If you love to cook, or at least love eating a beautiful meal, you may have found yourself watching a program where a master chef effortlessly prepares exotic dishes with unfamiliar ingredients in a magical process.
In the days before digital media, one had to carefully observe the entire preparation then attempt to painstakingly recreate it from a well-turned copy of The Joy of Cooking. Not for the faint of heart.
“And now, through the magic of television…” — a disclaimer for anyone wanting to cook along with them.
In the adult classroom, teaching technical tutorials can have a similar show-and-tell format when a well-intentioned instructor zips along, errorless and above reproach. Instructors want to model their polished techniques while eager students work along in real time. Yet a major pitfall occurs when students fall into a singular passive-learning mode and simply copy the instructor’s actions, often falling behind, only to stare blankly into their notes when the time comes to apply these new skills on their own.
In an inclusive classroom, technical tutorials should be formatted as a series of quick, connected exercises that allows students to practice executing both the concepts and techniques modeled by the instructor.
Here are some tips on how to conduct these successfully:
1. Give students a goal. Say “After this tutorial, you’ll be able to…”, instead of “Today I’ll be showing you..”. Model how this will connect to their larger course goals.
2. Don’t just jump in — show them what success looks like. Provide a visual model of what they’ll be able to complete along with you, and give them a destination to aim for.
3. Help students map it out first. Now that they know where they’re heading, ask some questions to prompt their participation in mapping the route and how it connects to what they already know.
4. Think aloud. Let your inner monologue shine, reframe steps, explain what you’re clicking on, share hotkeys, and wonder aloud.
5. Involve students. Pause. Ask them to make predictions, summarize concepts, and practice with variables. Let them feel failure, and guide each other back on course.
6. Recap and link to the big picture. Revisit the map (step 3) to acknowledge their progress, and reconnect to the unit, project, or course objectives.
Luckily, technical tutorials don’t have to be as linear as cooking programs, but they can be just as joyful.