Database Tutorial

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For the database tutorial I chose to create a tutorial on Kids InfoBits. My school has a subscription to it. I have used it with the students in the library. I introduced it to the students by air-playing my iPad to the projector. All the students had an iPad to follow along with the instructions. This video tutorial of the database would be very useful to upload on the media center's website for those students who were absent. It would also be useful as a refresher for the students. Teachers could even show the video to their class before a research project. Even families could watch it with their students at home. 

For the tutorial, I used very simple instructions for basic features. The database would be used by 2nd grade students. I wanted it to be simple and clear for them. I covered the general subjects and topics in the database and how one can 'dig deeper' into the topic. Also, I demonstrated a very important feature for primary age students, read aloud. This feature allows the user to have the article or words read aloud to them. This is especially useful for struggling readers, English Language Learners or students with vision impairments.  Lastly, I demonstrated a very brief search. I used the same topic so students can see the different search results. 

Creating the tutorial was a lot harder than I thought. I think I made it harder on myself. I did two recordings to create the tutorial. I recorded an audio recording of my instructions. I also did a screen recording. I used my MacBook for both of these. Originally, I did a screen recording and spoke the instructions aloud. The audio wasn't captured in the screen recording. So, I did just an audio recording. When I went to edit the two clips together in iMovie, I had some difficulties making sure the two clips matched up. I had to add titles and freeze frames to have it match up. However, I am happy with the titles because it broke up the monotony of the screen recording. Also, primary age students sometimes need some text to help them understand. I wrote short text clues to help them navigate the database. 

Overall,  I had a lot of fun creating the tutorial. I can definitely see myself using these in the future and incorporating them in my lessons. Also, with practice I think I could add more features to the tutorial such as text boxes and arrows to help users follow along.