The Online ETD Tutorial: Supporting Students’

Transition from Traditional to ETD

USA

The Online ETD Tutorial: Supporting Students’ Transition from Traditional to ETD

Cindy Gray

William A.T. Clark

Susan E. Metros

Visual Communication Designer Technology Enhanced Learning and Research

Professor and Deputy CIO and Executive Director for eLearningTechnology Enhanced Learning and Research

Professor and Associate Dean, Graduate School

• Today’s session

• Background

• The tutorial

• Methods and production process

• Questions and explore the tutorial

The Online ETD Tutorial: Supporting Students’ Transition from Traditional to ETD

The Ohio State University

• Large public university in USA

• Columbus, Ohio campus

- Over 50,000 students

- 10,000 are graduate students

• Degrees granted each year

• 600 research doctoral degrees

• 2,500 Master’s degrees

122 Graduate Programs

• Diverse disciplines

• 100 offer doctoral degrees

• Some have a very strong technology base, while others lack technological expertise

PDF

• Most efficient format for a university of our size

• Acrobat software is affordable

• Acrobat reader is readily available to view electronic format

All Doctoral Dissertations Submitted Electronically

• Required starting Autumn 2002

• About 1,500 ETDs have been disseminated through OhioLINK

• In summer 2006 masters degreeswill require electronic submission of their thesis

Need for Online Tutorial

• Students were having difficulty with converting their documents to electronic format

• Overlooking Acrobat’s rich features• Supports intuitive navigation• Integrates multimedia• Promotes user interaction• Provides support for users with

special needs

Adobe

Networked Digital Library of Thesis and Dissertations (NDLTD)

Design Specifications

• Online tutorial instructing student authors to use Adobe Acrobat to produce a PDF version of their thesis or dissertation

• Software requirements• Adobe Acrobat Professional• Macromedia Flash plug-in• Quicktime for the multimedia lesson

The Online ETD Tutorial

• Modular-based training program

• PDF format• Text• Images• Navigation• Audio and movies files• Links to online demo movies

Source Content

• “Applying Natural Horn Technique to Modern Valved Horn Performance Practice” (Wick, 2001)

• Heidi A. Wick• The Ohio State University

Doctor of Musical Arts • Audio clips to demonstrate her

auditory-based research findings

Lessons

1. Read an ETD

2. Create a PDF File

3. Modify a PDF File

4. Add PDF Navigation to an ETD

5. Add Multimedia with Acrobat Professional

www.adobe.com/education/etd/tutorials.html

Review ProcessReview team

• NDLTD faculty and library staff members • Adobe Systems staff

Electronic reviews for each lesson1. Choosing the lesson exercises2. Tutorial including screen shots (no demo movies) for

each lesson3. First revision of tutorial including screen shots and

demo movies for each lesson4. Second revision of tutorial including screen shots and

demo movies for each lesson5. Final tutorial review

Informal Usability Testing

• Undergraduate and graduate students

• Group 1• Complete entire tutorial• Perform specific tasks

• Group 2• Complete individual lesson• Perform specific tasks

The Design Team

• Designed and produced by Technology Enhanced Learning and Research at OSU

• Visual designer led the project team and designed and produced lessons

• OSU writer who specializes in user documentation

• Professional announcer from OSU’s public radio station

• OSU videographer

Production Software

• Qarbon ViewletBuilder

• Adobe InDesign

• Adobe Acrobat Professional

• Apple Final Cut Pro

• Macromedia Flash

• Adobe GoLive

Dissemination

• Adobe’s website• http://www.adobe.com/education/etd/tutorials.

html

• The Ohio State University’s graduate school website

• Virginia Tech (NDLTD’s link)

• Proquest

Expanding Functionality

• Just completed the Acrobat 7 version

• Researching options for a 6th lesson• Produce an ETD that is accessible to

people with special needs

• Plans to develop an electronic questionnaire

The ETD Tutorial

• Local usage patterns and comments

• Easy to access!

• Easy to use!

Future Research Will See…

• If students are more competent at converting their thesis or dissertation to electronic formats

• If more ETD’s• Offer intuitive navigation• Integrate multimedia• Promote user interaction

The Online ETD Tutorial: Supporting Students’ Transition from Traditional to ETD

www.adobe.com/education/etd/tutorials.html

Questions?