Tag Archive for: education

185 – Summer Vacations

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This week on the WELSTech Podcast Gail Potratz joins the discussion as we look at summer professional development opportunities.

The discussion:

VacationMake a Plan – As the school year wraps up Gail Potratz, the WELSTech semi-regular classroom technology correspondent from Emanuel in New London, WI, joins Martin and Sallie to discuss ideas for summer enrichment, professional growth and even a little relaxation.

Ministry resources:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

  • (31:49) We basked in the Apple Day afterglow this week:
    • Maren McPeak from St. Mark in Citrus Heights, CA tweeted her favorite iPad app – Air Sketch
    • Philip Wels from St. Paul in New Ulm, MN is an AppleCare fan with experience
    • We made a Apple-WELS Connection with Amanda Voss, senior programmer for Apple, from Apostles in San Jose, CA
  • Via the WELSTech Diigo group we learned about
  • Adam Valleskey from Christ in Juneau, AK has an approved location-based facebook deal –  “Free gift of hearing God’s Word with every visit”
  • Debbie Spriggs from Peace in Hartford, WI recommended SnackTools website widgets
  • Kevin Smith from Christ in Zumbrota, MN pointed us to info on Microsoft Multipoint Server.  He learned of this from the Windows Weekly TWiT Podcast.

Coming up on WELSTech:

(47:05) Episode 186 – Martin and Sallie unveil the updated ShopWELS site as well as a chat with Tim Plath about the Area Lutheran High School Online pilot project. (Release date – 06/01/11)

The featured artist:

(48:22) We close the podcast with the music of Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com and mikewestendorf on Twitter) – Coming Soon from his CD titled “Undefined”

Get involved:

181 – April Showers: Teacher Resources

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This week the WELSTech Podcast “April Shower” series concludes as Gail Potratz from New London, WI assists with the extensive list of teacher resources.


April Showers of Teacher Resources

The discussion:

Raining resources for teachers – We had to call in reinforcements in order to share the many teacher resources that are available!  Gail Potratz, teacher and technology coordinator from Emanuel in New London, WI, joins Martin and Sallie to share some of the many teacher (and student) oriented tech tools.

For teachers:

For students:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(51:05) Episode 182 – Join Martin and Sallie as they recap their experience at the 2011 WELS Conference of Staff Ministers being held April 28-30 at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN.  (Release date – 05/04/11)

The featured artist:

(51:43) We close the podcast with music from praise band Koine (www.koinemusic.com | Facebook) – Behold a Host Arrayed in White from their CD titled “Koine II”

 

Get involved:

177 – A Tech and Learning Goldmine

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This week on the WELSTech Podcast we review Tech & Learning magazine and talk with Rachel Malkuch about using tech tools for student evaluation.

The discussion:

A magazine for today’s teachers – Teacher Gail Potratz from Emanuel in New London, WI makes her once-a-month guest appearance on WELSTech and joins Martin and Sallie in a discussion of the online and print magazine Tech & Learning.

  • Tech & Learning subscriptions
    • Print magazine
    • Digital magazine
    • K-12 Education e-news
  • Top 10 Sites for Educational Resources
  • A-Z Web Tools: C & D
  • A Personal Learning Network for Parents – As PTO interest and involvement declines, these new ideas may be useful for making parent connections
  • Going Digital … Ten Points To Consider When Transforming Towards Digital Curriculum – Covering such topics as the necessary infrastructure needed to support cloud-based computing and the importance of professional development for teachers

The interview:

Rachel Malkuch(19:55) Alternative assessment with technology – Teacher Rachel Malkuch (aleixa on Twitter and blogger at Learn for a Lifetime) from Trinity in Waukesha, WI chats with Sallie about her recent presentation to the Milwaukee-Metro Teachers’ Conference on the use of Technology as means of Alternate Assessment.

Ministry resources:

(34:16) Release of the Glo Bible for Mac and iPad – Watch the iPad demo

Picks of the week:

Of interest:

(45:21) FinalWeb Training in New Ulm, MN and Milwaukee, WI

  • FinalWeb for Teachers in New Ulm on June 27 and Milwaukee on August 1 – bit.ly/fw4teachers
  • FinalWeb for Dummies in New Ulm June 28-30 and Milwaukee August 2-4 – bit.ly/fw4dummies

Community feedback:

  • (47:21) Following up on our Office 2010 podcast, Martin found an additional set of training videos.
  • David Schumann from Peace in Janesville, WI is looking for help addressing the needs of band-width impaired members and visitors who cannot access many of the resources on today’s web sites.  How does your church meet those needs?
  • Mark Blauert, a Staff Minister from Trinity in Crete, IL, is looking for all types of church web site policy examples.  Check out this growing list of resources:
  • WELS Webmaster, Julie Duran, shared two helpful links:
  • In the WELSTech Diigo Group Jason Schmidt, Martin, and Nancy Marks linked us to …
    • Adventure Learning from the University of Minnesota
    • Google Upgrades AdWords for Non-Profits
    • Password Safe
  • Tom Hausmann and John Shoosmith sent in praise for the WELSTech audio quality, expertly produced each week by our audio engineer extraordinaire, Martin Spriggs.

