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How to Find Free Online Training Tutorials
How to Find Free Online Training Tutorials
Online training tutorials are a free tool that can really help you learn.
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Without
leaving your chair or spending a dime, you can find quality tutorials
that will help you learn how to use that new program you just got, or
how to build a website or do something else on your computer.
Users of software are enthusiastic about the titles they use and ready
and willing to share their knowledge with others. Online tutorials are
helpful because you can proceed at your own pace and refer back to them
as many times as you need to learn how to use the program. There are
some strategies you can use to find the best tutorials for your needs.
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
Computer with Internet connection
Visit
the manufacturer's website. Many software manufacturers have tutorials
on their website that will get your started and maybe even show you how
to use more advanced features. Some software publishers even have video
tutorials. If the manufacturer's website does not contain tutorials, it
may contain a list of links to helpful third-party websites that do
contain tutorials. Find the software manufacturer's website by looking
in the documentation that came with your software.
Find
a user group. Many popular software applications have user groups.
These are groups of people who use, know and love a specific software
title. They have channeled their passion into action by building a
website that offers resources for those who use the software, both
experienced users and those who are beginning. User group websites
often have tutorials, and they usually have a forum where you can ask
questions about where to find tutorials. They may also have a
comprehensive list of tutorials that are located on other websites.
Find a user group by checking to see if the software publisher lists
one on their website, or doing an Internet search for "user group" combined with the title of the software.
Search
on YouTube.com. YouTube is not just a site for videos of cute cats and
spectacular bicycle crashes. Many talented software users share
tutorials on YouTube and you can learn a lot from these videos. The
best ones will be recorded so that you see the computer screen and the
movements of the cursor, and hear the teacher's voice telling you what
to do. Visit YouTube and search for "tutorial" combined with your
software title, for general tutorials. Find more specific tutorials by
adding terms to reflect a specific feature you want to learn about or a
task you want to do, such as "mail merge."
Do
a general Internet search. This should be your last choice, not your
first, unless you are looking for a tutorial on a specific feature or
task and don't want to wade through long user-group lists to find what
you need. Search for "tutorial" combined with the title of the
software, and the feature or task you want to learn. Consider including
the version of the software you have, if there have been many versions
of this software published. The Internet
is getting older and it's not uncommon to find information more than
five years old still coming up in search results. In the case of
software tutorials, those that old may or may not be relevant to you
depending on how much the software has changed over time