MINIMALIST COMPUTER DOCUMENTATION - Universiteit Twente

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18 CHAPTER 1 documentation is increasingly considered a necessity to satisfy legal constraints concerning product liability. Therefore, the focus will be on paper documentation (i.e., manuals). There are many different types of manuals, each of which has a specific audience or covers a specific function. Two main categories are being distinguished: instruction and reference. Instruction manuals teach people how to operate a system or how to use a program. Reference documentation gives users key definitions, facts, commands, and codes they cannot be expected to memorize (Weiss, 1991). Instruction manuals are further classified into tutorials and user guides. Tutorials have an educational intent. They teach basic skills to users who have never used the product before. User guides are designed for the more experienced user. They contain exhaustive explanations of simple to very complex tasks associated with using a piece of hardware or software. Matching the document type with the user group's information needs indicates that novice users are best served by a tutorial manual. This type of manual is defined as "instructional information which familiarizes users with a new piece of hardware or software and teaches them the rudiments of their use" (Bradford, 1984, p.167). Effective tutorials should thus present users with the basics they need to get started with a program. Tutorial documentation does not only teach certain basic skills; it also stands alone in doing so. A tutorial is therefore a typical example of selfinstruction material. It is an instructional tool that users should be able to use independently, without any supplementary assistance. This requires tutorials to be flexible enough to be self-explanatory to a wide variety of users. The absence of an instructor implies further that a tutorial should motivate users and maintain their motivation throughout training. To meet these requirements, it is useful to follow a systematic approach in designing and writing tutorial documentation. In general, there are two approaches, differing with regard to their primary focus (Rowntree, 1986). In a subject-matter oriented approach the primary focus is on the content of the instruction. In a learner oriented approach the designer first looks at the features of the target audience. As tutorials are intended for learners with divergent backgrounds, information needs, and learning preferences, an instructional design theory that takes these features as a starting point for design is called for. Developing (a part of) such a design theory then becomes the central theme of this thesis.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.5 Instructional design theory Having defined the principal components of learning to use a computer program, the problem description is reformulated into a more detailed research question: What instructional design principles should be applied in paper tutorial manuals for teaching novice computer users elementary word processing skills? To answer this question, a design theory known as minimalism 2 is used (Carroll, 1984a,b, 1990). Dating from the early 1980s, minimalism is a relatively new design theory, developed especially for designing self-instruction materials with which users can learn to use computer programs. The minimalist approach is learner oriented. In this respect, Kerr and Payne (1994) stated that "the term 'minimalist' denotes a broad instructional philosophy, in which the design of instructional materials seeks to interfere with the learner's purposes and motivations as little as possible." (p. 4). In turn, Carroll (1990) outlined the rationale for the minimalist approach as follows: "The key idea in the minimalist approach is to present the smallest possible obstacle to learners' efforts, to accommodate, even exploit, the learning strategies that cause problems for learners using systematic instructional materials. The goal is to let users get more out of the training experience by providing a less overt training structure." (pp. 77-78). Following from this rationale, minimalist instruction is action oriented in that it offers learners little to read and much to do. Minimalist training material invites users to get started immediately on real and meaningful tasks and frequently encourages them to explore the program. Throughout training, only information that is essential for working with the program is explained. This explanation is always motivated in the task. That is, it is presented immediately before or after the relevant action steps describing what something 'does' rather than what it 'is'. In addition, ample support is given for recovering errors that may occur during task execution. This information too is presented 'in context': it appears in the instructional text, directly after the actions it refers to. (A more detailed description of the minimalist approach is presented in chapter 2). The minimalist approach has revealed some promising results. Research has shown that people who used a minimal manual (i.e., a manual designed according to the minimalist approach) learned to use a word processor in 40% less time with 58% better retention of skills than people who used the 2 in the literature, this design theory is also referred to as "the minimalist approach". 19
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138 DUTCH SUMMARY (les)handleiding
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154 APPENDIX 3
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