FROM RECOMMENDATIONS TO REALITY: DESIGNING EFFECTIVE ONLINE TUTORIALS

LOEX 2014 | May 8 – May 10 | Grand Rapids, MI

Lindsey McLeanInstructional Design LibrarianLoyola Marymount Universitylindsey.mclean2@lmu.eduTwiter: @lmclean001

DESIGN & TEACHING RECOMMENDATIONSA framework for effective tutorial design

TUTORIAL DESIGN & TEACHING RECOMMENDATIONS

INSTRUCTIONAL

• Plan• Incorporate Active Learning• Embed Communication• Pedagogy• Testing / Assessment

VISUAL / TECHNICAL

• Visual Clarity• Information Clarity• Clear Navigation• User Control• Technical Considerations• Accessibility

PART I:INSTRUCTIONALApplying the instructional recommendations

PLANNINGAdvance planning is essential when developing online tutorials. Tutorials are difficult to overhaul once they are finished so planning will help to you understand your audience and their IL needs. Knowing this will shape the content of the tutorial and help you deliver meaningful instruction.

PEDAGOGYThe basic principles of good library instruction in face-to-face environments are transferrable to online tutorials. Utilize these principles to help guide the content and maintain best practices in your online tutorial.

ACTIVE LEARNINGAccording to the ACRL Instructional Technologies Committee (2008), “Web tutorials should include interactive exercises such as simulations or quizzes.” Interactivity, multimedia, and game-like quality are identified as essential components in an effective online tutorial.

Passive and Active Learning

Passive Active

RECEIVING INFORMATION AND

IDEAS

EXPERIENCES:• Doing• Observing

REFLECTION• On what one is

learning and how one is learning

• Alone & with others

Diagram reproduced from : Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences. 2003.

ACTIVE LEARNINGAccording to the ACRL Instructional Technologies Committee (2008), “Web tutorials should include interactive exercises such as simulations or quizzes.” Interactivity, multimedia, and game-like quality are identified as essential components in an effective online tutorial.

EMBED COMMUNICATIONEmbed multiple forms of communication within the tutorial. This communication can range from emailing with a librarian with a question, providing feedback on the tutorial’s usefulness, or commenting for the benefit of other students.

TESTING / ASSESSMENTIncluding tests in an online tutorial both promote interactivity and active learning and assess the user’s performance. Make sure that you follow best practices for constructing test questions for the greatest impact on learning.

PART II: VISUAL & TECHNICALApplying the visual & technical recommendations

VISUAL CLARITYThe design of the tutorial should be minimal, clear, and visually consistent throughout. The goal is to enable the user to focus on learning the content of the tutorial instead of becoming distracted or confused by complicated design elements.

INFORMATION CLARITYUsers of the tutorial should be presented with clear and concise information throughout the tutorial. It is recommended that information within the tutorial should be divided into multiple modules with each module covering one distinct topic.

INFORMATION CLARITYUsers of the tutorial should be presented with clear and concise information throughout the tutorial. It is recommended that information within the tutorial should be divided into multiple modules with each module covering one distinct topic.

CLEAR NAVIGATIONConsistent, clear, and highly visible navigation is essential to an effective online tutorial. Users should be able to move through the tutorial both linearly and non-linearly without becoming confused about their place within the tutorial or the tutorials content.

USER CONTROLThe users of your tutorial should have some control over how they use it. By designing the tutorial to embed user control, the users can decide what they learn based on their own needs as well as how they learn it based on their learning style.

before…

after…

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONSThe tutorial should function properly in as many technological environments as possible because users will be utilizing various devices and browsers and have varying access to bandwidth and software. The back-end of the tutorial has to take as many of these variables into consideration as possible.

Image via Brad Frost: http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/this-is-the-web/

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONSThe tutorial should function properly in as many technological environments as possible because users will be utilizing various devices and browsers and have varying access to bandwidth and software. The back-end of the tutorial has to take as many of these variables into consideration as possible.

ACCESSIBILITYThe tutorial should be accessible to all of the potential users of that tutorial.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERWhat I have learned from planning, building, and implementing an online information literacy tutorial.

THE DESIGN & TEACHING RECOMMENDATIONS

None of these design and teaching recommendations for online tutorial design are mutually exclusive. Some of them are even contradictory. As the designer it is up to you to apply them in a way that best suits the project goal.

FACULTY ARE YOUR USERS TOOIf you are building a tutorial for use in a course that is not your own, you have to balance the needs of the students as well as the needs of the faculty.

THERE WILL BE PROBLEMSDo user testing before implementation, but plan on doing revisions

Be prepared for technology failure (Browsers, LMS, etc.)

Create a plan for dealing with problems.

Provide fast and comprehensive “customer service”

LIN

KS

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONShttp://tinyurl.com/kscc2ea

LION”S GUIDE TO RESEARCH & THE LIBRARY TUTORIAL

http://library.lmu.edu/research/researchtutorials/

ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE LIBGUIDEhttp://libguides.lmu.edu/onlinetutorialactivities

REFE

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