blogs

Aug 28 2012

251 – Summer Software Showcase: KidBlog.org

We wrap up our Summer Software Showcase series this week with a focus on the classroom blogging tool, KidBlog, and the many ways it can be used in an education setting.  You won’t want to miss the latest Community Feedback and Martin’s browser tab trick either.

Listen now or download Episode 251 (38:18)

The discussion:

Goodbye Summer – Martin and Sallie record the last Summer Software Showcase segment, focusing on ministry uses of the classroom-centric blogging tool, KidBlog.org.

  • How to Use Blogs from Scholastic – Grades 3-5 and 6-8
  • Visit our sample WELSTech KidBlog.  The login link is in the upper right.
    • Admin login
      • Username: WELSTech Admin
      • Password: WELSTech
    • Student login
      • Username: WELSTech Student
      • Password: WELSTech

Ministry Uses

  1. Electronic Journaling – Check out Sallie’s list of writing prompts for elementary students
  2. Subject or topic specific writing
  3. Keyboarding practice
  4. Online discussion or Q&A
  5. Posting teacher assignments

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(34:20) Episode 252 – Join Martin and Sallie next week for a countdown of the 7 Best Password Management Tips and Tools. (Release date – 09/04/12)

The featured artist:

(35:35)  We close the podcast with the music of  Revelation, a music ministry of Wisconsin Lutheran College (www.revelationwlc.com) - Ancient of Days 

Get involved:

By Sallie Draper • episode, General, Summer Software Showcase • 2 • Tags: ,

Mar 7 2012

226 – 7 Best Teacher Resources +

This week on the WELSTech Podcast we look at the 7 (or more) best teacher resource web sites.

Listen now or download Episode 226 (53:21)

The discussion:

Can we count? – Narrowing the list of classroom resource web sites to the best 7 proved to be a bit tough for Martin and Sallie, so instead they share the best of the best in 7 categories of education sites.

Teacher Resource Sites

  1. Subject specific
  2. Trends in education
  3. Resource exchanges
  4. Interactive whiteboards
  5. Video
  6. Free Technology For Teachers
  7. Personal Learning Network or PLN - Customized to individual interests and needs and made up of various blogs, Twitter accounts and Pinterest boards

Coming up in April …. 7 Best E-mail Productivity Tools and Tips

Ministry resources:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(48:08) Episode 227 – The current book discussion draws to a close as we look at chapter 6, Regeneration, of The Church of Facebook. (Release date – 03/14/12)

The featured artist:

(48:37) We close the podcast with the music of Kevin Loersch - O Sacred Head, Now Wounded from his CD titled “Abide With Me“

Get involved:

By Sallie Draper • 7 Best, episode, General • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Dec 7 2011

213 – The Blogging Bandwagon

This week’s WELSTech Podcast discussion is on lessons learned from blogging, and Jason Jaspersen joins the conversation to share info on his liturgical art web site, TheCLAPR.

Listen now or download Episode 213 (55:32)

The discussion:

Reflections on a year of blogging – Martin, Sallie and Adam Goede, author of The Daily Bible Challenge blog, share their thoughts on the blessings and challenges of regular blogging as well as lessons learned along the way.

The interview:

Behold the Lamb of God by Jonathan Mayer

Behold the Lamb of God by Jonathan Mayer

(16:08) Visually representing worship – Artist and teacher Jason Jaspersen from Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School joins Martin and Sallie to talk about TheCLAPR, The Confessional Lutheran Art Patronage Reference.  Jason shares the origin of the site and more about its goals of connecting artists with congregations and leaving a legacy of artwork that speaks to our strong Lutheran confessional stance.

Ministry resources:

Picks of the week:

WELS.net feature:

(41:14) Streams Seasonal Radio

Of interest:

(41:38) Mark your calendar for the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary streaming Christmas concert - December 11 @ 3:00 p.m. Central

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(51:30) Episode 214 – Martin and Sallie continue their discussion of The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice, delving into Chapter 3, Dispensation. (Release date – 12/14/11)

The featured artist:

(52:01) We close the podcast with the music of Michael Schroeder (www.michaelschroeder.com and on Facebook) – O Come Emmanuel from his CD titled “The Reason for the Season”

Get involved:

By Sallie Draper • episode, General • 1 • Tags: ,

Feb 16 2011

171 – Blog 365

This week the WELSTech Podcast topic is blogging, and we talk with Pastor Dan Walters about his post-a-day efforts.

