Comments on: A Scenario Based Approach for Software Product Tutorials? http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/12/28/a-scenario-based-approach-for-software-product-tutorials/ One Stop Resource for Instructional Design Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:34:25 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Sameer http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/12/28/a-scenario-based-approach-for-software-product-tutorials/comment-page-1/#comment-1300 Sameer Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:50:28 +0000 http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/?p=788#comment-1300 I agree Rupa. My last point on tutorial was more to do with situations where you know the target audience profile but still create enterprise software training using steps without a context. The WIIFM quotient becomes very low in such cases. Point taken on the MS office comment. :) I agree Rupa.

My last point on tutorial was more to do with situations where you know the target audience profile but still create enterprise software training using steps without a context. The WIIFM quotient becomes very low in such cases.

Point taken on the MS office comment. :)

]]> By: Rupa http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/12/28/a-scenario-based-approach-for-software-product-tutorials/comment-page-1/#comment-1299 Rupa Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:19:30 +0000 http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/?p=788#comment-1299 Hi Sameer Thanks for sharing your experiences. Scenarios work very effectively when the roles are fixed for a software or at least when you know only these many roles can use the software. Now take MS Powerpoint or MS Word. Different people use it for a variety of purposes. The roles are not fixed. For such tools, the tutorials must only teach how to work with the features because the context can be varied. If you check any tutorial in MS office site, they use no scenarios. However you should see the use of scenarios in the MS Office demos :) Hi Sameer

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Scenarios work very effectively when the roles are fixed for a software or at least when you know only these many roles can use the software.

Now take MS Powerpoint or MS Word. Different people use it for a variety of purposes. The roles are not fixed.

For such tools, the tutorials must only teach how to work with the features because the context can be varied.

If you check any tutorial in MS office site, they use no scenarios. However you should see the use of scenarios in the MS Office demos :)

]]> By: Sameer http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/2008/12/28/a-scenario-based-approach-for-software-product-tutorials/comment-page-1/#comment-1298 Sameer Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:58:53 +0000 http://blog.thewritersgateway.com/?p=788#comment-1298 Hi Rupa, In the past we have created software training for a handheld device that was also connected to the larger enterprise system back on the office floor. There were different roles that interacted with this software, right from on field sales people to the managers on the floor. In this case we first identified a path for learning which took into account the common components of the system , followed by role based components. In every section, we used scenario/problem based learning by picking up contextual situations of everyday business. for e.x we identified life of a sales person before and after introducing the software. We listed down X activities that he/she would now do using the system. Every activity was explained through a real life scenario that demonstrated the keystroke steps using a voice over. We personalized the whole experience by introducing agents who would perform the tasks. Obviously this would have been impossible without the dummy data provided by the SME's. The point is, rather than having tutorials, that explain what each functionality can do It is much more motivating for the leaner to see how functionality works in everyday life. . Hi Rupa, In the past we have created software training for a handheld device that was also connected to the larger enterprise system back on the office floor. There were different roles that interacted with this software, right from on field sales people to the managers on the floor. In this case we first identified a path for learning which took into account the common components of the system , followed by role based components. In every section, we used scenario/problem based learning by picking up contextual situations of everyday business. for e.x we identified life of a sales person before and after introducing the software. We listed down X activities that he/she would now do using the system. Every activity was explained through a real life scenario that demonstrated the keystroke steps using a voice over. We personalized the whole experience by introducing agents who would perform the tasks. Obviously this would have been impossible without the dummy data provided by the SME’s.

The point is, rather than having tutorials, that explain what each functionality can do It is much more motivating for the leaner to see how functionality works in everyday life.
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