Make Online Tutorials with Tildee
October 20th, 2011I was flipping through the October issue of Computers in Libraries and found that Donna F. Ekart's Tech Tips for Every Librarian column certainly lived up to its name - not only was my library mentioned in the column, but she also profiled a tool I'd never heard of before (and can certainly use).
We were mentioned for the Library Use Value Calculator, and I was happy she included it as an easy-to-implement tool for libraries.
The tool that was new to me is Tildee.com, a very quick and easy way to make online step-by-step tutorials. Sure there are other ways to do the same thing, but this was really, really easy - type in your text for each step, upload an image/map/video if you want, and you're done. That's it.
In about two minutes I made one showing patrons how to log into their catalog account.
I think if I spent more than two minutes at it, it would look a little better, but still - two minutes. They also have a nice listing of other tutorials (how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how to use Animoto) to give you some ideas. And it's got a bunch of social media tie-ins too, for easily promoting your tutorial.
I did have some trouble uploading images the first time, but it worked itself out. Something I'd love to see added is the ability to add circles and arrows or otherwise highlight portions of uploaded images - like being able to point to a "Login" link. You can always add that to the image before you upload it, but it'd still be a nice feature.
I think this tool is a great compliment to creating screencasts, because sometimes combining text and images (or videos, maps, whatever) is more suitable than just a video - and better than just emailing someone the steps.
See, even us techie people have a lot to learn (hence why I read Computers in Libraries).
October 26th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Thanks for the tip. I made one for downloading Overdrive e-books to a Kindle. Let me know what you think:
http://www.tildee.com/KBrYse&m=1
October 26th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
@ash966: I think that’s great. I still think it’s sad this process requires so many steps, but laying it out like helps visualize what needs to be done.