This site provides individuals with information about how to design tutorials effectively, information on how to measure the effectivenes of tutorials, as well as some information on screencasting and video sites. These intial postings are the result of the work done by members of our project, but we welcome any and all information pertinent to better and more effective tutorial design.

1. ANTS Guidelines for Designing Animated Tutorials

ANTS provides people with Guidelines for Designing Animated Tutorials. These guidelines work to ensure that each tutorials is (a) substantive enough to be useful to all, (b) highly viewable, and (c) easily exchangeable. Many have commented on their usefulness and are a good starting point for anyone who wants some clues to better design.

2. Google Analytics and .swf tutorials screencast. Created by Paul Betty, ANTS project member.

This screencast examines how to track usage statistics of your .swf tutorials using Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free service that allows you to track usage statistics of your entire website. However, to track use and downloads of non HTML files requires a small amount of programming and modification of source files. This screencast details how Google Analytics works, and describes the necessary steps needed to track .swf files (the most common output of screencasting software). Examples for Adobe Captivate 3, Qarbon Viewlet Builder 5, and Camtasia Studio 5 are included.

3.Publishing Adobe Captivate files on YouTube article from Adobe.com

Most video hosting services, including Youtube, do not accept the .swf file format. This quick overview explains how and why you need to convert your .swf tutorials to digital video for optimal performance using a third party video hosting service. Note: The ANTS project members handle all .swf to digital video conversions for tutorials submitted to ANTS. This allows our volunteers to focus on creating tutorials and minimizes the time and work requirements placed upon them. The ANTS project is continually exploring new ways to deliver screencasts, and will soon offer access to a variety of source files, .swf, and digital video via our multiple web interfaces.

4. Adding Surveys to Tutorials by Richard Baer ANTS Team Member

A good way to see how effective a tutorial is, is by adding a survey at the end of it. You can get viewers to give you feedback, so next time you design your learning object it is more effective. Richard Baer - of the ANTS team, demonstrates how this can be done in his CINAHL Alerts Tutorial. You will see a link to the survey at the end of the tutorial. If you follow it, he provides a password which can be used to take the online survey. The survey software is free, so it is both effective and affordable!

5. Lib 2.0 Resources Page: Screencasting From Lib2.0 Wiki

"This page lists examples of library tutorials on a variety of subjects - catalogs, databases, internet searching and more. Many were created with screencasting software, while others have been created with Flash and other graphics tools that require more technical and graphics expertise." It also lists information on the software used to create Screencasts, as well as a list of other resources.