw the emergence of e-learning; during the early 2000's the new phrase of 'blended' learning was all the rage; and over the last twelve months m-learning has become the latest buzz word to grip the learning and development profession.

Groups Share Information In Workplace, But Not The 'Right' Information - Science Daily

The analysis showed that teams that spent time sharing new information performed better overall in their tasks. But they also found that most teams spent their time discussing information that was already known by the rest of the group. Groups whose members talked more openly during meetings were on better terms with one another but that did not necessarily mean they performed better.

Great Shot! How To Take Digital Pictures - Forbes

One way to hone your photographic skills is to keep going back to the same location. Try different angles and different perspective. Shoot at different times of day, different seasons and different weather conditions. You might be amazed at the new images you can capture by "working" the same site.

Lean ISD, Social Learning, VAK, Joe Harless Video, & Google

Lean Instructional System Design - by Wong Yew Yip (YY) in Ditagroup

It is not uncommon for learners who signed up for a particular course to find that what was delivered was not what they had expected. It is also not uncommon to hear of comments that the learning course has not brought about the desired results to solve performance issues or to improve performance levels. Such disappointments are very likely due to some design and development flaws in which the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of learning have not been effectively addressed. This can be overcome by knowing and applying the right Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model.

Social Learning Survey - The Masie Center

1,056 TRENDS readers responded to a Social Learning Survey last Friday. The results are interesting - looking at the methods, technologies and hurdles to implementing Social Learning in corporate settings.

Amazing learning styles research - Donald Clark Plan B

In this detailed, large-scale study, published in the Journal of Kinaesthetic Education (174-76 p64 2009), the VAK learning styles theory was put through its paces using 600 GVCSE students split into; a control group (no identification of learning style), along with selected Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic learner groups.

The Wizard of Newnan - Brother Joe Harless on Video from 1993 - Guy Wallace in The Pursuing Performance Blog

After last weekend's visit with Joe Harless - was it only a week ago? - he ventured into his storage space of Harless Performance Guild treasures and searched out a video that we had chatted about after our two video sessions.

It was him as a Wizard doing the Banquet Speech at the 1993 Chicago NSPI (now ISPI) Conference. It arrived in the mail on Thursday.

Google submission hammers section 92A - PC World

Google notes that more than half (57%) of the takedown notices it has received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, were sent by business targeting competitors and over one third (37%) of notices were not valid copyright claims.

"While inadequate copyright protection can reduce incentives to create, excessive copyright protection can stifle creativity, choke innovation, impoverish culture and block free and fair competition. As both an intermediary and an innovator in online technologies, Google supports a flexible and adaptable legal framework that provides those who create and invest in new technologies the freedom to innovate without fear that their efforts will be hindered by an overly restrictive approach to copyright. Copyright must have sufficient flexibility so that new, legitimate and socially desirable uses, enabled by new technologies, can flourish."

Captivate, eLearning, Training/Downturn, Decision Making, & Intelligence

Tips for Publish to AVI in Adobe Captivate 4 - The Adobe Captivate Blog

With Adobe Captivate 4, you can publish your Captivate project directly as an AVI file. This enables you to create demos using Captivate and upload them as AVI files on media sharing websites like YouTube etc.

Does e-learning have a future? Lars is Learning by Lars Hyland

Interestingly I've seen more interactivity and immersive design in some interactive video solutions developed back then using 1st generation PCs and optical video discs than much of what passes as e-learning in current times. So it's not technology that matters - it is how you harness it. That takes skill, creativity and tenacity to integrate a solution into an environment that is usually quite resistant to change.

Engaging with the new eLearning - Allison Rossett and Antonia Chan in Adobe (PDF)

eLearning achieves its potential when used repeatedly over time and place by engaged participants. Engaged people seek online lessons and references - and now, in this Web 2.0 world, they also contribute generously, making choices to both consume and create resources.

ASTD's Learning Circuits attempted to find out what's on people's minds regarding eLearning in 2008. Their little study (ASTD 2008) closed with the question, "What concerns does your organization have about using eLearning?" The responses were not surprising - topping the list was "employee buy-in." That is the double edge of eLearning and engagement.

Training Adapts to the Downturn - Workforce Management

During economic downturns, training dollars usually are a tempting line item to cut. But in this downturn-at some companies, at least-there appears to be a different approach at work. One expert says corporate leaders are more inclined to use 'a scalpel,' picking and choosing programs to cut or trim back based on long-term strategic goals.

Is That Your Final Answer? Study Suggests Method For Improving Individual Decisions - Science Daily

The average of the participants' first answer with the second answer was much closer to the correct answer, compared to the original answers on their own. In addition, the dialectical bootstrapping method (that is, thinking about why your own answer might be incorrect and then averaging across estimates) resulted in more accurate answers compared to simply making a second guess without considering why the first answer may be wrong.

