How Teachers Can Give a Great BookWidgets PD Session for Beginners
Dimitri Bongers —
You’ve been using BookWidgets for a while. You’ve seen the impact on student engagement, differentiation, feedback, and formative assessment. Now your colleagues are curious… and you’ve been asked to present it.
Great! 🎉
Here’s how to give a powerful, practical BookWidgets session for beginners; one that inspires confidence and gets teachers started right away.
Before you start: Decide What Kind of Session You’re Giving
Before you build your slides or examples, be realistic about timing.
⏱ Option 1: an Interactive 30 min Demonstration Presentation
Perfect if your goal is to introduce BookWidgets and spark interest. Use our presentation slides! We've some quick slides you can adapt to your PD session to introduce BookWidgets to your colleagues.
The plan is to show the biggest BookWidgets benefits while participants are interactively involved.
BookWidgets is not just a content creation and evaluation tool. It allows you to build complete personalized feedback loops. From creation to evaluation. See what we did there? 😉 The message is the same, but the hook to show BookWidgets to teachers is different.
👉 Access the presentation here.
⏱ Option 2: a 1-Hour Demonstration Session
Perfect if your goal is to introduce teachers with the BookWidgets interface and all its possibilities.
In one hour, you can:
- Show inspiring widget examples (different subjects & levels)
- Create a widget from scratch (step by step)
- Share it with students
- Show the live monitoring
- Reveal the power of the Grading Dashboard
- Send feedback to (fake) students
👉 Watch how we explain BookWidgets in our 1-hour BookWidgets for beginners webinars. This is the flow you can follow for your 1-hour demonstration session. It would be best to start from your learning management system if you're using BookWidgets within an LMS.
💡 Tip: Don’t rush. It’s better to show fewer things clearly than everything too quickly. You will see we skip some options or parts that are not as important to show beginning teachers. Don't overwhelm them. We know BookWidgets is a lot. That's a good thing, but not for less-tech-savvy teachers that are just getting started with using technology in their classrooms.
⏱ Option 3: a 2–2.5 Hour Hands-On Workshop
If you want teachers to really experience BookWidgets, go interactive. If you have the time, always choose this format. When teachers truly experience BookWidgets, they are more engaged and want to get started right away after your session.
For this format, plan at least 2 hours. 2.5 hours would allow you to include a short break and a Q&A at the end of the session.
During an interactive workshop, participants:
- Create their own Quiz or Worksheet
- Experience a widget as a student
- Try the Live view
- Explore the grading dashboard
- Send feedback
This format builds confidence much faster. Teachers leave thinking: “I can actually do this.”
👉 Watch how we explain BookWidgets in our 1-hour BookWidgets for beginners webinars. This is the flow you can go through - but slower. Your participants will follow along, step by step.
10 Practical Tips for a Successful BookWidgets Training
Inspired by advice from the BookWidgets team, here are 10 essential training principles to keep in mind.
1. Know Your Audience in Advance
Before the session, find out:
- What are their expectations?
- What LMS do they use? (e.g. Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Smartschool)
- What devices will be available?
- Are they beginners or mixed-level?
- Do they already have an active BookWidgets license; are the teachers on trial licenses; or do the accounts still need to be created?
Every school context is different. Adapting your session makes it immediately more relevant and impactful.
2. Start from Their Learning Management System (LMS)
Whenever possible, demonstrate BookWidgets inside their familiar LMS:
- Google Classroom - Tutorial - Webinar
- Microsoft Teams - Tutorial - Webinar
- Moodle - Tutorial - Webinar
- Canvas - Tutorial
- itslearning - Tutorial - Webinar
- Schoology - Tutorial
- Blackboard - Tutorial
- Smartschool - Tutorial - Webinar
- Questi - Tutorial - Webinar
Why?
Because teachers immediately think:
- “Oh, I don’t need another login.”
- “My students already use this.”
- “Results sync automatically.”
It reduces resistance instantly.
If you don’t have access to their LMS, ask for demo accounts in advance.
⚠️ Keep in mind that for some LMS's, the school admin needs to set up the integration of BookWidgets before teachers can use it.
3. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
You don’t have to invent your session's structure yourself, and you definitely don’t have to guess what works.
A great starting point? The videos in BookWidgets' Teacher Adacemy.
These online BookWidgets video courses follow a flow that consistently works. The scenario used in those sessions is the result of nearly 10 years of training experience. If you’re wondering:
- In what order should I show things?
- When do I show examples?
- Which widget types and question types should I show?
- How much time should I spend on sharing and grading?
Watch one of the beginner webinars and simply model your session on that structure. It’s a proven format.
Besides, the BookWidgets blog is another goldmine.
Are you presenting to:
- STEM teachers?
