Major Assignment 2: Tutorial

Using PowerPoint, you will design a tutorial. This tutorial will be an instructional software program. You will choose your instructional topic and it must be approved by me. Your program will include 15 to 20 screens, text, instructionally appropriate images, and transitions (only if appropriate--use sparingly). Use of video and audio is optional. However, if you do include video and/or audio, make sure it is included for an instructional reason, and not just because it is novel, or because it is possible to include these forms of media. The intent of this tutorial is to teach a simple concept (for example, identifying the nine planets of our solar system) or procedure (for example, how to tune a guitar). 

Note: you are not creating a presentation, or presentation visuals, so your project should not look like visuals for a group presentation. This tutorial will be designed for one person at one computer, not a projection screen. This means you will use small font sizes, among other things. Powerpoint is most often used to create presentation visuals, but this is not what you are using this tool for in this assignment. Your tutorial should not even remotely resemble a typical PowerPoint group presentation. Do not use the pre-defined (template) screens, even though program entices you to use these templates. Do not use any bulleted text.

You will post on the web:

  1. A fact sheet (300 to 400 words) describing the project, it's goals, purpose, target audience, etc. (as HTML)
  2. The instructional project, (as .ppt, not as HMTL). Name your file with the title, “lastname_tutorial” (e.g., Jones_tutorial).

Here are some basic examples: Note I am expecting more than a simple "page-turner" like these. Feel free to use these and modify them. One thing to fix about these tutorials is that they generally use type that is too large for one user at one computer. If you are using a typeface (font) size of more than 20, it is probably too large. Remember--one computer, one user. This is not a group presentation.

Upload your PowerPoint file (.ppt) to your UM drive. Do not save your PowerPoint file as HTML. Link both the PPT file and the fact sheet to your launch page. Your PPT file size must be less than two megabytes.

Tutorial Grading Rubric

This chart shows how I evaluate your tutorial. Every aspect listed down the left side receives a score from 5 (high) to 1 (low). The text is a description of what a particular number means for a particular aspect of your tutorial.