Industrial Arts classes, as with many classrooms of today, have experienced increasing student enrollments. As a result, instructors do not have as much time as they would like to spend on one-to-one instruction teaching students the proper safety guidelines that need to be followed when working with potentially dangerous equipment. Since safety is priority one in a woodworking shop, these tutorials are designed to teach students about the safety guidelines that need to be followed when using a variety of woodworking tools. They are also designed to familiarize the student with the parts and terminology associated with each of these tools. The tutorials do not replace the instructor, but rather provide the student with background knowledge about safety so that the instructor can spend more time showing the students how to actually operate the machinery.

Layout of the Web Site

The home page contains links to tutorials on the band saw, belt/disc sander, drill press, jointer, lathe, radial arm saw, table saw, and thickness planer. Clicking on any of the tutorial links will result in the tutorial opening in a new browser window. At any time the learner may leave the tutorial by closing the window or clicking on the exit button located at the bottom right-hand side of the screen.

Each of the tutorials consists of four key sections: introduction to the tool and what it does, identification of the main parts of the tool and their functions, accessories that are used with the machine, and most importantly of all, the safety procedures that need to be followed when operating that piece of equipment. The general format for each of the above sections consists of presenting the learner with information on the topic through text, graphics, pictures, and/or video and then follow this with a mini-quiz or activity to determine if the student has understood the previous information. At any time during the tutorial the learner has the option to view a glossary which contains information and pictures of the terms used in all eight of the tutorials. The tutorials are also designed to allow the learner to review any section they choose.

The tutorials present one key concept at a time to the learner. Instead of having a lot of information on the screen at any given moment, which may cause the young learner to press the continue button without reading any of it, information is displayed in small sections or chunks. The use of interactive assignments and mini-quizzes helps to focus the learner's attention on the key concepts.

The home page also contains a link, called Quizzes, to a number of online tests and interactive activities. These quizzes and activities can be used by the instructor to help determine if the student has mastered key concepts.

Target Audience

The primary target audience is first year students enrolled in Practical and Applied Arts Survey Courses, which contain a construction or woodworking component, and students enrolled in full credit construction courses. The online tutorials also serve as a review of operational procedures and a safety refresher for students enrolled in upper year courses.