¶ … Interactive Tutorial Effective? Tutorials are integral to learning new technologies or procedures, from learning how to use a new software application to learning how to speak a new language. Therefore, it is important to know what factors determine the effectiveness of a particular tutorial. Empirical evidence and experimental research can be used to assess tutorial effectiveness, as learning can be objectively measured. Tutorial designers can improve their products by using empirical research to base their user interfaces, interactivity levels, instructional exercises, length of lessons, and hardware platform flexibility.

Effective tutorial design is critical not just for the user experience, but also to the effectiveness and accessibility of the product. This proposal identifies and evaluates the factors that help determine the effectiveness of a tutorial, with the ultimate goal of helping developers design successful interactive tutorials that they can integrate into products and services. Specifically, our research will focus on interactive tutorials: tutorials that overlay and interface with the actual software system rather than a stand-alone product like a video or a manual. Anderson and Wilson assess the differences between passive versus interactive tutorials and found that the vast majority of study participants (78%) preferred interactive tutorials, and their measurable scores were also statistically significantly higher than their counterparts who received passive tutorials alone. Given their greater user-friendliness and greater effectiveness at achieving their express learning goals, we will narrow our focus to interactive tutorials.

We will specifically analyze two different types of interactive tutorials: instructional tutorials, and purpose-designed tutorials. Instructional tutorials use interactive methods like video games to teach the user about the software. These types of tutorials are characterized by being located directly within the user interface of that software. They are self-referential in nature. The second type of tutorial we will use are directly designed to teach the user a skill external to the tutorial. In other words, the second type of tutorial is purpose-designed instructional software that essentially takes the place of or supplements classroom learning....

Common examples of this type of tutorial would be Rosetta Stone for language learning, Math Blasters for childhood algebra learning, or flight simulators. Regardless of whether the tutorial teaches a person how to use a software or how to master a lesson or technique, effective tutorial design demands certain elements: an engaging user interfaces, a means to challenge users without frustrating them, and a way to create ongoing and long-term lessons to "level up."
A review of literature can help us to demonstrate what factors make a tutorial relatively effective. In addition to quantifiable measures such as mastering the software or lessons, dependent variables include perceived user-friendliness of the tutorial. User-friendliness is one of the main features of video game tutorials. A game design is purposely created to be fun as well as interactive, engaging, and even addictive in nature. Other elements of user-friendliness may include ergonomics, adaptability to users with special needs, availability of the product in different languages, and availability of the tutorial on multiple hardware and operating system platforms. Video game interfaces are known to be among the most user-friendly of all tutorial systems. As Gee points out, "good computer and video games...are learning machines," (20). In fact, the best tutorials are designed to be games that are challenging and also that offer opportunities for ongoing and long-term play, so that users "learn and master something that is long and challenging -- and enjoy it, to boot," (Gee 20). Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, and Gratton also found a "causal relationship between playing action video games and improvements in a variety of visual and attentional skills," (387). In other words, a gaming interface in a tutorial would especially lend itself to learning because games inherently promote and enhance cognitive activity. Games are also fun and engaging, can capture the attention of bored, cynical, or frustrated learners, and can be designed to provide ongoing learning experiences rather than a single lesson.

Video games may be especially conducive to learning, which is why our proposal is to focus on interactive tutorials with game-like interfaces. Research shows that cognitive performance is enhanced on specific types of tasks when a gaming interface is used, which suggests that tutorial designers use games that directly parallel the cognitive processes being taught (Boot, et al.). In other words, the tutorial should ideally be designed so that it teaches highly relevant skills. If reflexes and speed are necessary learning outcomes, then the tutorial needs to stimulate fast reflexes and speed even at the expense of accuracy. On the contrary, if accuracy is a more desirable learning outcome than speed, then the tutorial…