LUNCH & LEARN – The Tech Stack for Non-Tech Educators
Event Details
You’re invited to join SOCHE for a virtual lunch and learn, “The Tech Stack for Non-Tech Educators,” on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 12 p.m. ET via Zoom. This session will be presented by Dr. Jonathan McCombs, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Franklin University.
Every week brings a new AI tool, a new model, and a new round of articles telling educators they are either falling behind or doing it wrong. For faculty and academic leaders who did not come up through technology fields, the noise is exhausting, and the practical guidance is thin.
This session cuts through that noise by walking through a real, working tech stack that a non-technical educator can adopt without a steep learning curve or a procurement battle. Attendees will see how a small set of accessible tools — Claude, ChatGPT, NotebookLM, WisprFlow, Canva, Teams, Zoom, YouTube, and emerging AI agents — fit together to support course design, research, communication, content creation, and day-to-day administrative work.
The session also includes a working segment on prompting, because the tools are only as good as the instructions you give them, and most educators have never been taught how to ask. Participants will leave with a clear mental model for how the pieces connect, criteria for deciding which tools belong in their own stack, and a starter set of prompts they can use the next day.
Learning Goals
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify the core categories of an educator’s AI-enabled tech stack (thinking partner, research and synthesis, voice and capture, visual design, communication and meetings, and emerging agents) and name a primary tool for each.
- Compare the practical strengths and limitations of Claude, ChatGPT, and NotebookLM for common higher education tasks such as course design, drafting, research synthesis, and feedback.
- Apply a basic prompting framework to produce more reliable, higher quality outputs from any general-purpose AI tool.
- Evaluate whether a given tool belongs in their personal or institutional workflow using a simple decision lens (use case fit, data sensitivity, learning curve, and cost).
- Develop an initial 30-day plan for integrating one or two tools into their own teaching, leadership, or administrative practice.
The goal is not to make anyone a technologist, but to give educators enough fluency to make confident choices, save real time, and keep the focus on teaching and student outcomes. If you have felt behind, overwhelmed, or skeptical about where to start, this session is built for you.
Registration for this session will close on Thursday, Nov. 5.
[If you are unable to attend live, a recording link will be sent to all registrants.]
Pre-Work
To get the most out of the session, attendees are asked to do the following before the lunch and learn:
- Create a free account on Claude (claude.ai) and ChatGPT (chatgpt.com) if they do not already have one. A free tier is sufficient.
- Create a free NotebookLM account (notebooklm.google.com) using a personal or institutional Google login.
- Bring one real work artifact they would like to improve or accelerate, for example, a syllabus, an assignment prompt, a draft email, a rubric, or a section of a report. This will be used during the live prompting walk-through.
- Optional but recommended: jot down one task they currently dread or procrastinate on. We will use this as a test case for matching the right tool to the right job.
When: Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 12-1 p.m. ET [If you are unable to attend live, a recording link will be sent to all registrants.]
Where: SOCHE Zoom platform [link sent at least 24 hours prior to event]
Cost:
- Personnel from SOCHE member schools: $5
- Personnel from NON-member schools/organizations: $10
- Students: FREE [Note: This fee is is reserved for individuals who are students only, not for personnel pursuing continuing education.]
Questions? Contact Mindy Claggett at SOCHE
Student Registration Fee Policy
Registration Cancellation Policy
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT WILL CLOSE ON THURSDAY, NOV. 5
About the Presenter
Jonathan McCombs, Ph.D.
Vice President of Academic Affairs
Franklin University
Jonathan McCombs, Ph.D. serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Franklin University, where he leads the University’s academic enterprise with a focus on innovation, collaboration, and student success. With over 25 years of experience in higher education and public safety, Dr. McCombs has built a career distinguished by his ability to develop strategic partnerships that expand educational access and create impactful workforce solutions. At Franklin, he has been a driving force in advancing educational technology initiatives and building employer-aligned programs that integrate workplace learning with academic achievement.