By Dr. Shirley J. Caruso, Ed.D.

Creating an eLearning Tutorial on a Budget

Creating an eLearning tutorial on a budget can be easily accomplished by using Microsoft PowerPoint – software you probably already own.  You can make the eLearning tutorial quite interactive by inserting hyperlinks, trigger effects, audio, and video.  I’ve broken down the process of creating an eLearning tutorial using Microsoft PowerPoint into six step-by-step video tutorials.

Step 1: Creating a Graphical User Interface

This first video tutorial will teach you how to create a graphical user interface, or an interactive table of contents, for your tutorial.

 

Step 2: Creating Navigational Hyperlinks

In this next video tutorial, you will learn how to work with the Slide Master View to create navigational hyperlinks. These hyperlinks will allow the user to freely navigate the modules within the tutorial. Giving the user this freedom is an important feature in self-paced training modules. The user can pick up where he or she left off with ease.

Step 3: Inserting Sound and Video

You will no doubt want to make your tutorial interactive and engaging. In this video tutorial, you will learn how to add voice narration and videos into your tutorial.

Step 4: Creating and Inserting a Screen Recording

If you are teaching a skill like creating a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, for example, or if you just want to demonstrate how to navigate your tutorial, then this next video tutorial can help. You will learn how to create and insert a screen recording into your tutorial.

Step 5: Building Content and Interactions

Now that the framework for your tutorial is complete, it is time to create content. You can maintain the engagement level of your users by creating content that is interactive. In this video tutorial, you will learn how to create content, how to create hyperlinks within slides, and how to create hotspots, or trigger effects.

Step 6: Creating a Multiple Choice Quiz

Finally, you will need to assess the skills and knowledge taught in your tutorial. This next video tutorial will guide you in creating a multiple choice quiz using shapes and trigger effects.

As you can see, creating an eLearning tutorial on a budget can be accomplished using Microsoft PowerPoint quite easily. Keeping your learners engaged is important, and this can be accomplished by incorporating the skills learned in these video tutorials.