Multimedia Tutorial Production Guide McKinney Engineering Library A guide to the production of multi-media library instruction using streaming media technology.
Table of Contents Is Streaming Media the Right Choice? ........................................... 3 Planning Your Instruction ......................................................... 4 Determining Available Technology/Skill Sets .................................. 5 Script Creation ..................................................................... 6 Visual Media Creation ............................................................. 7 Audio Media Creation .........................................
Is Streaming Media the Right Choice? There are a variety of media formats that can facilitate the successful delivery of online instruction; the one you choose should reflect the goals and abilities of your instructors and learners. This guide is based on the redesigned online Engineering Communications Tutorial at the University of Texas, developed by the McKinney Engineering Library in partnership with the Digital Information Literacy Office and Digital Library Services Division.
Planning Your Instruction Instructional designers spend a great deal of time planning instruction before actually creating any instructional materials. This step is vital whether you are a teacher planning classroom activities, a writer developing a textbook, or a course developer for online instruction. Before you begin creating your online library instruction tutorials, take the time to thoroughly identify and organize the information you want to deliver.
Determining Available Technology/Skill Sets something about optimizing them. Optimizing images allows you to reduce file sizes with as little image degradation as possible. The technology with which you choose to deliver your instruction should complement the instructional goals and audience profiles that were defined in the first section. This guide focuses on the use of streaming media (using Real® media delivery tools) to deliver audio, video, animation and slide-show presentations.
Script Creation The first step in producing your instructional materials is creating the audio scripts for the individual sections. The audio will guide the learner through the information in each section of your tutorial, so the script should be crafted with your instructional goals and objectives in mind. Create scripts for each section of the tutorial outline that you developed in the instructional planning stage.
Visual Media Creation The options for visual media creation are limited only by your imagination—and project deadline! Between static images, animations, video, and text there are infinite combinations of rich, expressive visual delivery methods for your instruction. of PowerPoint you use. Refer to the PowerPoint help documentation for further directions.
Visual Media Creation Flash segment itself. Short, simple animations are the easier to integrate with audio than prolonged displays. or Website. Screen capture video is not as effective for teaching conceptual knowledge such as Boolean logic or information evaluation. Third, the more keypoints in your Flash movie, the larger the file. Keep keypoints to a minimum. Complex scripting should also be avoided.
Audio Media Creation There are as many software combinations available for audio media production as there are for visual media production. In addition, a range of audio recording hardware is available depending on your needs and expertise. Remember that the quality of your audio is affected by the quality of every step in the recording and editing process; the microphone, the mixer, the soundcard and the software you use will all influence the caliber of your final presentation.
Synchronizing Your Tutorial with SMIL SMIL, the synchronized multimedia integration language, is an XML-based mark-up language. If you’ve ever used HTML to create a Web page, SMIL will look somewhat familiar.
Synchronizing Your Tutorial with SMIL file—called “slides.rp”—is a RealPix file. The contents of the RealPix file appears to the lower right. RealPix is a lot like SMIL; it’s a mark-up language that makes it easy to define transitions like fade-outs and wipes between your images. Notice that the RealPix file contains references to three images, for a total of six visual media files to be played with the audio file.
Publishing Your Tutorial Online The final step in producing your online tutorial is publishing it on the Web. Your tutorial may consist of just one SMIL presentation, or it may be a series of presentations. You must decide how to present these files in a way that facilitates your instruction. You may wish to provide a link to the SMIL presentation directly from an existing Web page. Or you might create a special “tutorial” Web page with links to one or more related presentations.
Evaluating Your Tutorial Evaluation is a crucial step in the instructional design process. Evaluation allows you to continuously increase the effectiveness of your instruction and hone your design skills. Since your instruction is an online tutorial, you’ll face unique challenges in evaluating your work—but don’t be discouraged! You will likely learn as much from the evaluation process as you did throughout the planning and production stages.
Thanks and Credits The redesigned Engineering Communications Tutorial and the development process upon which this guide was based would not have been possible without the contributions of the staff at the Digital Library Services Division and the Digital Information Literacy Office, eLeader Project. Thanks go out to Aaron Choate, Peter Keane, Mason Jones, Carolee Miles, and Susan Rittereiser for contributing their technical and creative expertise to the tutorial design and production process.
References 1. Nancy H. Dewald, “Trasnsporting Good Library Instruction Practices into the Web Environment: An Analysis of Online Tutorials, ” Journal of Academic Librarianship 25 (January 1999), 26. 2. Brandon Hall, Web-Based Training Cookbook (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 4. 3. Dewald, 26. 4. ACRL Instruction Section Teaching Methods Committee, “Tips for Developing Effective Web-Based Library Instruction,”
