The document outlines recommendations for designing effective online tutorials, including instructional and visual/technical considerations. It discusses planning tutorials around student needs, incorporating active learning, communication, testing, visual clarity, navigation, and accessibility. The summary emphasizes applying recommendations like interactivity, dividing content clearly, and allowing user control, while acknowledging recommendations may conflict and problems will occur. Faculty needs must also be balanced.

1. FROM RECOMMENDATIONS TO REALITY:
DESIGNING EFFECTIVE ONLINE TUTORIALS
LOEX 2014 | May 8 – May 10 | Grand Rapids, MI
Lindsey McLean
Instructional Design Librarian
Loyola Marymount University
lindsey.mclean2@lmu.edu
Twiter: @lmclean001

2. DESIGN & TEACHING
RECOMMENDATIONS
A framework for effective tutorial design

3. 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

4. PART I:
INSTRUCTIONAL
Applying the instructional recommendations

5. PLANNING
Advance 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.

6. PEDAGOGY
The 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.

7. ACTIVE
LEARNING
According 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.

8. ACTIVE
LEARNING
According 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.

9. EMBED
COMMUNICATION
Embed 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.

10. TESTING /
ASSESSMENT
Including 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.

11. PART II:
VISUAL & TECHNICAL
Applying the visual & technical recommendations

12. VISUAL CLARITY
The 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.

13. INFORMATION
CLARITY
Users 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.

14. INFORMATION
CLARITY
Users 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.

15. CLEAR
NAVIGATION
Consistent, 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.

16. USER CONTROL
The 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…

17. TECHNICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
The 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/

18. TECHNICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
The 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.

19. ACCESSIBILITY
The tutorial should be
accessible to all of the
potential users of that
tutorial.

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

21. THEDESIGN&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.

22. FACULTY ARE YOUR
USERS TOO
If 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.

23. THERE WILL BE
PROBLEMS
Do 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”

24. LINKS
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
http://tinyurl.com/kscc2ea
LION”S GUIDE TO RESEARCH & THE LIBRARY TUTORIAL
http://library.lmu.edu/research/researchtutorials/
ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE LIBGUIDE
http://libguides.lmu.edu/onlinetutorialactivities

25. REFERENCESAppelt, Kristina M. and Kimberly Pendell. "Assess and Invest: Faculty Feedback on Library Tutorials." College & Research Libraries 71.3 (2010): 245-253. ALA Journals.
Web. 5 November 2012.
Betrancourt, M. “The animation and interactivity principles in multimedia learning.” Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (Ed.) R. E. Mayer. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2005 (p. 287–296). Print.
Blummer, Barbara A. and Olga Kritskaya. “Best practices for creating an online tutorial: A literature review.” Journal of Web Librarianship 3.3 (2009): 199-216. Taylor
and Francis Online. Web. 5 Nov 2012.
Conderman, Greg and Carol Koroghlanian. "Writing Test Questions Like a Pro." Intervention in School and Clinic 38.2 (2002): 83-87.
Dewald, Nancy H. “Transporting good library instruction practices into the web environment: An analysis of online tutorials.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 25.1
(1999): 26-3. ScienceDirect. Web. 5 Nov 2012.
Dewald, Nancy H. "Web-Based Library Instruction: What Is Good Pedagogy?." Information Technology & Libraries 18.1 (1999): 26-31. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W.
Wilson). Web. 9 Nov. 2012.
Dewald, Nancy H. “Pedagogy and Andragogy.” Developing Web-based Instruction: Planning, Designing, Managing, and Evaluating for Results (Ed.) Elizabeth A. Dupuis.
Ney York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2003 9 (p. 47-68). Print.
Dewey, Russell A. “Writing Multiple Choice Items which Require Comprehension.” Psycwww.com. n.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov 2012.
Grassian, Esther S. and Joan R. Kaplowitz. Information Literacy Instruction: Theory and Practice. 2nd Edition. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. 2009. Print.
Karpicke, Jeffrey D. “Retrieval-Based Learning : Active Retrieval Promotes Meaningful Learning,” Current Directions in Psychological Science. 21.3 (2012): 157–163.
SAGE Journals. Web. 9 Nov 2012.
Kupersmith, John. “Library Terms That Users Understand.” UC Berkeley: UC Berkeley Library. California Digital Library, 2012. Retrieved from:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3qq499w7
Mehlenbacher, Brad, et al. "Usable E-Learning: A Conceptual Model for Evaluation and Design." Proceedings of the HCI International 2005: 11th International
Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 4 - Theories, Models, and Processes in HCI. LAs Vegas, NV: Mira Digital P, 1-10.
Mestre, Lois S. “Student preference for tutorial design: a usability study.” Reference Services Review 40.2: (2012):258 – 276. Emerald Journals. Web. 5 Nov 2012.
Nielsen, Jakob. “Enhancing the Explanatory Power of Usability Heuristics.” CHI '94 Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems:
celebrating interdependence. New York, NY: ACM, 1994.
Nielsen, Jakob. “Ten Usability Heuristics.” http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html. Jakob Nielsen, 2005. Web. 15 May 2012.
Oud, Joanne. “Guidelines for effective online instruction using multimedia screencasts.” Reference Services Review 37.2 (2009): 164-177. Emerald Journals. Web. 5 Nov
2012.
Plumb, Tawnya. K. “Creating electronic tutorials: On your mark, get set, go!” Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship 22.1(2010): 49-64. Taylor and Francis Online.
Web. 5 Nov 2012.
Reece, Gwendolyn J. “Critical thinking and cognitive transfer: Implications for the development of online information literacy tutorials.” Research Strategies, 20.4:
(2005: 482-493. ScienceDirect. Web. 9 Nov 2012.
Smith, Susan Sharpless. Web-Based Instruction: A Guide for Libraries. 3rd edition. Chicago: American Library Association. 2010. Print.
Tancheva, Kornelia. “Online Tutorials for Library Instruction: An Ongoing Project Under Constant Revision.” ACRL Eleventh National Conference. Charlotte, NC, 10-13
April 2003.
Tognazzini, Bruce. “First Principles of Interaction Design.” http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html. Neilsen Norman Group. n.d. Web. 15 May 2012.
Winograd, Terry and Fernando Flores. Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1986. Print.
Zhang, Li. “Effectively Incorporating Instructional Media into Web-Based Information Literacy.” The Electronic Library 24.3 (2006): 294-306. . Emerald Journals. Web. 5
Nov 2012.