Jan 02 2009
Tutorials - A Useful Teaching Tool
I enjoy tutorials, especially web based ones. I also have fun creating them and I will provide you with some examples. Let me tell you why I find them useful.
Life is fast paced today and we are bombarded with information. Online life is even more hectic. There is always some new piece of software to learn (Word-Press) or a new computer operating system (Vista). Along with these new things comes the need to understand and be able to use them effectively. Another facet added by the Internet is the attention span factor. People want information and they want it quickly. I strive to make my tutorials short and concise.
A tutorial can be a simple web page or even a video. I happen to like and have experimented with both forms. Many websites use tutorials to help navigate the user through the learning process. I suggest that as an Education Professional you should investigate the technology used to create tutorials so that you can make your own. The technology used is not as complicated as it once was. You don’t need to master the technology, just become a good user. By creating a tutorial you will increase your knowledge about the subject of the tutorial, plus they can be a good way to promote yourself and your skills as an educator.
Web Based Tutorials -
A web based tutorial can be as simple as a static web page. Creating a web based tutorial is not as difficult as it once was. Back when I first started playing around with Internet technology web pages were created in HTML using the notepad editor. With the advent of the modern WYSIWYG editors the task of coding a web page has become much easier. The beautiful thing is that most blogs come with an editor installed in the user interface. Such as the Wordpress editor, a bit clunky, but it does work. If you need a stand alone editor I recommend Kompozer. It is a good editor that is small and compact. Get the Portable version and you can install it on your flash drive so that you can edit anywhere! Kompozer Portable Website For my MAC friends there is a Mac OSX version at the Main Kompozer website. (http://www.kompozer.net/)
Video Based Tutorials -
Video based tutorials abound on YouTube. I suggest that you create your own YouTube channel for your video work. (Visit Mine HERE - TheTeachingBox ) There are free tools out there that you can use to capture your computer screen. I have used CamStudio and found it to be quite useful (and best of all it is free). To show by doing, and to be more concise here is a link to my Web Based tutorial: Video Tutorials - A Beginners Guide
In conclusion I really don’t want to burden you with learning a bunch of new software packages. Nevertheless it is critical to realize that the Internet is the medium of training as we move into the future. As an educator you need to be part of it. You don’t need to master the technology. You just need to be able to effectively use it. I will leave you with a link to my page highlighting some of the Online Tutorials that I have created. I welcome any commentary on them. They are always a work in progress and because they are online it is easy to correct and update them.
TheTeachingBox.com Online Tutorials Page
Good luck, and I will see you online!