Listen now or download Episode 171 (50:11)

The discussion:

Blog topics – Martin and Sallie share ideas for your blog, and invite you to take the WELSTech Blogging Challenge.  What better way to learn more about blogging and find your personal blogging niche than to post to your blog at least once per week for the rest of 2011.  Share a link to your blog so we can follow!

The interview:

Pastor Dan Walters(12:48) Pastor Walters is a blogger – Pastor Dan Walters from Our Savior in Springville, NY is blogging every day in 2011! He joins Martin and Sallie to share his experience and tips for successful blogging.

Ministry resources:

(26:50) Video presentations of Martin Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers

News in tech:

(28:14) New features on Vimeo and ScreenCast.com

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(45:04) Episode 172 – Gail Potratz joins the conversation, and we take a virtual tour of the world using Google Earth. (Release date 02/23/11)

The featured artist:

(45:40) We close the podcast with the music of Stephen Bautista (www.stephenbautistamusic.com or stephenbautista on Twitter) - The Man Who Drove the Nail from his CD titled ”Abandon””

Get involved:

By admin • episode, General • 1 • Tags:

Jul 21 2010

141 – WELSTech Road Trip: Fond du Lac, WI

Buckle up for this week’s WELSTech Podcast Road Trip.  We visit Fond du Lac, WI and talk with teacher Ryan Rosenthal about integrating technology in the classroom.

Listen now or download Episode 141 (39:14)

Road trip:

roadtrip02c(2:18) Integrating Technology into the Classroom - Seveth grade teacher Ryan Rosenthal from Faith in Fond du Lac, WI joins Martin and Sallie for an interesting conversation about his Web 2.0 classroom experience.  Ryan offers great advice including encouraging teachers to “tweak” existing projects to include technology elements, rather than coming up with a new project.

Ryan Rosenthal

Fond du Lac
The WELSTech Road Trip Tracker

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(33:57) Episode 142 - We talk with Sally Valleskey from Abiding Word in Houston (deep in the heart of), Texas about their use of Shepherd’s Staff church management software. (Release date 07/28/10)

The featured artist:

(34:12) We close the podcast with music from Cross to Glory (www.crosstoglory.com) - My Old Friend from their CD titled “Life’s Song”

Get involved:

By admin • episode, General, Road Trip • 1 • Tags: , , ,

Jun 30 2010

138 – WELSTech Road Trip: Liverpool, NY

This week the WELSTech Podcast Road Trip heads to Liverpool, NY to talk with Pastor Jeremiah Gumm about blogging.

Listen now or download Episode 138 (56:39)

Road trip:

roadtrip02c(5:50) Pastoral Blogging - The WELSTech Road Trip makes a virtual stop in upstate New York where Martin and Sallie chat with Pastor Jeremiah Gumm from Cross of Christ.  Pastor Gumm, the blogger behind The Shepherd’s Study, shares thoughts on his 2+ years of blogging - how and why he started his blog, the mechanics of setting up and managing a blog, and the blessings (64,000 hits and counting) and connections blogging has given him.

 

Pastor Jeremiah Gumm - The Shepherd's Story

    

Blog Dashboard
Blog Administration “Dashboard” (Click the view full size)
    

Adding a New Blog Post
Writing a New Blog Post Screen (Click to view full size)
     

Road Trip Tracker
The WELSTech Road Trip Tracker

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

  • (39:16) Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared links via the WELSTech Diigo group:
  • Gail Potratz from Emanuel in New London, WI left us a voice mail with details on AT&T voice and data plan educator pricing
    • Include your voice in the next WELSTech Podcast.  Leave us a voice mail at 405-FOR-WELS (405-367-9357)
  • Pastor Rob Guenther from Gethsemane in Raleigh, NC is using the Flashcard Touch app for iPod and iPhone to share Quizlet.com Catechism flash cards with his students
  • David Schumann from Peace in Janesville, WI used Inkscape to convert bitmap images to scalable vector format
  • Tom Hausman from Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI shared a job posting for an Instructional Support and Design Specialist. Contact Martin for additional details.
  • Perry Lund from Grace in Oskaloosa, IA commented on the recent student management system podcast interview

