creating effective handouts

Creating Effective Handouts

Why Not Just Wing It?

CONSISTENCY

Handouts help keep our brand and service recognizable

Folks want something to take home to practice with

Help us teach each other’s classes in the event of illness or other reason

More material can be put online for the virtual branch patron

The handout should be just as good as if the person came to the class—this enables us to

reach/teach more people—especially helpful for branch folks

No Need to Reinvent the Wheel

Tons of resources out there from other libraries and orgs, including:

Digital Learn http://www.Digitallearn.org

Chapel Hill http://www2.lib.unc.edu/cws/handouts/

GCF Learn Free http://www.gcflearnfree.org

Google ‘______ handout public library’ (e.g. Word handout)

Most libraries will gladly let you use or adapt their materials

Could even use YouTube videos to illustrate an idea (but make sure it’s noted/linked in handout!)

Tips for Developing

the Handout

• Look at other handouts from MCL – all

located on shared drive in the

‘Computer Class Handouts and Stats’

folder

• Try to mimic the same heading, bold

and bullet style

What to Include:

Learning Objectives

Tasks

Screenshots

Learning Objectives

• Learning Objectives

These define the skills & knowledge that should be learned, and the outcomes of the training.

For example, Basic I class objectives might be:

• Identify basic components of computers: external and internal

• Identify desktop, icons, components of a window

• Demonstrate use of a mouse: scrolling and clicking

Tasks

Include a mixture of Explanation

& Tasks

Include hands-on practice throughout the handout—this is both so you can make sure the class is learning AND they have something to practice at home.

Examples of Tasks from Word class

Screenshots

Screenshots

Screenshots help orient the learner

Screenshots make it easier for those who didn’t attend to know what’s going on

Screenshots help remind attendees what was learned

Making Screenshots with Jing

Free program

Easily make screenshots and insert them into handout

Use arrows, boxes, text boxes

Also helpful to easily share a screenshot with a patron via email to explain where something is

Other Screenshot Tools

Alt + Print Screen

Useful for capturing menus that otherwise

go away when you click off, e.g. the Start

Menu

Windows Snipping Tool

Found under ‘Accessories’ from Start

Menu

Additional Info

If introducing a lot of terms, consider attaching a glossary--many can be found online, but

be sure to cite your source

Include links for further help, e.g. additional tutorials from Microsoft, etc.

Always include MCL logo, website and phone number

Questions?

All resources on wiki under CentersInfo

ServicesTeaching Tech/Digital Literacy Resources

Portions of this handout were adapted from the Colorado Virtual Library:

http://create.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/designing-instructional-materials