Edtech How To's

I originally got my start in edtech, as many of us do, because I was pretty good at figuring stuff out.

I was never a very "techie" person at any point in my life. I was not an early adopter of the newest gadget (nor have I become one). In fact, it is still to my mother's deep amusement that I somehow found myself branded an edtech specialist when I was a committed reader of print until I began traveling abroad and was forced to adapt to iBooks in order to support my voracious reading appetite on the go.

But still, when I began teaching in 2009 at an Apple Distinguished School with Blackboard as our LMS and Promethean boards in every classroom, I was struck by the power of that technology. There were just so many cool things we could do! And so, though overwhelmed at times, I developed a knack for figuring things out and conscripting my students to show me how to do the things they inevitably figured out first. And I would share those things with my colleagues. So I became an unofficial edtech resource, holding impromptu sessions in the staff room and getting called down the hall to help someone get their computer to display on the board.

And that is still a large part of the job. Before we can get to the good stuff, like why we should use technology and all the ways it can transform a learner's experience, teachers (and students) need to have a basic understanding of how the tools work.

There was a time when I created my own videos and gifs so the teachers I supported would have the resources they needed to understand the how, but I long ago realized that nobody really needs me to create another video on how to make a Google Form (though I do have one!).

Instead, I prefer to curate the amazing resources that are already out there. If you ask me how to do something today, I will probably send you a link to a video or help page first. And most of the time, that solves the need.

So! Here you go! This is where I go to learn how to do something new.

Awesome Edtech How-To Resources

Flipped Classroom Tutorials

Sethi Declerq has a truly astounding collection of video tutorials for Google, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and a host of other edtech tools you might be using. His videos are thorough, simple, and clear and he can turn around a video on new features faster than I even know they're coming!

Google's Support Center

Google has really embraced the need to support users with a robust support center. They have written step-by-step instructions for pretty much anything you might need to do in Google Workspace (G Suite/Google Apps).

Product Youtube Channels

Many of the more popular edtech tools have developed extensive libraries of Youtube video tutorials and recorded professional development sessions. You might be amazed at the amount of information and resources companies like SeeSaw, Edpuzzle, Flipgrid, Book Creator, Peardeck and more are giving away for free to support teachers.