Tag Archive for: Artificial Intelligence

762 – Llamas in the Machine

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This episode of WELSTech opens with an overview of the recent WELS Artificial Intelligence (AI) survey. The AI theme continues throughout the show, featuring details on the new Hour of AI initiative, a powerful prompt designed to help organize scattered thoughts, a WELS-centric GPT tool, and the latest edition of the TAAFT (There’s an AI for That) newsletter. And yes—watch out for AI llamas!

The discussion

The survey says – Martin shares preliminary insights from the recent AI survey distributed to WELS called and lay workers. While analysis is ongoing, the results will guide and prioritize the efforts of the AI Task Force. Notably, information on ethical considerations and ministry-specific use cases of AI emerged as top desired resources.

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Updated Google Calendar lectionaries for

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John Rathje shares a bit about his Lutheran Leadership Conference session on planning that works. Register early to secure your spot and take advantage of discounted pricing.

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758 – A Season of AI

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The first episode of the 2025-26 season of WELSTech is unlocked! Martin and Sallie kick off with a Lutheran-flavored AI theme for the season and share resources to assist with school AI policies. Sallie has a random pick of the week, and Martin shared Gmail keyboard shortcuts. All this and more. Let’s go!

The discussion

A place of AI – Martin and Sallie kick off a new season of WELSTech under the theme AI: What does this mean? First up is a look at school guidelines and policies around AI. Feel free to make copies of the shared resource documents and edit them to meet the needs of your school.

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747 – Canva for Ministry

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WELSTech is back with a deep dive into Canva waters and the terrific capabilities it has for churches and schools. The toolset is easy and intuitive, even if you’ve never used it before. This episode may be all you need to get started! Martin shares his phone case pick and there’s some AI-generated coding for the classroom happening. See you on the inside!

The discussion

Behind the scenes with Canva – Sallie takes viewers to the design table using Canva and demos design templates and elements, text tools, color palettes, brand kits, and apps while Martin tries to stump her with questions. With the robust feature set and variety of formats which Canva can produce, it’s well worth the price of admission. The amazing news is churches and schools don’t pay a penny!

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  • Teacher Michael Vlieger from Risen Savior in Mankato, MN shared programmed resources for the classroom which he created with the help of ChatGPT and Canva. Reach out to Michael if you’d like to learn more or get a copy.
    • Eraser Game (Video)
      • Users enter text, and the application creates an exercise where clicking on a word makes it disappear. For longer passages, this helps with memorization by gradually removing words rather than requiring students to recall an entire section at once.
    • Banned Words Checker (Video)
      • Our writing series includes specific banned word lists for each lesson, but students and I occasionally overlook these during the review process. This tool allows users to input a list of banned words and their text, and provides a count of each banned word’s occurrence within the document which can be printed.
    • Cloze Generator (Video)
      • This enables teachers to create a cloze activity or a fill-in-the-blank memory work worksheet. Simply type the passage name or reference and paste or type the desired text, choose the difficulty level and font size, and click “Generate.” The application then produces a printable worksheet with a set number of words removed based on the selected difficulty. Works great for longer selections
  • From the WELSTech Google group

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Digital art lessons and social sharing from someone doing both!

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745 – WELSTech AI Summit Review

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Wednesday and WELSTech, an unlikely pairing, but so worth it! Join us for a recap of the recent WELSTech AI Summit plus discussion of an AI classroom tool/powerhouse, Lent and Easter resources, and browser tips to enhance your day. Blessings on this Ash Wednesday!

The discussion

There and back again – The WELSTech AI Summit was held February 21-23, 2025, at Divine Savior Church and Academy in Doral, FL. Martin and Sallie share details on the event format and the top AI-related ideas which emerged from the weekend.

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Secondary school tech integration will be the SAMR infused topic of the day as we welcome our resident EDU gurus, Rachel Renno and Jason Schmidt.

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744 – Smarty Pants AI

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WELSTech is back and talking AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the perspective of a pastor-in-training. Senior seminarian Jon Pederson shares insights from his thesis work on the topic. A teen online Bible study opportunity is coming up soon, and WELS is celebrating a special anniversary with a new online interactive timeline which details WELS history since the beginning.

