information literacy tutorial design & development

IL Tutorial Design & Development – Part 1Michael BairdThe Art Institute of Seattlemjbaird@aii.edu

Cooperative Library Instruction Project (CLIP)

• Create open IL tutorials to be used by higher edstatewide

• Partnership between public university, research I, private university, community college

• Address state-mandated IL competencies

• Flexible, adaptable

CLIP: What went wrong

• Planning tutorials before researching

• Production before setting style and technology standards

• Well-defined methods for continued cooperative participation

• Introducing unnecessary complexity

CLIP: What worked well

• Keeping the project open and portable, not tied to any particular institution

• Hiring staff with extensive multimedia experience

• Crowdsourcing for content ideas

• Statewide promotion and outreach

• Removing complexity from curation

Tutorial Creation

Getting Started

Define the Project

• Refer to COIL project proposal form

• What IL skill/concept will this address? (are these formally articulated?)

• Learning outcomes?

• Design and development?

Not Enough Information?

Filling in the Blanks

Meet Your Stakeholders

• Interviews and meetings across disciplines

• Ask what they wish librarians could teach?

• What IL skills are their students lacking?

• Do they need to integrate IL into curriculum? What are they struggling with?

• Ask to observe a class session

Research

Filling in the Blanks

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

• Search the web, filter to .edu websites

• Search YouTube, SchoolTube, Vimeo

• Use, borrow, and attribute

Review the Topic

• Search the open web

• Search library literature

• Search education literature

Choose Your Learners

Filling in the Blanks

User Personas

• Create a short character sketch, or more if the tutorial concept has potential for wide use

• Who will use the tutorial?

• What are their learning styles?

• Pre-existing skills?

• Cultural awareness?

• Have fun with it!

First Year / First Generation StudentName: JamesMajor: Music

Research experience: Using GoogleAdvanced web searching: none

Uses library resources: Pleasure reading only

Computer skills: Basic web browsing, e-mail, Facebook, chatting

Reading comprehension: high

Preferred learning style: Visual with supporting audio

Likes: Short films, bright colors

Dislikes: Anything boring or slow

Goals

Filling in the Blanks

Goal Statement

• What can the student do that they couldn’t before? Self-check throughout the entire process to be sure you stick to this

• Stay on track when distracted by shiny graphics, clever interactive elements, or fine details that do not matter

Tools to Use

Filling in the Blanks

Considerations

• Do you need built-in assessment?

• Will there be video clips?

• Will there be video recordings of your screen?

• Is accessibility a priority?

• Where will the output go?

Software

• Adobe Captivate

• TechSmith Camtasia

• TechSmith Jing

• Articulate Storyline

Outlining

Building

Outline

• Organize the tutorial topic into major areas

• Break down those areas to granular concepts appropriate for audience

• This is just a draft, the point is getting all ideas committed to paper

Write a Script

Building

Script Writing

• This will eventually be your voiceover

• Use your outline to write a narrative

• Keep your word choice, syntax, and tone appropriate to the audience

• Refer to your prepared personas!

Storyboard

Building

What Goes Where

• Storyboards are a draft visual layout of the tutorial

• PowerPoint is a great tool to organize this, even if the tutorial is entirely a video

• Also fine to use tutorial authoring software

• Gather images, decide where they go

– Track attribution for images, ideas, etc.

• Choose text wisely, less is more

Choosing Software

Building

Full-Featured Comparison

Captivate

• Uses slides in a familiar way, like PowerPoint

• Detail and customization have high potential, with high learning curve

• Poor quality screen recording function

• Output can be Flash or YouTube-ready video

Camtasia

• The entire project belongs to a single timeline, similar to audio editing

• Excellent quality screen capture function with many features

• Lower learning curve

• Output can be Flash or YouTube-ready video

Lite Software

Jing

• It’s free

• Learning curve is nearly flat

• Files are hosted with TechSmith, or you can download and host on your own server

• No editing available, all-or-nothing, 5 minute limit

• Best use: single-purpose, tool-based, how-to screen capture videos.

Audio Software

Audacity

• Excellent free audio editing tool

• Moderate learning curve

• Lots of advanced options after you get your feet wet

LameDrop

(new version is LameDropXpd, I have not used it yet)

• Free one-step audio compression tool with high quality results

• Drag and drop functionality

• Reduces large, high-quality audio uncompressed files to small, high-quality compressed files

Image Editing Software

Paint.NET

• http://www.getpaint.net

• Free, very high quality image editor

• All functionality you need for cropping, resizing, changing resolution

• Low learning curve

Questions

IL Tutorial Design & Development – Part 2Michael BairdThe Art Institute of Seattlemjbaird@aii.edu

Tutorial Software Build

Building

Keep it Simple

• Combine in authoring software:

– Storyboard layout

– Text

– Images

• Don’t worry about fine-tuning and details, think big picture

Record Voiceover

Building

Keep Your First Voice Simple

• This is just a draft, mistakes are fine

• This is to evaluate timing, get a sense of flow, transition, and pace

• Use authoring software recording tool, quality is unimportant

Rearrange

Building

Line ‘Em Up

• Adjust your visual and audio objects to roughly line up

• Again, keep it simple, it’s just a draft

• Edit as you go, eliminating and adding as it makes sense

– Think about flow

– Think about pace

– Think about timing

Working Prototype

Building

You Did It!

Prototype is complete

Show and Tell

Editing

Find an Editor or Seven

• COIL will have a peer-review process in place

• Additionally,

– Track down the faculty you interviewed at the beginning, non-librarians are essential

– Track down students in classes you initially observed

– Use bribes for students

Usability

Editing

Usability – Another Dirty Word

• Keep it simple

• Steve Krug – “Rocket Surgery Made Easy”

– http://www.sensible.com/rsme.html

• Even 1-2 participants are very valuable

Usability – Sample Test• Have student perform a simple activity based

on tutorial learning goal

• Have student view the draft tutorial

• Ask questions– Was the tutorial easy to understand?

– Did the images make sense? Distract?

– Did you feel you learned something?

• Have student perform the same activity

• Compare results

Now or Never

Editing

Final Edits

• Honest evaluation comparing with project outcomes/goal statement, does it work?

• Last edits for text choice, transitions, imagery, etc.

Ins and Outs of Voice Recording

Production

Voice Recording

• Make the best audio possible

• Invest in a good microphone

– Blue Snowball works great, around $100

• Likely need to record audio in separate software

Practical Tips

• Use a quiet room• Reduce echo with at-hand items• Quiet computer reduces background noise• Fluorescent lights can “hum”• Do all recording in one session• Use a pop shield• Keep beverages handy• Make each slide/section a single uninterrupted

clip• Captivate, specifically, has poor quality

Audio Quality Comparison

Less desirable

https://www.wou.edu/provost/library/clip/tutorials/internet_tips.htm

More desirable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psaOdZFPTEM

Polish

Production

Final Tweaks

• Fine-tune text and images to properly align with audio recordings

• Only do this as the final step, it is incredibly time-intensive

• Fully export the tutorial to its final format for previewing

Output

Distribution

Make it Public

• YouTube works very well

– Can be embedded just about anywhere

– Does not use your system (storage and bandwidth) resources

– Solid closed captioning features for accessibility

• Flash has its plusses too

– Extensive options for interactivity

– SCORM-compliant quiz functionality

Packaging

Distribution

Collect All Assets

• Zip files work great to keep everything together

• What you will need to include:– Primary source file(s) (Camtasia, Captivate, etc.)

– Original audio clips

– Images (everything, including template images)

– Outline

– Script

– Text file with attribution information

Questions