Syllabus & Course Expectations

Creating Online Tutorials Syllabus and Schedule

Summer 2020 - Thursdays, 9:10 – 10:45 a.m.,

3 credits – Room C317, Charles University, via Zoom (online)

Instructor: Hannah Gascho Rempel, email - 78720975@o365.cuni.cz

*Office hours on Thursday from 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.* at 29 Na Prikope, room 505. Please send an email prior to the office hours to confirm your meeting time.

Learner Outcomes:

• Create a learner-centered tutorial based on information relevant to your context

• Design an instructional strategy based on learning goals that clearly link to assessment outcomes

• Develop a tutorial using tools appropriate for the content you want to teach

• Implement a tutorial that will be user-friendly for your learners

• Evaluate how effective your tutorial has been in promoting learning

• Situate tutorials within the larger e-learning landscape

Online tutorials are nearly ubiquitous in libraries and other learning environments. This course will introduce you to the process and principles of creating tutorials in order to increase their impact, effectiveness, and ease of use. These principles include creating accessible tutorials to reach a wider audience and assessing tutorials to evaluate and reinforce learning.

During the course, you will use 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 tutorial that is usable and able to be maintained

• Develop a plan to evaluate student learning and tutorial impact

During the course you will design your own tutorial with free online tools or with tools you already own. You will also learn about additional tools (both free and fee-based) that may be useful for later projects. Along the way you will be provided with practical tools, an introduction to the research on online learning, and feedback to help you approach the creation of tutorials with confidence and a beginning level of expertise. This course will encourage participants to share their tutorial needs and experiences and consider strategies that will enable them to continue building up their tutorial creation skills.

How You Will Learn: Learner outcomes will be met through reading, writing, discussions, presentations, self-assessment, practice, and group work.

Learner Expectations and Course Ground Rules:

1. Turn in assignments on time

2. Participate in all course activities

3. Attend class and remain for the entire time

4. Be respectful of the dignity of other class participants

5. Turn off phones and do not text during class (except when we’re using phones for class work)

What You Can Expect from the Instructor:

1. That I will return assignments with feedback within a week

2. That I will consider the feedback I give on your assignments seriously

3. I will reply to email questions within two days (if not much sooner)

4. That I will regularly take the pulse of the class and make adjustments as needed

Course Outline:

Weeks 1-2: Instructional Design 

Instructional strategies, learning objectives, what are tutorials

Knowledge types, learning theories

Weeks 3-5: Learning from other tutorials/design 

Observe and analyze organizational approaches

Observe and analyze best practices for visuals

Observe tools used to create tutorials, 

Introduce tools for designing tutorials

Weeks 6-9: Creating a tutorial 

Selecting Tools to Create Your Tutorial

Accessibility, Evaluation, Quiz Question Writing, and Revising

Weeks 10-12: Usability, Revisions and Evaluation

Usability, Testing, Promotions, and Maintenance

Evaluation of Student Work: Assignment details will be posted on Moodle.  Grades will be posted in Moodle and in the Student Information System once assignments have been assessed as well as on your returned assignments.  Please check Moodle regularly to make sure that your grades have been recorded accurately.

Grading Scale:

1 = 90-100%   2 = 75–89% 3 = 60–74%   4 = below 60%

Late Work: Except for emergency circumstances, arrangements for extensions must be made at least one day (24 hours) in advance of any assigned due dates.  Late work, where no previous arrangements have been made, will receive partial credit at the instructor’s discretion. Turning in assignments late makes it difficult for me to honor my commitment to return assignments to your fellow classmates on time.

Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend each class session and to work on group projects both in and out of class. There is a direct correlation between your presence in this class and the success of this course. You are expected to attend and participate in both lecture and discussion times. Leaving class early without prior permission will result in 1 point deducted per class. If you absolutely must be absent, you should notify the instructor ahead of time. Up to two absences will be permitted without loss of points. After two absences, 5 points will be deducted for each absence. 

Readings: All required readings for this course will be either freely available online or freely accessible to students via the library’s journal subscriptions. Links to required readings will be provided in Moodle. 

Equipment and Software: Computers will be required for both in-class work and homework that is done out of class. If you have a laptop computer available to you, please bring it to class. If you do not have a laptop available, let me know, and I will arrange for a laptop to be available for you during class.  We will be using free software to create our tutorials; however, if you have other software available, feel free to use it.