Atomic Learning provides a vast collection of short video tutorials about software. These videos cover everything from Word and Photoshop to Access and SPSS; at levels from basics to advanced. The University has a site license which provides everyone on campus free access to these videos. The current license expires on May 31, 2008, so try it out now and let us know if we should keep it!
On Campus: http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed
Off Campus: http://silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login/atomiclearning
(requires OIT NetID and UMail password)
I have used Atomic Learning several times this semester to supplement demonstrations that I have done for classes. This allowed me to keep on task in the demonstrations and focus on the essential operations I wanted to show. I was able to refer to Atomic Learning as a place for the students to go to if they needed to learn the basics about the software, review one of the operations I mentioned, or to learn more advanced techniques I didn’t have time to cover. Afterwards, I had several students report back to me or the instructor that the Atomic Learning videos were very helpful.
I would recommend reviewing the Atomic Learning tutorials for any software that you want your students to use in your classes. It can help novices learn the basics on their own (and free up class time for more in-depth software demonstrations) or help more advanced users discover more about the software than you are able to cover in class.
Finding Tutorials
At the Atomic Learning site, click the “Our Tutorials” tab (choose English or Spanish) and either browse the collection, or search for the software or operation you want to see. I recommend browsing over searching, because when you look through the list, it is easier to see which tutorials are “basic” vs. advanced and within each software page tutorials are grouped by topic, making it easier to locate associated topics.
Linking to Specific Tutorials
It is even possible to link students to a specific tutorial file by appending the “key number” for that tutorial at the end of the link. Key numbers are listed for each tutorial and are used in the following way:
To link to a Flash tutorial:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/almovie?key=xxxx
where xxxx is the movie’s key number
To link to a Quicktime tutorial:
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/almovie?key=xxxx&format=1
where xxxx is the movie’s key number
Examples:
A Flash version of an overview of the Atomic Learning service (key 26278):
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/almovie?key=26278
A Quicktime version of a tutorial on finding tutorials (key 26279):
http://movies.atomiclearning.com/highed/almovie?key=26279&format=1
Note that for these links to work off-campus, the student will need to first log in through the off-campus login link.
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For more about the Atomic Learning pilot at UMass Amherst:
http://websites.umass.edu/umasslc/2008/03/03/atomic-learning-is-here/