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Subject:Re: "Labs" vs. "Tutorials"? From:Janet Swisher <jmswisher -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:11:45 -0500
I agree with Gene that "Lab" doesn't really make sense to me in a
software world. Also, in the physical world, to me it implies an
open-ended task like "isolate such-and-such chemical", where part of
the student's contribution is to figure out the step-by-step
procedure. So, I wouldn't use that term for step-by-step procedures at
all.
The distinction I would make is:
* If the student learns the content by going through the steps, it's a tutorial.
* If the student learns the content from some other presentation, and
then applies or practices it by going through the steps, it's an
exercise.
--Janet
On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 12:06 PM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> Having worked with products that are actually used in laboratories, I would say that lab instructions are guiding the reader through steps that use actual equipment, vs tutorials that use equipment simulations. I don't know what the distinction would be when the product is all SW and data and there is no physical equipment involved in the instruction.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> ------- Original Message -------
> On 3/29/2010 4:25 PM Michael Herman \(Parallelspace\) wrote:
> 1. When should these sorts of procedures be called Labs? .when should these be called Tutorials?
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