Can We Increase Our Intelligence? - New York Times

Research on working memory training, as well as Flynn's original observations, raise the possibility that the fast-paced modern world, despite its annoyances (or even because of them) may be improving our reasoning ability. Maybe even multitasking - not the most efficient way to work - is good for your brain because of the mental challenge.

Detailing the Seriation

In his post Monday Broken ID Series: Seriation, Clark Quinn writes, "Instructional design has established that the correct order of elements is introduction - concept - example - practice (and feedback) - summary. While that's a good default, it doesn't have to be that way, and there are times when it makes sense to provide other approaches or even self-navigation."

This post adds on to Clark's methods of presenting information (concepts) and examples.

Approaches to Presenting Information and Examples

When presenting content, two approaches can be used:

• a deductive approach works by presenting the general information, followed by examples
• an inductive approach works in the opposite direction by first presenting the examples to the learners, and then giving them the general information.

Closely related to the presentation methods are two strategies for helping the learners to learn:

• expository learning, which is presenting examples and information
• inquisitory learning, in which the learners find examples or general information

The two approaches for presenting content and the two learning strategies gives us four instructional design methods. Present the:

• information first and then the examples
• examples first and then the information
• information and then have the learners find or produce examples
• examples and then have the learners find or produce the information

A deductive-expository strategy works by first presenting information and then the examples. Thus, all the content is presented to the learners. For example, you present the information and then a case study that illustrates the information. It is normally the most time and cost effective of the four methods.

It is best used if they have some experiences with concrete examples or cases that enable them to understand the general information and a deep level of understanding is not required. It works for simple declarative knowledge, such as facts and simple concepts and models.

The inductive-inquisitory strategy works by presenting examples and then the learners produce the information. Thus, rather than just receiving the content, they now receive and produce. For example, you present a case study and then the learners provide the general information about the case study.

This method works best when the learners have little or no experience with concrete examples or cases and their knowledge consists mostly of:

• simple or naive strategies
• simple or naive models

It is normally a time consuming strategy; however, it is probably the best method for reaching a deep level of understanding. To reduce the amount of time it takes, use some "leading questions"; thus it becomes a guided discovery learning method rather than strictly exploratory. This method works best with strategic knowledge, such as heuristics and systematic approaches to problem solving.

An inductive-expository strategy works by first presenting examples and then the information. And again, all the content is presented to the learners. For example you present a case study and then the information.

This method normally provides the learners with a deeper understanding than the deductive-expository method, but is not as good as the inductive-inquisitory method, thus it provides a middle-of-the-road method. This also works best for simple declarative knowledge, such as facts and simple concepts and models.

The deductive-inquisitory strategy works by presenting the information to the learners and then they produce some examples. For example, you present the information and then they come up with a case study or model.

This strategy fits in with whole-task practice in complicated tasks that have many parts. That is, once the learners have used the other three methods for learning the parts of a task, use this to bring the whole task together.

This method also works best with strategic knowledge, such as heuristics and systematic approaches to problem solving.

Reference

Jeroen J. G. Van Merrienboer, (1997). Training Complex Cognitive Skills: A Four-Component Instructional Design Model for Technical Training. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Pubns.

eLearning - Audio & Captivate, Blogging, Twitter, & the Brain

Adding Audio to Adobe Captivate - Michael Hanley in E-Learning Curve Blog

Besides giving detailed instructions and hints for adding audio to Adobe Captivate projects, Michael, also writes of why we need to add audio in our elearning platforms...

According to Colvin Clark & Mayer (2002) there are six different "broadly applicable" media element guidelines to follow when undertaking e-learning instruction. These guidelines are:

• The Multimedia Principle: Use words and graphics rather than words alone.
• The Contiguity Principle: Place corresponding words and graphics near each other
• The Modality Principle: Present words as audio narration rather than onscreen text.
• The Redundancy Principle: Presenting words in both text and audio narration can hurt learning.
• The Coherence Principle: Adding interesting material can hurt learning
• The Personalization Principle: Use conversational style and virtual coaches.

Blogging Your Way Into A Job - Forbes

It can help control how you come up in online searches of your name. "Recruiters will always try to find out more about you," says Liz Lynch, author of Smart Networking. "They Google you. You want to stack the deck in your favor. If you're competing with someone who has equal skills and experience, a blog can be the tie-breaker. Having that little bit extra can tip the scales in your favor."

Also see HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter - Mashable.

Video technology and social software can cut employee training costs - SearchUnifiedCommunications.com

For more in-depth training, such as a new process or a tutorial on using a software system, a wiki entry or Yammer message just might not suffice.

Video-on-demand can be an effective supplement, even a replacement, for in-person training sessions, particularly if it can cut down on travel costs or ease the headache of coordinating the schedules of multiple trainees and trainers.

