Techboomers provides tutorials on the most popular and useful websites on the Internet, from social networks and dating sites to everyday tools for getting directions and knowing what the weather's going to be like. The presentation was given to the KC Coalition for Digital Inclusion in December 2015.

1. Teaching Digital Literacy with
Techboomers.com
Steve Black
Founder, Techboomers.com
steve@techboomers.com

2. Introducing Techboomers.com
• Over 55 free courses and 800 video
and article tutorials
• Create an account to track your
course progress.
• Our mission is to improve the
quality of lives of older adults by
empowering them to learn how to
use technology

3. Why Build Techboomers.com?
- Idea came from teaching my parents how to use websites
- Most educational videos and articles are:
- Out of date
- Not detailed enough
- Not written with an audience like my parents in mind: relevant
and non-tech language
- Not presented in a structured learning environment

4. Who was Techboomers.com built for?
steve@techboomers.com
50+ Adult Focus
But is useful for anyone
with limited computer
skills
Tech Teachers
Anyone who teaches
friends and family how to
use technology
Tech Training Organizations
Libraries, retirement
centers, non-profits, and
many more.

5. How does Techboomers make money?
- Courses will always be free for both users and our partners
- Started publishing ads in August – mostly for our partners
- In 2016, we will look to establish sponsorship partners with
different types of online sites and services
- We are not and have no plans of selling usage data. Online privacy
is important to us, our partners, and our users

6. 6 Ways We Help Others Teach Digital Literacy
1. Free resource to direct students towards
2. Share courses and tutorials with social media followers
3. Use our tutorials to supplement your current digital literacy programs
4. Create new courses based on our training materials
5. Leverage course functionality for drop-in self-learning sessions
6. Expand your students’ digital knowledge with our guest posts
steve@techboomers.com

7. 1. Free Resource for Students to Self-Learn
• Recommend TechBoomers when:
• You don’t offer a class or program about the topic
• You don’t have time for one-on-one training
• You aren’t familiar with a specific website or app
• Ask about our flyer, postcard, and bookmark designs
• Add a link to TechBoomers on your website
steve@techboomers.com

8. 2. Share with Social Media Followers
• A great way to motivate and excite students about different
types of websites and apps
• A wealth of worthy content for your Social Media Manager
• Share our course and tutorial pages directly from our site
• Join our Weekly Partner Newsletter to stay up-to-date with
our latest courses and tutorials
• Email steve@techboomers.com if you’d like to receive it
steve@techboomers.com

9. 3. Training Materials to Use in Existing Programs
• It’s difficult and time consuming to maintain up-to-date
training materials for websites and apps
• Print our article tutorials for handouts
• Share tutorial videos with your students
• Assign tutorials for homework to encourage continued
learning at home
steve@techboomers.com

10. 4. Start New Classes with our Training Materials
• Choose from the 55+ website courses we offer:
• Social sites: Pinterest, Instagram, Skype, Gmail
• Educational sites: Ancestry, Lynda.com, WebMD, Wikipedia
• Entertainment sites: Overdrive, Netflix, Spotify
• Shopping sites: eBay, Amazon, Etsy
• Let us know what other websites you’d like us to teach!
• Print handouts, share videos, use progress trackers and assign
homework
steve@techboomers.com

11. 5. Run Drop-In Self-Learning Sessions
• Run regular sessions where students are encouraged to
come in with their devices (or provide them)
• Students choose a topic on Techboomers, work their way
through our tutorials, and ask questions as they come up.
• Benefits of this type of class
• Encourages self-learning
• Teach more students at a time
• No ongoing preparation for teachers
steve@techboomers.com

12. 6. Post From Our Pool Guest Blog Posts
• Blogging can be very time consuming
• We’re creating a pool of 40+ guest posts for our partners to
post any time
• Types of posts:
• Introductions to popular websites and apps + X tips how to get the most out of them
• Important Internet safety and privacy tips (in general and for specific websites)
• Top 10 lists (for example, “Top 10 Websites for Booklovers” is coming soon)
• Email steve@techboomers.com if you are interested in us
providing guest posts for your blog!
steve@techboomers.com

13. What’s in it for us?
• We see tech training organizations as great long term partners
that are early adopters and help us reach our audience.
• Links to our website help us improve our rankings in Google.
• We’re all in this together. And with thousands of libraries and
nonprofits in North America creating most of their own
technology training materials… Why wouldn’t we make their
lives easier!
steve@techboomers.com

14. Questions?
Ideas?
Suggestions?
Steve@Techboomers.com
Slide deck: www.slideshare.net/SteveBlack327/kc-digital-drive
Email Me If You’d Like To
1. Join our partner mailing list
2. Learn more about guest blogging
3. Receive flyers and bookmarks
4. Learn more about Techboomers