New iteration—Online Tutorials: Creating them Easily and Effectively eCourse

Chicago—ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions announces a new iteration of our popular eCourse, Online Tutorials: Creating them Easily and Effectively. Hannah Gascho Rempel and Maribeth Slebodnik will serve as the instructors for a 4-week facilitated eCourse starting on Monday, April 9, 2018.

Online tutorials are nearly ubiquitous in the library learning world – but are they effective? Are they easy to create? In this eCourse, Rempel and Slebodnik will introduce you to the process and principles of creating tutorials in order to increase their impact and effectiveness. These principles include accessibility to reach a wider audience and assessment in order to evaluate and reinforce learning.

During the course, you will use the ADDIE Model of instructional design as a guide while you:

• Perform a needs analysis
• Design learning objectives and effective instructional approaches
• Find or develop accessible content (images, audio, and text)
• Produce and implement a simple tutorial with an eye on usability and ongoing maintenance
• Develop a plan to evaluate student learning and tutorial impact

During the eCourse, you may design your own simple tutorial with free online tools like Jing and SurveyMonkey, or with tools you already own. Although you’ll be utilizing free tools in this eCourse, you will also consider additional tools (both free and fee-based) that may be useful for your own projects. Along the way you will be provided with practical tools, guidance, and feedback to help you approach the creation of tutorials with confidence and a beginning level of expertise. This eCourse will encourage participants to share their tutorial needs and experiences as well as to consider strategies that will enable them to plan future tutorial development.

eCourse outline

Week 1

• Intro to Course
• Analysis
  • Learning Task Analysis
  • Learner Analysis
  • Tools Available
• Design
  • Learning Objectives
  • Choosing Instructional strategies appropriate for tutorials
  • Analysis of knowledge types

Week 2

• Design
  • Organizing a tutorial in a flexible way
  • Including a variety of content for learners
  • Cognitive Load
• Development
  • Analyzing your available tools and resources
  • Tools for creating images and text

Week 3

• Development
  • Usability
  • Accessibility
• Evaluation
  • Formative and summative evaluation
  • Writing assessment questions based on learning objectives
  • Demonstrating impact

Week 4

• Implementation
  • Usability testing
  • Promotion and implementation plans
• Learning new tutorial skills
• Summary

About the Instructor

Hannah Gascho Rempel is an associate professor at Oregon State University Libraries in the Teaching and Engagement Department. Since joining OSU in 2007, she has spearheaded the development of OSU Libraries’ services for graduate students and has been deeply involved in the Teaching and Engagement Department’s transition to a more strategic focus on instruction activities. Hannah earned her master of library and information science degree at the University of Washington. Prior to working at OSU, she served as an adult reference librarian at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Hannah is co-author of the book Creating Online Tutorials: A Practical Guide for Librarians.

Maribeth Slebodnik is an associate librarian in the Arizona Health Sciences Library at the University of Arizona, where she is the embedded librarian in the College of Nursing. She was the biomedical sciences information specialist and an associate professor in the Purdue University Libraries from 2006-2015. Maribeth has created tutorials for a variety of students including beginning biology students and graduate nursing and nutrition science students. She earned her MLS from Indiana University, and was a corporate librarian in St. Louis. Maribeth is co-author of the book Creating Online Tutorials: A Practical Guide for Librarians.

Registration for this ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions facilitated eCourse, which begins on April 9, 2018, can be purchased at the ALA Store. Participants in this course will need regular access to a computer with an internet connection for online message board participation, viewing online video, listening to streaming audio (MP3 files), and downloading and viewing PDF and PowerPoint files.

ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions (ELS) produces high-quality professional development events and materials for the library profession. ELS events cover modern issues on a wide variety of topics in formats that include live workshops, asynchronous eCourses, and print publications. We help ensure that today’s library employees have access to the professional development opportunities they need, whether they are brushing up on the basics or expanding their horizons with cutting-edge tools. Contact us at elsmarketing@ala.org.

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