Neuroscientists Map Intelligence In The Brain - Science Daily

Somewhat surprisingly, the study revealed a large amount of overlap in the brain regions responsible for verbal comprehension and working memory, which suggests that these two now-separate measures of cognitive ability may actually represent the same type of intelligence, at least as assessed using the WAIS.

Be It Twittering or Blogging, It's All About Marketing - New York Times

The introvert can write a blog, offering expertise and making a personal connection with the customer. Charisma or an over-the-top personality wouldn't mean anything in the wine business if I didn't know a zinfandel from a Chardonnay.

Last December, seeking to enhance sales, he offered free shipping and promoted it three ways. As a result, he said, a direct marketing mailing cost $15,000 and brought in 200 new customers; a billboard ad cost $7,500 and won 300 new customers; and tweeting the promotion on Twitter attracted 1,800 new customers. No wonder he loves the online approach and is in demand as a consultant by businesses as large as Disney and as small as neighborhood hardware stores.

Why You Are Not Your Brain - Scientific American

Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body and world. "You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."

Instructional Design, Crowdsourcing, Audio, Typography, Blogs, & Psych

The Great ID Debate - eLearning Roadtrip

These days a good ID needs to be able to write instructional objective. Conduct a content analysis. And an audience analysis. Measure job/performance outcomes. Write a criterion referenced test Create a shared collaborative experience and measure its impact. Script a simulation. Create Camtasia movies. Know a .swf from a .flv. Produce a virtual webinar on any number of web platforms. Develop a website. Administer a blog. Program in Actionscript 3. Administer an LMS or two or three. Metatag your content so that everyone in your organization can find it. Create a video and post it to YouTube. Write a report. Evaluate the impact of a performance support initiative in your workplace. Manage a project. Handle a budget. Fix the copier. Trouble-shoot the network....

Is Crowdsourcing Evil? The Design Community Weighs In - Wired

Witness the upheaval afflicting the design industry, sparked by the rise of so-called "spec design" sites like crowdSpring and 99designs. Customers post creative briefs directly to the community, which then competes to create a design that best fits the clients' needs. A typical "assignment" will draw dozens of submissions. The winner receives a nominal fee (as little as $200), and the client receives a logo or website design at a fraction of what a professional agency might charge. The losers get zip, which goes a long way to explaining why working on spec ("on speculation," or without guarantee of payment) has always been considered the work of last resort for writers, designers and other creative professionals.

Using Audio Markers in Adobe Presenter - Audio Narration in E-Learning Content: Using Audio Markers - Michael Hanley in E-Learning Curve Blog

This post will cover how to integrate your audio-with-metadata files into Adobe Presenter. In my next article I will discuss using markers to generate content for Captivate - the processes are different. While the process is quite straight-forward, it's easier to show you this process in a demo than describe it in a linear fashion using text and images (after all, this is an E-learning blog, folks!).

5 Simple Ways to Improve Web Typography - Webdesigner Depot

While this is targeted at the web, it is also useful information for learning designers.

Periodic Table of Typefaces - Squidspot

A table for selecting fonts.

Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere? - TechCrunch

With the popularity and pervasiveness of microblogging (a.k.a. micromedia) and activity streams and timelines, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and the like are competing for your attention and building a community around the statusphere - the state of publishing, reading, responding to, and sharing micro-sized updates.

Blog authority as measured by Technorati is declining. However, blog authority as measured by links is booming. It's now more authoritative than ever before as bloggers can reach and resonate with new readers outside of their traditional ecosystem to cultivate a dispersed community bound by context, centralized links, and syndicated participation. Microblogging will only grow in importance and prevalence. It's just a matter of embracing the inevitable and measuring the linklove beyond the blogosphere.

The Ten Most Revealing Psych Experiments - Brainz

Psychology is the study of the human mind and mental processes in relation to human behaviors - human nature. Due to its subject matter, psychology is not considered a 'hard' science, even though psychologists do experiment and publish their findings in respected journals. Some of the experiments psychologists have conducted over the years reveal things about the way we humans think and behave that we might not want to embrace, but which can at least help keep us humble. That's something.

Audio Narration, eLearning, SME/ID, & Professionalism

March 9, 2009

Audio Narration in E-Learning Content: Using Audio Markers - E-Learning Curve Blog by Michael Hanley

One of the features of Adobe applications for e-learning rapid e-learning content development is their facility to import audio metadata (commonly known as markers) into the authoring environment.