Coming up on WELSTech:

(55:43) Episode 178 – A month of “April Showers” await WELSTech listeners, and first up is a shower of webmaster resources.  (Release date – 04/06/11)

The featured artist:

(56:51) We close the podcast with the music of Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com and mikewestendorf on Twitter) – Blessed is The One from his CD titled “Undefined”

Get involved:

172 – Google Earth

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This week is education week on the WELSTech Podcast, and Gail Potratz joins us to take a look at Google Earth.

The discussion:

Tour the world – Google Earth is a powerful desktop mapping tool that has many uses in the classroom.  Martin and Sallie welcome back our semi-regular classroom technology correspondent, Gail Potratz, from Emanuel in New London, WI, and we discuss the many uses of the software.

Getting started resources:

Eight uses for Google Earth in ministry:
googleEarth1. History and Literature tours

2. Historical maps

3. Bible land tours

  • Bible Geocoding – Google Earth files of every location mentioned in the Bible organized by chapter and book

4. Geography class

5. WELS locations

6. Map your members and prospects

7. Ocean exploration

8. Astronomy

Ministry resources:

(33:44) Proclaim – Cloud based worship presentations

News in tech:

(34:46) Google Docs Viewer Now Supports 12 More File Formats

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

  • (46:25) Lesley Bergeman from Good Shepherd’s in West Allis, WI shared the news that YouVersion is giving away free mobile downloads of NIV 2010.  Offer is good through March 1.
  • John Shoosmith from Redeemer in Yakima, WA suggested we provide easy to include images and links to popular WELS content.  We’ve started a new Webmasters Widgets page on the WELSTech Wiki to share this info.
  • Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared a link to the FACE Kids Site which focuses on copyright
  • Maren McPeak from St. Mark’s in Citrus Heights, CA trained their teaching staff on Engrade online grade book and shared video tutorials of the getting started process
  • Chris Hintz form Emmaus in Phoenix, AZ asked our recommendation of a Content Management System (CMS) tool for congregations and schools.  Martin and Sallie recommend FinalWeb and WordPress.

The featured artist:

(52:55) We close the podcast with the music of Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com and mikewestendorf on Twitter) – You Are Amazing from his CD titled ”Undefined”

Get involved:

170 – The Proclaimer

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This week on the WELSTech Podcast we return to our school technology book discussion and interview Mexico Missionary Mike Hartmann.

The discussion:

Inspire and Assess Technology Integration – Martin and Sallie discuss chapter 6 of Leading 21st Century Schools which focuses on school leaders motivating technology changes in education.  Practical guidelines for assessing tech enhanced lessons are shared as well.

  • Martin Luther College Certificate of Education Technology and Masters with Educational Technology Emphasis.
  • School Technology Plans on the WELSTech Wiki

The interview:

Missionary Mike Hartmann(14:13) The Proclaimer – Missionary Mike Hartman from Leon, Mexico joins Martin and Sallie to share a story of outreach using a solar-powered, wind-up MP3 player in remote Mexico.

  • Using technology to Proclaim the Word from WELS Missions blog
  • The Proclaimer from Faith Comes by Hearing
  • Lutherans in Mexico, the Hartmann’s blog

Ministry Resources:

  • (28:50) We asked for online donation options, and our WELSTech listeners responded with several:
    • Jared Mahnke from Luther High School in Onalaska, WI uses Just Give.org – Visit their donation page
    • Joshua Johnson from Nebraska Lutheran High School in Omaha, NE shared that they use Vanco powered by e.services for donations, tuition payments, and other giving needs – Visit their donation page
    • Martin shared links to EasyTithe.com and MinistryGive.org
  • Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (1990-2010) is available from Logos
  • CreationSwap.com shares images and multi-media for congregational usage

Picks of the week:

  • (35:53) Compelling Facebook Fan Pages by Chris Brogan
    • How to Build a Facebook Page from Mashable
      • More on FBML (Facebook Markup Language)
      • Check out the FBML-enabled WELSTech tab – set to be the landing page for “non-fans”
  • Flickr

Community feedback:

  • (43:08) Are you considering Google Apps for your congregation or school?  If so, you’ll want to read the recent WELSTech Listserve discussion thread on the topic.  We’ve created a Google Apps page on the WELSTech Wiki.
  • Michael Luce from Abiding Faith in Ft. Worth, TX wrote to let us know he’s participated in online worship with all of the congregations on the online worship listing on the WELSTech Wiki.  Do you stream your services live?  Add your church to the list!
  • Helpful links shared via the WELSTech Group on Diigo:
    • Web 2.0 Bloom’s Taxonomy
    • MakeUseOf’s PDF Guides
    • Extreme Planet Makeover
    • Backup Alternatives

Coming up on WELSTech:

(53:18) Episode 171 – We’ll answer the question “What should I blog about?” and talk with Pastor/blogger Dan Waters about his motivation and topics for blogging. (Release date 02/16/11)

The featured artist:

(54:01) This week we close with the music of Kevin Loersch – Amazing Grace from his CD titled ”Abide With Me”

Get involved:

168 – SoundzAbound

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This week on the WELSTech Podcast the focus is the use of copyright-safe audio in the 21st century classroom.

