  When education researchers describe newly developed curricular materials,
they typically concentrate on the research base behind their design, and the
efficacy of the final products, but do not highlight the initial stages of
creating the actual materials. With the aim of providing useful information for
faculty engaged in similar projects, we describe here our development of a set
of in-class tutorials for advanced undergraduate electrodynamics students, and
discuss factors that influenced their initial design and refinement. Among the
obstacles to be overcome was the investigation of student difficulties within
the short time frame of our project, and devising ways for students to engage
in meaningful activities on advanced-level topics within a single 50-minute
class period. We argue for a process that leverages faculty experience and
classroom observations, and present several guidelines for tutorial development
and implementation in upper-division physics classrooms.
