In part 1 of this Practical Guide, we examined the history, characteristics and benefits of the digital learning tutorial. In the second part, we explored some strategies you can use to design tutorials that impart important knowledge. In this third and final part, we look at how tutorials can be used to teach procedures.
Engage the learner
As we discussed in the previous part of this guide, you cannot simply assume that the learner will come to your tutorial full of enthusiasm for the topic. Your task is to convey the importance of the topic and its relevance to the learner’s job. The simplest way to do this is just to explain, but you can achieve a more powerful effect through some form of introductory activity. This activity opens a tutorial on greeting a customer on the telephone. It demonstrates why the opening is so important. This activity, in a module that teaches how to use styles in Microsoft Word, aims to establish relevance of the topic. The next step in the module is to demonstrate just how much time can be saved by using Word styles. Explain and demonstrate
Your next step is to provide a quick overview of the steps in the procedure. It will help the learner if you present the big picture before going into detail.
Then explain or demonstrate the procedure step-by-step, explaining any special rules that need to be followed at each step. Here the five steps in the procedure are presented one at a time using simple animations and text. This is followed by a simple tabular summary, which could also serve as a job aid. In this example, screencasts are used to present each step. Again, the key points are also summarised in simple tablular form.
Provide an opportunity for safe practice
It’s one thing to understand a procedure. It’s quite another to be able to put it into practice. It takes time to turn knowledge into skill and it’s unlikely that your tutorial will do much more than kick-start this process. It’s your job to provide the learner with the opportunity to take their first step, with a simple yet challenging activity which mirrors the real world as closely as possible.
With a complex procedure, you may want to provide a practice activity at each step. In this case, it’s likely that you’ll cover each step in a separate tutorial. Don’t forget to bring the whole procedure together at the end, as in real life steps are not carried out in isolation. This drag and drop activity requires the learner to place the steps in the procedure into sequence. This is still not checking for the ability to apply the skill, so another activity will be needed which has the learner carry out a task using this knowledge.
One of the ways that you can provide practice opportunities is using learning scenarios. For more information, see Onlignment’s Practical guide to creating learning scenarios.
Point to the next step
A how-to tutorial is the first step in learning a new skill. In many cases the learner will be able to take things on from there on their own, but where the skills require a great deal more safe practice before they are applied on-the-job, you may find you have to organise further practice opportunities using simulations, role plays and workshop activities.
That concludes this Practical Guide. It is now also available as a PDF download.
Next up: A practical guide to creating quizzes.
In part 1 of this Practical Guide, we examined the history, characteristics and benefits of the digital learning tutorial. In this second part, we uncover some strategies you can use to design tutorials that impart important knowledge.
Engage the learner
You cannot take for granted that the learner is interested in the information you want to convey. You have no automatic right to their attention. Your first task is to engage the learner in the tutorial by persuading them that the subject in question matters to them – not to people in general, but them.
You may be pretty sure that your learners will come to your tutorial motivated, but even then it makes sense to explain why the topic is relevant to their work and how they stand to benefit by sticking with you until the end. This opening screen is designed to engage the learner with the topic - in this case managing stress at work
In other cases you may need to make a greater effort, to somehow demonstrate the importance of the topic. This can be achieved through a simple but credible example – a case study, a scenario, a ‘war story’ if you like, ideally one with which the learner can easily identify. The storyline should demonstrate what the negative consequences might be if the learner was to remain in ignorance of the important information you have to offer. If you can’t come up with a plausible storyline, ask yourself whether you really do have a learning need.
Explore the learning content
Learning happens as learners make connections and detect patterns. So all learning is actually built on previous learning – it cannot occur in isolation. For this reason, just about every learner will benefit from relevant examples, analogies and metaphors. They might also surprise you by having some or all of the required knowledge already. Some of the most successful knowledge tutorials start by checking what the learner already knows and then working to fill in the gaps. These interactions build on what the learner already knows rather than assuming they are complete novices
Sooner or later you will want to present what needs to be known, as clearly and succinctly as possible, making good use of visuals to clarify your points and improve retention. If you have some ‘must knows’ as well as ‘nice to knows’, then make absolutely clear what these are – don’t expect learners to work this out for themselves. Even better, move the ‘nice to knows’ to a separate resource which the learner can access later. In this example, the learning content is explained diagramatically, using an animation, as well as in a simple, tabular form
Abstractions are not enough, so don’t hold back – present as many examples as you can. If you’re not sure how many examples to provide, simply ask the learner: “Would you like another example?”
Depending on the type of knowledge, you might want to provide the opportunity for the learner to actively explore the topic in more detail. This particularly makes sense when you are explaining how something works or familiarising the learner with the layout of a physical space, an object or an interface. This screen allows the learner to explore a piece of equipment by rolling their cursor over parts of the picture.
Put the learning to work
The learner is much more likely to retain and recall important information if they are provided with plenty of opportunities to work with it, and in the context of a tutorial that’s likely to mean answering questions. These serve not only to reinforce the learning but also to help you identify gaps which need to be filled. The easiest way for you to fill the gaps is through the feedback you provide to the questions. Although many rapid authoring tools do not make this easy to accomplish, it helps if you can provide different feedback for every answer that the learner can make. Use the feedback to correct any mistakes, not necessarily by repeating the same information from earlier in the tutorial but with a new form of words, perhaps a new example or a new memory aid. The example on the left tests for understanding of a concept. The one on the right tests for factual knowledge. These two examples test for knowledge of the location of a part of a piece of equipment and for the name of a part at a specific location.
