Recently I read about the Top Ten Tools for 2018 from Jane Hart at CLP. This triggered a reaction from me – one that I could fit into the puzzle for alleviating some of the difficulty for Toastmasters to begin their online learning journey.

We make an assumption that all Toastmasters are equally comfortable in online learning or in fact their use of computer technology. This is NOT as I know it. Each of the Toastmasters I know have a variety of skills in using their computers and mobile devices. Some of the questions that we are often asked, as Pathways Guides, indicate that some of their difficulties in Base Camp are related to management of their computer environment.

With that in mind I began to think about how to provide meaningful support for our Toastmasters who need technology coaching rather than Pathways Guidance. Over in the D73 Facebook group I setup a Poll to find out what members needed most help with. One of the options I chose was
Where to go to find help when you need it?

A short video on ‘where to go to find help on Pathways’ would be useful!

I think that YouTube and Google Drive would feature in that tutorial for accessing self-help with video tutorials and documents. In it we could include how to locate a selection of the video tutorials and documents stored in the Tutorials and Resources library at Base Camp.

Let’s look at the Ten Top Tools and determine which ones will assist us with self-managed  anytime online learning. Note: I plan to unpack my own selection of these in separate posts. Today I will focus on YouTube and Google Drive.

YouTube

This free personal publishing tool has the reputation of being the most popular tool because of its educational, entertaining and useful content. Yes there are useful videos there on Pathways. Enter YouTube and search for Toastmasters Pathways Tutorials and you will find a plethora of them. These can be accessed in any device and you do not need to have an account there.

Help is available as a search field (in a pop-up window) and you can Subscribe to a Channel from any of the Toastmasters sites in YouTube. I recommend the D7 Toastmasters Channel and its Playlist for Pathways tutorials.

If you have a YouTube account you can create your own Playlists by adding them from your favourite Channels. Use the YouTube Help tool and search for instructions on Adding Videos to Playlist.

Google Drive

This free cloud based document sharing space has the reputation of being the most popular tool for storing and sharing documents among small or large groups of people. This tool gives you the flexibility of creating a shared space for your Pathways documents for District or Club – an easy to access repository of useful resources.

You can navigate between your own folders and documents or those shared with you. Here is an example of a shared Google Drive folder of the Paths and Evaluations in Pathways, resources from Shilpa Reddy and another example of the Pathways Starter Kit from Mark Snow

Another example of a shared folder in Google Drive is this one from Roger Fung containing all the Evaluation Forms, in numerical order, for each project in Pathways.

Tutorials and Resources Library at Base Camp

And now for the specific help that is available in the Base Camp library! 
Did you know that you can browse for Specific Training and select from these three options: Online Class, Curriculum and Materials.

Online Class: includes all of the training needed for navigating in Base Camp – these require you to Launch
Curriculum: includes any of the special programs you have accessed such as Toastmasters Mentoring Program
Materials: includes all of the downloadable items such as Evaluation Resources

This could be the basis for a prepared online video tutorial by itself. There is so much more to learn about the intricacies of Base Camp.

Online Tutorials for Everything

For those who need more basic help in the use of their Computer there is a wealth of tutorials at GCF Global.

If you need a tutorial on YouTube try this one.

If you need a tutorial on Google Drive try this one.