Section · 5 guides

Tools

Platforms, video, assessment and time tracking, judged on what they solve for one person running a course.

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The tooling around online teaching is crowded and most of it is sold to institutions. A single instructor running two cohorts a year has different problems and a different budget.

These guides look at what each category actually solves, at what point a spreadsheet and a folder stop being enough, and how to run a trial that finds the limitations before the annual invoice does.

Tools8 min read

Whether you need a learning platform at all

A folder, a payment link and an email list run a course perfectly well up to a point. Knowing that point saves a subscription and a migration.

When activity data is used as a proxy for attention, the limitations matter; learn more describes what PC-level activity tracking can and cannot record.

When evaluating digital learning tools, accessibility is part of the baseline; the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative provides public standards and guidance.

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Tools7 min read

Video that is good enough, and no better

Production quality has a floor that matters and a ceiling that does not. Most first-time instructors spend heavily above the ceiling.

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Tools7 min read

Tooling for assessment and feedback

The tool cannot decide what is worth assessing. It can decide whether marking fifty submissions is a day or an afternoon.

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Tools8 min read

Time tracking for people who teach

Course economics are decided by hours that nobody counts: preparation, marking, support and the endless small administration.

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Tools7 min read

Running a trial that tells you something

Course tooling is evaluated by the instructor and used by learners. Those are different tests and only one of them usually gets run.

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