You cannot be sure you have achieved your objectives for the tutorial just by asking a few questions and giving feedback. If the learner struggled with the first questions then you should ask some more to make sure the feedback has worked. If in doubt, you could always ask the learner if they want to try more questions. To be honest, most tutorials do not go this trouble, but then most tutorials are a little hit and miss.
Point to the next step
A knowledge tutorial is a catalyst. If you do our job well, you will have excited the learner’s interest in the topic and provided them with a foundation on which to build. Unfortunately, new knowledge cannot be cemented in a single session. Your key learning points will need to be reinforced often before they really stick.
So, finish the tutorial by pointing the learner to the next step, whether this is a further tutorial, web sites that they can explore, a discussion forum or all manner of other resources. Coming next:Creating how-to tutorials
The digital learning tutorial is anything but a new concept. Almost as soon as computers became generally available, efforts were made to automate the process of teaching through the medium of self-study lessons. Under the guise of CBT (computer-based training), interactive video or e-learning, and on a variety of platforms from green-screen mainframe terminals to the early microcomputers, using videodiscs, CD-ROMs, web resources or smart phone apps, the format stays pretty constant – a carefully-crafted sequence of screens displaying learning material and providing opportunities for interaction. The digital learning tutorial is not a new concept
Strange as it may seem, as a result of this long history, instructional designers (those who design these tutorials) are as much a part of the training establishment as those who’ve spent much of their lives in the physical classroom. A handful have been at this task for 30 years or more and they have learned a thing or two along the way. In this practical guide, we’ll attempt to pass on some of the wisdom that has been passed down about the design of learning tutorials, while acknowledging that change is occurring very fast in learning and development and that, as a result, what worked in 1981 when the IBM PC was first launched may not be quite so appropriate in 2011. The traditional tutorial is free-flowing and interactive - its digital equivalent should be no different
So what is a tutorial? The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a tutorial as “a period of teaching or instruction given by a tutor to an individual or small group.” This hardly sounds like an efficient way of bringing about learning; indeed, only a select group of universities are still prepared to go to this much trouble for their students, and trainers are no different. Luckily, the same dictionary provides another definition: “A tutorial is an account or explanation of a topic, printed or on-screen, intended for private study.” This is nearer to what we’re looking for, but with some of the interactivity, perhaps, that we might find in the face-to-face tutorial.
Media elements
A digital learning tutorial can and frequently does utilise every available media element. Verbal material can be provided in textual form or as audio. Visual material can range from simple photos, illustrations and diagrams through to animations, 3D environments and video. The perfect combination is one that communicates the learning material clearly to the intended audience, while working within the constraints of the available technical infrastructure.
Interactive capability
A tutorial is essentially interactive. Screencasts, slide shows, podcasts, videos and all manner of other digital resources can be used effectively without any built-in interaction. Not so a tutorial. Here interaction is the key to what is typically intended as a completely self-contained learning experience. An exposition of learning content followed by a quiz does not constitute a tutorial. To be effective, interaction needs to be integrated into every step of the learning process. Interaction is integral to the tutorial
Applications
A digital learning tutorial is an instructional device. Instruction is guided by clear objectives. It uses appropriate strategies to support learners as they progress towards these objectives. It is responsive to the difficulties learners may experience along the way. It finishes when the job is done, not when time is up or when all the slides have been shown.
Instruction is particularly valuable when your goal is to provide essential knowledge or to teach rule-based tasks. Designed well, it is capable of providing consistent, measurable results. While those with higher levels of expertise in the topic might find this process laboured, even patronising, novices will be thankful for the structure and support.
So how do I get started?
It is possible to create learning tutorials with a general purpose tool like PowerPoint, but you will be severely limited in what you can achieve interactively (you can branch between slides using hyperlinks, but this is a fiddly method to use for anything other than the simplest interactions) and you will not have the functionality necessary to track progress in a learning management system. You can create interactions in PowerPoint using hyperlinks between slides but this is a laborious process and you are limited in what you can achieve
The same applies if you use a standard web development tool like Dreamweaver (although, to be fair, Adobe do provide the additional functionality required for building tutorials in a special version of Dreamweaver available as part of their eLearning Suite).
Most people prefer to use a tool that is specially designed to support the development of e-learning. These come in desktop form (Articulate, Captivate, Lectora and many others) and also as online tools available through your web browser. You’ll be looking for a tool that’s easy to use but that is also capable of delivering the level of interactivity that you require.
Much more important than the tool is what you do with it, and that’s what we’re moving on to next. Coming in part 2: Creating knowledge tutorials
In part 1 of this Practical Guide, we examined the history, characteristics and benefits of the digital learning tutorial. In the second part, we explored some strategies you can use to design tutorials that impart important knowledge. In this third and final part, we look at how tutorials can be used to teach procedures.
