2020 BIZ: Preparing instructions for a skill? Include a JIT glossary Use hypertext to let users control what they read.

Preparing instructions?  

Include a JIT glossary   

Use hypertext to let users control what they read.

How to use common capabilities of digital text to provide instructions aimed at helping users learn now to use a digital product.  

 

Instructions are part of the product

• The problem with instructions: people are different.
• They have different levels of preparation.  
• They are going to do different things.
• And they can't hold a dozen steps in memory just by reading the list.
• Once you hear lecture about swimming, you never forget what you learned about lectures. Talking is not teaching.

Some basic concepts in instruction

• We have packages of knowledge labelled with a word or phrase.  
• Glossary: Index of specific information about important terms in re relevant context.
• JIT learning:  Give just what the learner needs to do the action implied by the term.
• Hypertext:  Software-supported links to further information
• Search on page: Search your current web page for a word or phrase.
• Adaptive learning   Adjust the content to match the skills and circumstances of the learner
• Skill learning:  Learning to do something efficiently
• Use case: A common use that the instructions are designed to support.

• Update 12/24/2020 The Dickens Project 2020 Edition. DivaCanto: channel on YouTube. VWBPE2021: RECONNAISSANCE Call for Proposals.

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Why one manual does not fit everyone

• People have different preparation, 
• different use cases, 
• and different levels of learning. 

Different preparation calls for different instructions

• As you write instructions, you wonder about what your readers already know. 
• You want to tell them everything they need to know. 
• But you don't want to bore them with what they already know.
• With hypertext you give them a link to the information some may need.
• Teaching with hypertext. JIT learning. Adaptive learning. Active learning

Different situations need different instructions

• There will be categories of learners.  Let them separate themselves,
• Example: instructions for walking in a virtual world
• That varies with the control device.  
• You have to give instructions for all devices.
• Back when used marks on paper you had to put all the instructions together.
•  With hypertext, you make separate packages for each device.
• Then you list packages with hyperlinked names like "walk with a pc keyboard."
• Learners adapt the content to their needs.

They can't do everything at once

• They only need instructions for what they need to do at that moment.
• If they actually execute those instructions they will learn the skill.
• If the merely read the instructions, they may remember much of what they read.
• Unless you dump a lot of other instructions on them at the same time.
• With hypertext, you give them the power to choose what they need to read.
• Yes --flipped instruction.  The learner is the focus, even out of the classroom.

How do you create JIT instruction?

• One use case at a time, starting with the beginner use case.  
• Design for JIT help: Search on page supports for learning from a computer
  
• Newcomer welcome coach for OpenSimulator. Suggested design and text for JIT instructions to beginners. A DTA content page
• Starting in CybaLOUNGE. A DTA content page designed for JIT learning
  
• Scenegate beginner's instructions: for people coming to a class or meeting in OpenSImulator. DTA content
• Student onboarding for the online campus: Treat onboarding as a use case with its own skill set. Use-case analysis. Identify and teach the skills.

Don't you still need a manual?

• Sure.  That's where the instructional designer gets the contents for the JIT pages,
• The best JIT pages will probably carry links to the relevant parts of the manual.
• And advanced users will probably prefer to work with the manual.
• But you don't want to start beginners on advanced content.  

Related

• Computational thinking in preparing instructions: Design thinking: Use-case analysis: Micro-learning JIT learning
• The Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) for MUVES (virtual worlds): Summary with JIT learning design
• Digicoach can support homework in virtual worlds with JIT learning, immediate feedback
• Possible uses of formative assessment items: JIT evaluation, immediate feedback, detailed analysis
• Just-In-Time (JIT) learning in virtual schools, maybe with DTA coaching. Language as an example

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• Web-worlds, 3D virtual worlds running in a browser. Summary
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• Don't register -- enter as guest.  

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