The interview and discussion

AI and the public ministry – Martin and Sallie talk with Jon Pederson, a senior at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, about his thesis topic, AI Associate: Examining Artificial Intelligence and its Potential Impact on the Pastoral Ministry.

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It will be a bit longer wait for our next episode, but totally worth it as we’ll be sharing all the WELSTech AI Summit goodness!

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726 – Summer Tech Talks – Rob Davidson

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Welcome to the good ole summertime on WELSTech! Our “Summer Tech Talks” interview series will feature technology from around the synod and across the world. This week we start in St. Louis, MO, home of Concordia Technology Solutions. The back half of the show includes Sallie sharing teacher professional development resources and Martin divulging his new favorite AI chatbot.

The discussion & interview

Concordia Technology Solutions – Joining Martin and Sallie is Manager of Sales and Marketing for Concordia Technology Solutions (CTS), Rob Davidson. Rob shares the latest news about CTS products including Church 360°, Christian Worship Service Builder, and Shepherd’s Staff.

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Summer Tech Talks continue with a (virtual) trip to Thailand to learn more about technology at Asia Lutheran Seminary.

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724 – Getting Started with AI

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On this episode of WELSTech we finish our book discussion of The AI Classroom with a focus on school leadership’s role in shaping AI policy, curriculum, and usage. Along with edtech gurus Rachel and Jason, we share oodles of AI tools, events, and news, plus some non-AI tech topics including cybersecurity, end of school-year activities, and iPads.

The discussion

Leading School AI – We wrap up this season’s WELSTech book discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education, looking at Part 4 of the book – The AI Horizon. Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt join the conversation and agree on way more than normal!

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Recent AI in Education headlines

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We’ll celebrate Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Assignment Day with Senior Seminarian Silas Dose discussing his thesis topic – Here Be Dragons: Fantasy, Escapism, and a Christian Response.

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721 – AI, and More AI

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Tune in to this episode of WELSTech for a discussion of ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) can assist teachers with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) plans. We also talk about AI policy for schools and evaluating AI tools. The Newline C series is an affordable new interactive flat panel with no operating system on board. And Northwestern Publishing House (NPH) announced a new Christian Authors Live series.

The discussion

UDL + Tools – This season’s WELSTech book discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein continues. Martin and Sallie are joined by edtech extraordinaries, Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt, and we talk about AI’s sweet spot with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as well as tips for wading through the myriad AI tools available for teachers and students.

Ministry resource

Rachel put together an AI Tool Repository with links, tutorials, and Terms of Use for the AI tools mentioned in Chapter 9 of The AI Classroom

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  • Newline C series interactive flat panel with no operating system
  • Christian Authors Live event featuring Dr. Michael Berg – April 25

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Future proof your tech

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717 – Promptcraft

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AI in education and church makes for an interesting WELSTech episode! Tune in for special guest hosts Rachel and Jason and help with crafting and refining useful AI prompts to assist with everything from report card comments to church graphics.

The discussion

PREP and EDIT – Martin and Sallie are joined by edtech gurus Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt to continue the discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein. Chapters 6 & 7 are all about the prompts we give AI and what we do with the results.

Ministry resource

Posts on AI for Church from Church Tech Today

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  • ChatGPT for Teachers course from Blueprint Schools

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Women’s Ministry webinars with Rachel Halldorson

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713 – Enough With The Boxes!

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Wonderful … Creative … Verbose? This episode of WELSTech features a talent boost that’s sure to entertain while it educates! We’re sharing what we’ve learned about AI during our book discussion with our special guest edtech correspondents. There’s also a special Advent treat, picks to improve your productivity and video production, plus a couple of cool videos explaining multi-grade classrooms.

The discussion

Ped-AI-gogy – Martin and Sallie, along with our well-spoken education technology correspondents Rachel Feld and Jason Schmidt, return to this season’s book discussion of The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein. Chapters 4 & 5 are centered around pedagogy and make for an interesting, albeit boxy, look at the continuum of adoption of the current disruptive tool, Artificial Intelligence (AI), in education.

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WELSTech celebrates Christmas with an interview of Dan Nommensen

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