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Tutorial
Write a 3-5 part lesson on the basics of a program for a beginning or advanced user.
You can pick a program that you are familiar with such as an application in the Microsoft Office Suite and tailor the instruction to a user in a workplace of your choice. Often tutorials are written for persons with special uses. Example: members of a committee need to learn to use a spreadsheet to keep track of events they are planning, so you would write a tutorial for that task.
The key to this assignment is selecting a user who needs to LEARN software skills. The skills will be closely associated with the person's job or work activity. Example: users need to learn how to log on to TTU's e-raider.ttu.edu site and download a new operating system.
The scenario is at the heart of the tutorial. Here's an exercise that can help you work on writing scenarios for tutorial documentation: Practice Writing Scenarios
FAQ (last updated: 02/25/2003)
Question: For my tutorial, I am planning to teach the user how to copy graphics
or text from the Internet, paste them in a paint program, and then save
them on the hard drive. What I'm having difficulty in, is naming my
tutorial. How can I wrap everything up in a neat little title? (February, 2003)Answer: Use your user analysis to find the title. You should have some workplace "activity" that defines what you are teaching. It could be putting images into a newsletter, or illustrating ideas in a report, or researching workplace subjects. Ask yourself, "What would the user call this activity?"
Also, as a side note, make sure that you inform your readers of the ethical implications of downloading copyrighted materials without permission. Your tutorial should help the learner understand the necessity for 1) obtaining permission and 2) acknowledging permission.
Question: Do you have any suggestions on tutorials? It seems like most things I come up with are too long/difficult for a short 4-5 step tutorial. (February, 2003)
Answer: Learn how to uninstall and reinstall a sound card driver, learn how to crop an image in PhotoShop, learn how to insert JavaScript in a web page, learn how to FTP a web page to a site, learn how to create basic tables in Microsoft Word, learn how to create and adjust styles in Microsoft Word, learn how to search for a book using the TTU Library Home page, learn how to make a basic, three-part PowerPoint presentation, learn to convert a Word document into a PDF file.
Question: "You mentioned that we should focus our test on one particular thing. What exactly did you mean by that?"
Answer: Sometimes a test will focus on a specific issue with the tutorial: Does one format work better than another? Does the scenario reflect activities the user would actually perform? But a simple test of the entire tutorial would probably work in most cases.
The test needs to try to assess whether the tutorial meets its objective: to teach the skills. So the simplest test of all is to sit the user down with the tutorial and see if, after having followed the steps, the person understands and can perform the skills from memory. Does the tutorial increase the learner's "capacity?"
Question: "Can I re-write an existing tutorial?"
Answer: No. Find a situation where you have to come up with original material.
Question: "What's the relationship of the 'scenario' to a tutorial?"
Answer: The scenario is the central example that unifies your tutorial.
Example: for a user in the traffic and parking office on campus a tutorial on Excel would cover the scenario of entering a ticket into a spreadsheet. The start would be logging in to the system, and the tutorial would entail teaching the user how to do this task.
Example: for a user working in a library using scanner software to make copies of an article for a patron. The start would be having the article ready to scan, and the tutorial would entail teaching the user how to start the software, place the article on the glass, operate the scanning software, name and save the scanned file.
Question: "What are the parts of the lesson?"
Answer Tutorials are usually divided into sections, each with a certain skill as its objective. For example: a tutorial on doing editing markup with Adobe Acrobat would have sections on opening the document, marking the document, and saving the document. A tutorial on making a web page would have sections on setting up the site, designing the pages, creating the pages, adding graphics, testing the page, and publishing the page.
Question: "Can I use the same program I used in the users guide assignment?"
Answer: You must find another program and user.
Question: "What is the Documentation Plan like for a tutorial?"
Answer: It's the same as for the users guide: same format and headings. I urge you to improve on your previous documentation plan. Look over areas where it might have been weak and try to improve it.
Question: "What format can I use for the tutorial?"
Answer: You can make it a print or online document (web page). If you need space on a server you can use the English Department server.
An example of the use of a scenario in a tutorial
Lesson 1-1 Objectives & Intro - Online Course Introduction to Searching DialogWeb for the Business Professional