Coming up on WELSTech:

(52:18) Episode 139 - We’re on the road again, but this time to an unknown techie virtual destination.  Tune in to find out where we visit, and learn something new in the process. (Release date 07/07/10)

The featured artist:

(56:39) We close the podcast with the music of Michael Schroeder (www.michaelschroeder.com and on Facebook) - I Do Believe from his CD titled “The Way”

Get involved:

By admin • episode, General, Road Trip • 1 • Tags: ,

Jan 14 2009

054 – The Art of Productivity

This week on WELSTech Martin shares some productivity tips from his WLS Winterim session and Sallie talks with Missionary Mike Hartman and his wife Rachel about their use of technology in the Mexico mission field.

Listen now or download Episode 054 (49:53)

Christmas 2010 Scavenger Hunt:

Clue #5

clue5

 

Remember, you can use your smartphone or an online decoder to decipher the message. This is the final clue so you can enter the contest by supplying the mystery message!  Additional contest details available here. Have fun!

The discussion:

The interview:

  • The HartmansTechnology in the mission field (18:36) -  Missionary Mike Hartman and his wife Rachel talk with Sallie about the mission work being done in Torreon, Mexico.  Rachel shares information about her Lutherans in Mexico blog and how she uses it to spread the news about the mission work with the world.

The tidbits:

  • Picks of the week (28:18)
  • Of interest (35:42)
  • Community feedback (36:25)
    • Dan Smith of Holy Trinity in Des Moines, WA is using Google Calendar for his school but the print version isn’t formatted well for their newsletter.  Check out Sallie’s Picks of the Week in Episodes 026 & 027 for a solution.
    • John Shoosmith of Redeemer in Yakima, WA requested we share guidelines for NIV copyright on the WELSTech wiki, and we are happy to do so – “Copyright Guidelines for the NIV Bible“.
    • Linda Travis would like to display RSS feeds on her church web site.  Learn more at www.wels.net/jump/rss.
    • In response to a question from the webmaster at Good Shepherd in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, Martin shares more details about the synod’s multi-camera set up, including some hardware and software recommendations for running multiple cameras.
    • By popular demand, we’ve added a page to the WELSTech wiki with tips for “Getting Started” building a church or school web site.
  • Coming up on WELSTech (43:47)
    • Episode 055 - We talk with John Shoosmith, a WELS member in Yakima, WA, about the process of creating closed-caption sermon videos for the deaf and hard of hearing

The featured artist:

  • We close with music of WELS artist, WendySue Fluegge (www.wendysue.com) – The Instrument from her CD with the same title, The Instrument (45:18)

Get involved:

By admin • episode, General • 0 • Tags: ,

Oct 1 2008

Episode 039 – Oct 1 2008

This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie talk about ways to “Go Green” with church and school electronics.  They also interview Pastor Mark Cares about the success of his new blog which targets outreach to Mormons.

Listen now or download Episode 039 (1:03:07)

The discussion:

The interview:

The tidbits:

The featured artist:

  • We close with music of WELS artist, Michael Schroeder (wctc.net/~mas) - In My Life from his CD titled A Witness (59:54)

Get involved:

                         

By admin • episode, General • 2 • Tags: , ,

Jul 30 2008

Episode 030 – Jul 30 2008

Our semi-regular classroom technology correspondent, Gail Potratz, is back with Martin and Sallie to continue the discussion of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  This week we focus on wiki and blog tools for education enhancement.

Listen now or download Episode 030 (50:15)

The discussion:

The tidbits:

The featured artist:

  • We close with music of WELS musician, Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com) - Look Out from his CD titled Climb the Mountain (46:20)

Get involved:

                         

By admin • episode, General • 1 • Tags: ,

Jun 11 2008

Episode 023 – Jun 11 2008

This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie share information on two Web 2.0 publishing tools – blogs and the Facebook social network.  Learn how you can use these tools to further your ministry efforts.

Listen now or download Episode 023 (50:24)

The discussion:

The interview:

The tidbits:

The featured artist:

  • This week we close with the music of Michael Schroeder (www.michaelschroeder.com) – Paradise from his CD titled A Witness (47:20)

Get involved:

By admin • episode, General • 0 • Tags: ,