Thinking about making an online tutorial? Well, we have the in-person tutorial you need. Join Amanda Albright and JoAnn Gonzalez-Major from Educational Technology  Services and Susan Simon of Jones Media Center to learn about the why, when, where, and how of effective online tutorial creation.

This combined discussion and hands-on workshop will provide background and techniques to allow you to engage and instruct your target audience online.

When would you use:

Handouts

• Basic Search Tips and Advanced Boolean Explained - UC Berkely

Webpages

• Boolean Search - A project of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

PowerPoint

• The 3M Search Strategy -  Vancouver School Board

Interactives

• Doing Research: An Introduction - University of Illinois at Chicago

Videos

Search Smarter, Search Faster
Univ. of Sydney

Boolean Operators
Univ. of Auckland

.... be carful with presenting to much information.

DATE: May 17, 2011
TIME: 12:15PM - 1:45PM
LOCATION: Starr Instructional Center (Jones)
INSTRUCTORS: Amanda Albright, JoAnn Gonzalez-Major, Susan Simon

SCHEDULE (Overview):

• 12:15 - 12:45 - Introductions and discussion.  What are online tutorials?  When to use different types of tutorials.  Defining your instruction goals.  Who is your target audience and what is their situation?  Thinking like your audience.  Matching your tutorial to your audience and goals.  
• 12:45 - 1:45 - Hands on with Relay.  The screencast as tutorial.  Steps to creating an effective screencast.  Hatching an idea.  Scripting.  Rehearsal.  Recording your screencast.  Reviewing the screencast and uploading.  Making your screencast available to your audience.

BONUS - Other tools of potential use for creating online learning materials...a brief, whirldwind tour of some possibilities you may not have considered.

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Pre-assignment

In preparation for the hands-on piece of the session, please think about a (very) familiar topic/skill that you can work into a 1 - 2 minute instructional screencast.  Yes, you will be able to do this.  The important thing about the topic is that it be small (easy to cover in 1 - 2 minutes) and something you are very comfortable with.  Some suggestions are: working with one specific facet in summon (or some other database of your choice), finding a specific address in Google Maps, navigating to the "name your subject" Research Guide, finding the "Dartmouth Channel" on YouTube, doing a known author search in the library catalog...you get the idea, something that you know well (so you can focus on the process and not so much on the content) and reasonable to cover in a brief 1 - 2 minute tutorial.

While it seems easy to just turn on a screen capture tool and begin recording a video tutorial, that may not be the most effective practice. The following are a few guidelines that, if followed, will lead to a more effective use of your time and a more polished product.

1. Identify the Audience Needs
   
   • Who will be using this tutorial and why is it being created?
   • Will the tutorial serve as a prerequisite for a session or activity/assignment or be provided as reinforcement?
   • How long can you realistically expect the user to spend watching/using the resource?
   • Where will users most likely view the tutorial?
   • What are the users technical skills?
2. Identify the Goals and Objectives of the Tutorial
   
   • What will the user learn?
   • What should the user know by the end of the tutorial?
3. Develop the Tutorial Outline
   
   • What topics/concepts will be covered?
   • How do the topics build upon each other?
   • Can the tutorial as outlined be covered in the expected timeframe defined by the audience needs?
4. Define the Delivery Format(s)
   
   • How will the user be expected to consume/interact with the content?
   • How will the tutorial engage various learning styles?
5. Search for Adoptable or Adaptable Resources
   
   • Has anyone else created a tutorial/resource that addresses your needs?
6. Set aside Time to Draft the Tutorial/Narrative
   
   • In the case of a written tutorial, will you develop an expanded outline or step-by-step instructions?
   • In the case of a screencast or interactive tutorial, how are you going to "tell the story" or step the user through the experience?
7. Capture Images/Video for the Tutorial
   • Is an image/screen truly necessary?
   • Does the image/screen being referenced support the narrative?
   • Does the image/screen require a modification or update to the narrative?
8. Share the Draft and Ask for Feedback from Peers and Users
   
   • Does the "flow" make sense?
   • Does the tutorial meet the defined goals/objectives?
9. Incorporate Feedback and Finalize the Tutorial.
10. Provide Opportunities for Continued Feedback/Assessment.

• The readiness principle, enabling learners to see the relevance of the material
• The experience principle, respecting the expertise learners bring to the topic
• The autonomy principle, allowing learners to control their own learning paths through meaningful exercise and activities
• The action principle, emphasizing clearly and continually the connections between what is being learned and the real world in which it is applied
• The kiss principle, when designing turotial, regardless of the complexity of the topic, keep it short and simple (K.I.S.S.)

When designing your tutorials provide a meaningful benefit for each topic, in the form of "why you should care about this" scenario.

Learning is much more effective if the learner's brain knows why what you're about to talk about matters. The benefit and/or reason why you should learn something needs to come before the actual content. Otherwise, the learner's brain gets to the end of what you're telling them and says, "Oh, NOW you tell me. If you'd said that earlier, I would have paid more attention..." This process of not-paying-attention is not completely within the learner's conscious control so, like I said, even if the person is motivated to learn this thing, their brain can still tune out during specific parts that don't start with a compelling benefit.

Technique

To find a "meaningful benefit", play the "Why? Who Cares? So What?" game with someone else.

• Describe the thing you're trying to explain, to which the other person asks, "Why?"
• Provide an answer, to which the person then asks, "Who cares?".
• Provide an answer, to which the person asks, "So?"

At this point, when you're nearly ready to kill them for not getting it, you probably have the thing you should have said instead of whatever you said first (and second). The most compelling and motivating reason/benefit is almost always the thing you say only after you've answered at least three "Yeah, but WHY do I care?" questions.