E-Learning in 2009: Are We Winning the Battle but Losing the War? - Jane Bozarth in eLearn Mag

While I welcome the move to increased use of e-learning (as I never did understand how the traditional classroom came to be held in such exalted esteem), this shift isn't necessarily good. It reinforces the belief that any presentation of content equals "training." It breeds the "convert-a-classroom-course-to-online" mentality, rather than focus on transforming instruction. The trend toward buying or building whatever is the cheapest instruction is a move away from thoughtful instructional design, with meaningful intent ignored in favor of easier, crank 'em out approaches. Alas, though, it may be the best push forward e-learning will get.

Are you playing the role of the Subject Matter Expert instead of the Instructional Designer? Janet Clarey in Brandon Hall Research

Think of most rapid e-learning courses. They are, by design, built around limiting theories. You mostly end up using them to create knowledge-building content (novice-level) or to create courses to track something (compliance, etc.). Or they are used to create something that is the equivalent of a text document. But novice-level/ knowledge-building and mandatory-type courses are a fraction of what people need to do their jobs.

This is why training in how to (really) design instruction is so important (for e-learning, classroom instruction, and informal learning). Although someone can show you how to make the most of a rapid e-learning tool, you won't become the "engineer" without advanced training (and not necessarily formal).

Top 10 funniest news reporter bloopers - cnet

The first video is a great example of poor professionalism in the workplace.

Interactivity, Innovation, Mac & C4, Cutting Employees, & Goals

Interactivity - when do we need it? - eel-learning

Interactivity is activity aimed at processing the information presented in order to

• help chunk it for memory management
• allow self-assessment - have I grasped this?
• keep interest and motivation, for example, by asking questions in the context of a game.

What Makes a Company the 'World's Most Innovative?' - Harvard Business Review

The current issue of Fast Company was sure to get my attention. "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies!" the cover blared. I start flipping through. The first eye roll came when the #1 ranking went to "Team Obama," which last time I checked was not a company. Then Google. Seemingly fair enough. Then Hulu, the online video joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal. Huh?

Captivate CS4 on a Mac! - matthewbibby.com

I had the foresight to order a copy of VMware Fusion when I bought my Macbook, so on day three of my Mac ownership I installed a trial of Windows Vista through Fusion and tried to use that virtual machine to run Captivate. It failed miserably. I was really dissapointed at how slowly programs loaded, files were saved and previews generated. It also caused issues with the performance of OSX, especially when using Spaces.

I then installed XP SP2. One of the great features of Fusion is that it installs all of the necessary drivers so when Windows is up and running you don't need to spend hours getting the internet working, the sound card configured etc.

XP ran like a dream, like I expected it should given the technology in this laptop. I installed Adobe Captivate CS4 and started on a major recording project for work.

Why Cutting 10 Percent of Lowest Ranked Employees Doesn't Work

Richard Nantel writes:

Years ago, I heard Marc Andreessen speak at a conference. He had recently sold Netscape and started a new company, Loudcloud. During question period, someone asked what he believed was his toughest challenge running a business. His reply was that the level of competence within a company decreased over time as staff was added. Consequently he suggested that cutting the bottom 10 percent of staff each year might be a good way to keep a company innovative and productive.

He then refers you to Bob Sutton's counter argument, The Case Against Cutting the Bottom 10%.

Are Goals Always Good? No....Watch Out for Side Effects - Will at Work Learning

A nice new review of research on goal-setting provides some balance in how goals can be used to guide workplace performance. Also, read this working paper.

Fixing the Sound in Adobe Captivate

I have been trying out Adobe's eLearning Suite and soon came across a slight bug -- Captivate would not record an audio narration. To work around it, I used Adobe Soundbooth CS4 to record the narration. I first tried saving the narration as a *.WAV file, but Captivate would not load it into the slide. I then went back to Soundbooth and saved it as an *.MP3 file. Captivate imported the new format without any problems. In addition, the *.WAV file was 687 MB, while the *.MP3 file was reduced to 590 bytes. I did not notice any quality difference between the two files; however, this was only a simple voice narration; a music or a more complex audio file will probably have a more noticeable loss of quality.

In the meantime, I sent a bug report to Adobe, which they followed-up the next morning saying that some sound cards have trouble with the audio dll file and provided this fix:

1. Close Captivate 4 if it is open.
2. Download the file kept at https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=a14e1bd9-dc10-4456-9cd2-44489809b78e
3. Go to your Captivate 4 install folder (mine was located at: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Cativate 4)
4. Rename nsaudio.dll as nsaudio.dll.bak or anything which doesn't have a dll extension
5. Copy the file from step 1 to Captivate 4 install folder
6. rename it as nsaudio.dll
7. Start Captivate 4
8. Try to play the audio - should go fine

The fix worked just fine; however, during my work-around, I found the advantage of using Soundbooth is that you get a much greater control of tweaking the sound quality, while Captivate only has a couple of controls for fine tuning the sound. Thus, if you just want to insert a quick sound byte, use Captivate, but if you really want to tweak the sound, use Soundbooth or another audio editor.