Design principles for online tutorials

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is an online tutorial?
3. Why create online tutorials?
4. Demonstration - Two approaches
   1. City of Bristol - Present and Test Version
   2. City of Bristol tutorial - Interactive version
   3. Which approach is better?
5. Principles for creating effective tutorials
6. Applying the principles - some examples
7. The process of creating tutorials
8. Practical Hints and Tips
9. Summary
10. References

Which approach is better?

The Interactive approach (example 2) is based on theories about teaching and learning and reflects the principles outlined in the following section.

Student feedback certainly suggests that they prefer interactive tutorials and often feel they learn more from tutorials taking this approach. Highly textual or static documents are easier to read in printed format rather than online.

To find out more about the principles behind the interactive approach, have a look at the next section.