Technology Training Resources for Faculty & Staff

There are a wide variety of free technology training resources available to Drake faculty and staff. We've curated a list below to get you started with links to how-to guides within our IT service portal's knowledge base as well as external sources. 

Going to the Help menu in the upper right corner in the Adobe Creative Suite application you're using can help you locate the menu item you're searching for, or point you in the right direction to perform a task. If that's not enough, here are some additional resources:

• Creative Cloud tutorials from Adobe: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/tutorials-explore.html
• Adobe Help Center: https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html#/top_products
• Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/AdobeCreativeCloud/featured
• Envato Tuts+ Adobe tutorials: https://tutsplus.com/tutorials

Banner is Drake's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and data authority. Resources are available at :

• Banner knowledge base articles category

Blackboard Learn is the academic and community-based learning management system (LMS) used by Drake. In addition to the resources below, you can request assistance by submitting a Blackboard Learn Ultra Request or one of the other Blackboard Learn services.

• Blackboard Learn Ultra knowledge base articles category
• Blackboard Learn Ultra support: https://help.blackboard.com/Filter/Instructor/College_or_University

ITS sends out regular simulated phishing attacks to empower faculty and staff to protect personal and campus data, and can provide individual training. In addition, here are some good resources:

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security guidance: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips
• Contact ITS about an information security topic or issue: https://drake.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/Requests/ServiceCatalog?CategoryID=5321

Drake uses Microsoft Outlook for email and calendars. Going to the Help menu within Outlook is a good place to start. If you begin typing a word, you'll get an arrow pointing to the menu item or a link to a tutorial on how to perform the task. Additional resources are available at:

• Email & Calendars knowledge base articles category
• Microsoft Outlook Help & Training: https://support.office.com/en-us/outlook

Drake uses Eventbrite as its tool for online registration and payment of event fees. Need to set up an account? Complete the Eventbrite user form. Once you've got an account, here are some helpful resources.

• Eventbrite knowledge base articles category
• Eventbrite Help Center: https://www.eventbrite.com/support

Going to the Help menu within the Microsoft Office application you're using is a good place to start. If you begin typing a word, you'll get an arrow pointing to the menu item or a link to a tutorial on how to perform the task. Additional resources are available at:

• Recordings of HR BUILD courses on Microsoft software (only available to current faculty and staff)
• Microsoft Office Help & Training: https://support.office.com/
• GCF LearnFree: https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/topics/office/
• Excel, Word, and PowerPoint video tutorials from Howtech: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosCQfg4jY2n10gzS9m8cWw (or search YouTube for a specific program or task)
• Microsoft Teams knowledge base articles category
• Microsoft 365 Applications and Tools: https://drake.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/2025/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=131786

Qualtrics is a web-based survey software tool available free for use by all Drake University faculty, staff, and students.

• Getting Started with Qualtrics (How-to)
• Qualtrics support: https://www.qualtrics.com/support/

The web content management system (CMS), TerminalFour is used to update and maintain the Drake University website at www.drake.edu. In order to receive access to make changes, users must first complete training and then be given access to update a specific section of the website. To get started, submit a Drake Website (CMS) Access/Training request. After training, additional resources are available at:

• TerminalFour knowledge base articles category

WordPress is the platform that Drake uses for our faculty publishing environment. It provides faculty members with a website that can be used to publish and share research interests, or information on special projects. To get started with a new site, submit a Faculty WordPress New Site Consultation request.

• See our curated list of WordPress Training Resources.