- Math teachers
- Language teachers?
- Primary school teachers?
- A school team focused on differentiation?
- Teachers working on formative assessment?
Chances are high there’s already a blog post filled with ready-to-use examples for your specific audience.
Instead of creating subject-specific examples from scratch, explore what’s already published and reuse or adapt those ideas. It saves time and ensures your examples are pedagogically strong.
4. Adapt During the Session
Even in sessions labeled as “advanced,” you’ll almost always have a mix of experience levels in the room. Some participants may be using BookWidgets daily, while others are still figuring out the basics. That’s completely normal; and it’s something you should actively plan for.
👉 If the group is very digitally confident → move faster, skip over basics, and spend more time on deeper features or creative use cases.
👉 If they need more time → slow down, give them space to explore, and check in regularly before moving on.
👉 If they look overwhelmed → pause, recap what you’ve covered, and bring everyone back to a clear starting point.
Pay attention to body language, questions, and energy levels. Adapting in the moment is what turns a good session into a great one. There’s no value in rushing just to “get through” your material. If participants can’t follow along, they’ll disengage quickly. It’s far better to cover less content well than to lose people halfway through.
5. Show Lots of Concrete Examples (At the Start!)
BookWidgets offers:
That can feel overwhelming.
Start by showing strong, concrete examples across subjects. Help teachers immediately see:
- What makes this different from a simple form?
- What is the pedagogical added value?
- How does this improve feedback or differentiation?
Once they understand the “why,” they’re much more motivated to learn the “how.”
6. Highlight Only the Most Important Things
A 2-hour session = a LOT of information.
Participants will leave with full heads, so be intentional.
For beginners, emphasize just two key habits:
Work from top to bottom in the widget editor
Don’t jump around randomly, because you'll definitely forget some options.
Use the Preview button constantly
Show them how to:
- Edit
- Click Preview
- See the student view
- Go back and adjust
During my sessions, I often mention to participants that if they forget everything else but remember these two principles, the session was a success.
7. Reassure Them (A Lot)
Many beginners (espacially if they are less tech-savvy) might feel overwhelmed, hesitant, and afraid to “break something”.
Remind them:
- They don’t need to use every option (in particular on the General Tab).
- It’s okay to start simple.
- Everything is automatically saved.
- The buttons don't explode 😅
Encourage them to:
- Read the instructions in the interface.
- Click the information icons.
- Test things in Preview mode/Student view.
Confidence grows through safe exploration.
8. Make It Interactive
The more active participants are, the more they’ll remember.
Ideas:
- Let them create their account beforehand.
- Build a widget step-by-step together.
- Let them fill-in each other’s widget.
- When demonstrating Live mode, let them play the role of students.
- And always leave space for questions, whether the session is online or in person.
9. If You Don’t Know an Answer, Model the Process
It happens. If someone asks something very specific and you’re unsure: Say so honestly.
Explore together:
- Check the interface
- Read instructions
- Test in Preview
- Mention tutorials or the Knowledge Base.
- Contact support if needed.
This actually builds trust. It shows that even experienced users don’t know everything and that’s normal.
10. Always Do Follow-Up
This is often forgotten, but it’s crucial.
The day after the PD session, send an email with:
- Links to tutorials
- A recorded webinar
- The examples you showed
- Support contact information
- Key takeaways from the session
Why?
Because after 2–3 hours of training, teachers are saturated. Follow-up gives them space to revisit calmly and take the next step.
A Final Thought: Your Role Is Not to Impress, It’s to Empower
When presenting BookWidgets to colleagues, your goal is not to show everything the tool can do.
Your goal is to make them think:
- “This feels manageable.”
- “This would help my students.”
- “I want to try this next week.”
You’re not just presenting a tool, you’re helping colleagues take their next step in digital pedagogy.
Last but not least: don’t forget to enjoy this!
I've you've read the whole blog post, you've seen the tips, the pitfalls, the structure… it can feel like a lot. But once you’re in the room (or on the call), something shifts.
You get to see that moment when it clicks for someone. When a participant realizes, “Hey, I can actually use this.” Those small breakthroughs, the curiosity, the experimentation; that’s where the energy is.
Participants will sometimes ask unexpected questions, go in directions you hadn’t planned, or even uncover features you didn’t know existed yet. And that’s okay. In fact, that’s part of the fun. You’re not there as the person who knows everything; you’re there as someone who’s learning alongside them.
Some of the best sessions are the ones where, at the end, you can honestly say: “I learned something new today too.”
The BookWidgets team always loves hearing when teachers are presenting BookWidgets to colleagues; whether in their own school or in other schools. We’re here to support you. If you need additional resources, examples, demo material, or anything else to prepare your presentation, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to help you make it a success.
