If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you know how passionate I am about using EdTech with purpose. Whether you’ve joined one of my webinars or read my book EdTech Essentials, you know I’m always on the lookout for ways to help educators bring intentionality into their use of technology. That’s where this new set of quick EdTech tips comes into play.
That’s why I’m so excited to share this with you!
This spring, I collaborated with the teams at ASCD and ISTE—the joint publishers of the second edition of my book EdTech Essentials—to create a brand-new resource for educators. It’s called Purposeful EdTech Tips and part of a new ASCD product line called QuickWins! Strategy Cards.
Just in time for summer and the back-to-school season, the new deck of strategy cards is finally here! This collection of quick EdTech tips card deck is full of practical, ready-to-use tips to help you plan, teach, and reflect using educational technology.
A Quick Look at the QuickWins! Strategy Cards
Each deck includes 50 fast and effective strategies—and I really do mean quick and effective. They are bite-sized tips that are perfect for teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders who want to make meaningful use of EdTech. Although they’re being released during the summer (just in time for heading back to school) they are perfect to use any time of the school year.
The deck is divided into four categories, covering popular topics from my workshops and presentations. Let’s take a look at the four categories.
15 AI Chatbot Prompts
These are perfect if you’re experimenting with tools like ChatGPT or other AI-powered platforms. The prompts will help you generate lesson ideas, create supplemental resources, or even differentiate instruction with the help of artificial intelligence.
11 Student Activity Ideas
These tips focus on how to use digital tools to help students show what they know in creative ways. From multimedia responses to interactive timelines, there’s something for every subject area. This category is inspired by the “Create” essential featured in both the first and second edition of EdTech Essentials.
11 Teacher Tips
These cards can support lesson planning and instructional design. Whether you’re building a station rotation or curating resources for an upcoming unit, these tips help you boost engagement and save time. This category is full of tips coaches can use when mentoring teachers, too.
13 Formative Assessment Techniques
Use these to check for understanding during or after instruction. They’ll help you collect actionable data and get a clear picture of what your students know and where they might need support. As a workshop facilitator, formative assessment has always been a super popular topic, so I’m excited to share some “small but mighty” tips you can put into action right away.
Each card gives you a “quick win” that you can use as-is or tweak to fit your specific classroom goals. And because they’re designed to work with any subject or grade level, they’re flexible enough for a wide range of educators.
How to Use These Cards This Summer (and Beyond)
These strategy cards are more than just a deck of ideas. The goal is to spark conversations, guide professional learning, and support lesson planning all year long. Here are a few ways to start using them:
In a Summer or School Year PD Session
Whether you’re leading or attending a summer learning experience, these cards make a great conversation starter. You can explore one category at a time. Or invite teachers to pick a card and discuss how they might try it out in their classroom.
As a Gift for Teacher Teams
Looking for a meaningful back-to-school, holiday, or end of term gift? These decks are a great way to show support for your team while also promoting purposeful tech use. You might pair the deck with one of my quick reference guides or tuck it into a welcome-back folder.
For Solo Planning and Reflection
If you’re spending time this summer (or at the end of a semester) refreshing old units or brainstorming new ideas, keep a deck by your side. Flip through it as you write lesson plans or set goals for the year. You can even pull one card each week as a personal challenge to try something new.
Why I Created This Deck of Quick EdTech Tips
When the team at ASCD reached out to me about this new project idea, I was so honored and excited to join in. I’ve worked with them for several years now. All the way back to my book Task Before Apps published in 2017, as well as three quick reference guides, and two editions of my book EdTech Essentials. Thousands of copies of the books and quick reference guides have been sold. So the idea of creating something a little different certainly grabbed my attention.
I wanted to create something that felt accessible and inspiring. If you’ve followed along with the blog and podcast for awhile now, you know that I love sharing ideas you can use right away without hours of prep. And I wanted it to support educators no matter where they are on their EdTech journey—from someone just getting started to someone who is looking for new ideas.
Where to Find the Strategy Cards
The QuickWins! Strategy Cards are available now on the ASCD website and on Amazon. You can grab one deck for yourself or stock up for your school or district. They’re compact, colorful, and packed with ideas you can use all year long.
I’ve just added the new strategy deck to my collection of publications on Amazon. You can find it alongside some of my other print (and ebook) resources right here >>
And of course, here’s a direct link to the product page on ASCD’s website. As you’ll see on this page, the strategy cards are one of six that are now available from ASCD!
I can’t wait for you to check them out! Do you already have a deck? Whether you bought them on Amazon or from ASCD, or were gifted them by a friend or colleague, head over to the Review section of Amazon where anyone can leave a review.
