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
5. Principles for creating effective tutorials
   1. Create a simulated conversation between learner and teacher
   2. Involve learners actively
   3. Work with what learners already know
   4. Manage the flow of the learning conversation
   5. Go from the particular to the general (at least sometimes)
6. Applying the principles - some examples
7. The process of creating tutorials
8. Practical Hints and Tips
9. Summary
10. References

Work with what learners already know

When we learn, we compare new information with what we already know.

The theory of knowledge construction sees the learner not as an empty vessel into which pre-formulated knowledge can be poured undigested, but someone with an existing knowledge structure onto which they must fit their new learning.

A constructivist approach will therefore begin with what the learner already knows (the known), and involve them in active engagement with the new (Mayes 1998).