Creating Online Tutorials

Our wise teacher suggested I check out an online webinar on "Creating Online Tutorials" put on by Webjunction this week.  I was fortunate to have my boss allow me time off the Reference Desk so I could participate in the office.    Here are some of the main points I got out of the presentation (once again, "technical difficulties caused the audio to cut off every 7 minutes....):
1.  First look at other libraries that have done tutorials to learn from their successes and challenges.  They gave examples from Carmel-Clay in Indiana, San Francisco Public Library, William Paterson University and St Louis Community College.
2.  Practice making tutorials by "writing out a script" after you answer a question for the umpteenth time.  While it is fresh in your mind, write out the script and practice.
3.  The key is the script - should be no more than 3 minutes and should be entertaining.
4.  Tip sheets can be used as scripts for developing online tutorials.
5.  Do not discard anything!  Maintain an inventory of  of all "screen shots" taken -you never know when you can use it for a tutorial.
6,  The most likely people to use the tutorials are those who are comfortable using computers, so do not make the tutorial too elementary.
7.  Some of the suggestions for software starts at the beginning level of still screen captures - (nag-It, Word and Powerpoint) to the next level which is screencasting (Screenr & Jing) to screen recording (Camtasia) and finally the highest level of time and financial investment is e-learning (Captivate and Articulate are both software for this level)
8.  Make sure tutorials are promoted by the library - placement on the website is key, so that they are easy to find, in multiple places.  Have some sort of "branding" that makes the production easily recognizable and familiar (I thought of those YouTube "in plain english" with the hands and papercutouts as a good example)
9.  The audience for these tutorials can turn over quite a bit, so they do last a long time.  The key is, if after viewing the tutorial it raises more questions than answers, then that is the time to redo them.  (or if the interface or methods change.)

Part of the fun of these webinars is reading people's reactions to the material.  There is an ongoing instant messaging bar going on with technical problems (I was on that one for a while! ;-)) and then offering questions and solutions.  The main ingredient of the chat was the offering of other links to websites that have experience with producing online tutorials.  All in all, I think it was worth the hour I invested, and it may be something our library may do in the future.  Right now we do not have any of the software mentioned, and our webmaster told me she did not see a need for us to invest in it right now.