Hybrid Hand
DIS • Designing Interactive Systems
I'm Better Off on My Own
(2021)
Understanding How a Tutorial's Medium Affects Physical Skill Development
![Ccuserstudy 1.png ha](https://res.cloudinary.com/cearto/image/upload/c_fit,h_800,w_1600/v1621012944/ccuserstudy_1.png_ha.png)
Description
The shift towards distance learning brought forth by the pandemic has highlighted the shortcomings of teaching physical skills at a distance. With the emergence of new augmented and connected mediums, new opportunities arise for transferring physical skills that have resisted traditional documentation methods. However, there lacks a framework that allows tutorial authors to capitalize on a new medium's unique affordances rather than remediating existing tutorial conventions. Our work analyzes a body of tutorials rendered in various mediums for centering clay on a pottery wheel – a foundational skill that exemplifies the difficulties of physical skill transfer. Through the lens of McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" we synthesize a taxonomy of medium conventions and themes derived from analyzing a body of centering tutorials and observation of how a tutorial's medium affects how learners develop physical skills. We leverage our findings to motivate design recommendations to inform how new mediums can support material practices.
![Ccuserstudy 1.png ha](https://res.cloudinary.com/cearto/image/upload/c_fill,g_face,h_100,w_100/v1621012944/ccuserstudy_1.png_ha.png)