Utopian is creating an Open Source economy
in which contributors to Open Source projects are rewarded for their valuable work.
This work can come in a variety of forms.
So to keep things organized Utopian has identified several categories
into which contributors can submit their work.
One of these categories is Tutorials.
Education is at the heart of innovation and to foster learning in the Open Source community
Utopian is supporting the development of high quality learning resources.
The Tutorial category is part of this initiative.
It is crucial that contributions to the Tutorial category be educationally sound.
Contributions must contain highly engaging, educational and original text and visuals.
Let’s have a closer look at what makes an excellent tutorial contribution.
Utopian wishes to maintain consistency of format and quality in all tutorial contributions.
To achieve this Utopian has provided you with some tools to help in the creation of consistent content.
First, Utopian has developed a thorough set of general rules and guidelines
which apply to all contribution categories.
These must be followed by all contributors.
Utopian has also created a set of guidelines specific to the tutorials category
to help contributors create educationally sound content
and to aid Utopian Moderators in the evaluation of this content.
Let’s have a closer look at a few of the guidelines for the Tutorials category.
Your tutorials must address concepts which would be a challenge
for average learners to figure out on their own.
Tutorials addressing circuit design and the construction of specific electronic modules
are a appropriate for Utopian.
Your lessons should provide skills and knowledge
which can be applied to a wide variety of creative applications.
Tutorials teaching concepts which are found in other applications
or tutorials which focus on how to create content will not be supported by Utopian.
Along with adhering to the general and category guidelines,
Utopian has provided a tutorial template to guide you in formatting your submission.
Let’s have a closer look at the template.
As you have seen in the guidelines, it is critical
that you associate your Tutorial contribution with appropriate Github repository.
In this section of your contribution you will itemize
each of the concepts you will be addressing in your tutorial.
These concepts must be substantial
and not things an average user can figure out themselves.
While it is important to cover multiple concepts in your tutorial,
covering too many substantial concepts in one tutorial can be overwhelming for learners.
If you have numerous concepts which need to be addressed
you may consider creating multiple tutorial submissions to cover the learning materials.
In this section of your submission you must list all the software and hardware requirements
for learners to complete your tutorial.
Indicate the level of skill and knowledge a learner must possess
in order to complete your tutorial.
Here you will provide highly detailed text and images for your tutorial.
You need to address each of the substantial concepts
and provide supporting information to aid the learners.
Utopian encourages the development of sequential tutorials
to thoroughly cover the concepts of Open Source project.
Any code samples and supplementary content can be placed in your personal Github repository.
There are two subcategories of the tutorial category:
Code writing contributions and end-user focused contributions.
Code writing contributions must provide clear sequential instruction on programming concepts.
As you introduce concepts and techniques
you must clearly explain how and why you are using them.
Code writing can be complex
so it is important to be thorough and sequential in your instruction.
End-user focused tutorials are focused on complex functions of Open Source applications.
As with code writing contributions, these submissions must be sequential and thorough.
When selecting a topic for your tutorial contribution
you must insure that your content provides educational value to the community.
Research existing learning resources related to your topic
and avoid submitting content which is already addressed sufficiently elsewhere.
Choose topics which you are both knowledgeable in and passionate about.
Consider your audience and create content which is suited to their learning needs.
Once you have researched and chosen a topic for your tutorial
it is time to create your contribution with your favourite Steem interface.
First choose an appropriate title for your contribution.
Using the tutorials template, create the body of your contribution.
Be sure to include all the required information outlined in the template.
Tagging your contribution is very important.
Your first tag must be utopian-io and your second tag must be tutorials.
Before you publish your contribution
proof read everything to insure that there are no mistakes.
Once you’re happy with your contribution it’s time to post.
Education is at the heart of the Open Source community.
Your contributions to the Tutorial category will empower learners
to use and develop new Open Source applications
and in turn strengthen the community around us.