The discussion:

Audio Resources for Students – Gail Potratz (gailpotratz on Twitter), our semi-regular classroom technology correspondent from Emanuel in New London, WI, joins Martin and Sallie this week as we review 21st Century Skills, specifically the use of audio resources for communication and problem solving.

The interview:

Barry Britt(8:31) Copyright friendly- Barry Britt from Soundzabound.com talks with Gail about the development of the copyright-safe-audio-for-education web site.

Ministry Resources:

(32:18) my.BrainShark.com is a simple way to narrate files and embed them on your web site – View a sample WELSTech presentation

News in Tech:

(36:38) DimDim.com web conferencing is no longer free (FAQ).  There are many free alternatives, including a few we’ve recently discussed on WELSTech …

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(59:33) Episode 169 – Evangelical websites is the planned discussion topic as we chat with Staff Minister Jonathan Favorite from Crosswalk Lutheran Ministries in Phoenix, AZ. (Release date 02/02/11)

The featured artist:

(1:01:01) We close with the music of Koine (www.koinemusic.com | Facebook) – Christ is our Cornerstone from their CD titled ”Koine II”

Get involved:

166 – A Chatter-Free Podcast

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This week the WELSTech Podcast looks at school technology during a book discussion and an interview with Greg Schmill, Director of WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools.

The discussion:

Teaching and Learning With Technology – Martin and Sallie discuss Chapter 5 of Leading 21st Century Schools which looks at specific web-based tools and strategies that are useful in the classroom.

The interview:

Greg Schmill(16:06) Generations – Greg Schmill, Director of WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools, shares insights from his recent presentation titled Bridging the Generation Gap.  He examines each of the generation’s needs and specifically how different uses of technology can assist in engaging Builders, Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials in our schools.

News in Tech:

(37:51) The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is history.  WELSTech brings you the event buzz:

Picks of the week:

Community feedback:

  • (47:00)  Nancy Marks from Immanuel in Missoula, MT repurposed the WELSTech QR Code contest for catechism students
  • Larry Sellnow from Holy Trinity in Wyoming, MI shared his positive review of SnapGrades.com on the WELSTech Listserve
  • Mark Jackson from Immersion Digital, creators of the Glo Bible, shared news that Glo was featured on the Windows 7 Slate devices at CES.
  • Laura Schwertfeger is looking for software to create a church anniversary DVD.  We recommend Animoto.com.
  • Pastor Rob Guenther from Grace in Kenai, AK shared two Web 2.0 tools for distance Bible class
  • Pastor James Borgwardt from Risen Savior in Pooler, GA wrote looking for a WELSTech recommendation of an e-News tool .  We pointed him to MailChimp.com.
  • Martin shared a link to an article reviewing the results of Maine schools 1-1 computing initiative
  • Jeremy Provost sent us a link to a new iPhone app, Clean Tunes, for editing objectionable content out of songs

Coming up on WELSTech:

(58:40) Episode 167 – Administrators and office personnel will want to tune in as we discuss solutions for sharing files in the church and school office. (Release date 01/19/11)

The featured artist:

(59:56) We close the podcast with the piano music of Dawn Michelle Williams (www.dawnmichellewilliams.com | Twitter | Facebook | My Space) – Beautiful Savior With Canon in D from her CD titled ”Inspirations”

Get involved:

161 – You Too Can Be A Walking Jukebox!

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This week the WELSTech Podcast is loaded with tech teaching tools to enhance your classroom planning.

The discussion:

More Tech Tools to Consider – Continuing the current WELSTech book discussion of Leading 21st Century Schools, Martin and Sallie highlight a few of the tech tools discussed in chapter 4 where the focus is on primary resources, peripheral devices and subject-specific resources.

The interview:

Ryan Rathje(19:24) Trinity Technology – Teacher Ryan Rathje from Trinity in Belle Plaine, MN joins Martin and Sallie to share tech integration ideas from the trenchs including new programs they have implemented with netbooks, iPods, an online gradebook and more.  Mac users will also appreciate Ryan’s list of favorite Mac teaching tools.

Ministry resources:

News in Tech:

(39:15) ROAMpay mobile credit card reader

Picks of the week:

Christmas 2010 WELSTech Scavenger Hunt:

(45:45) Week 4 of our latest WELSTech contest is here, and we’ve hidden our “QR Code of the Week” somewhere on the WELSTech site.  Listen each week through December 15th as we reveal clues for finding 5 QR Codes which will point you to a mystery message. Following the December 15th show you can enter the mystery message for a chance to win a $25 Cafe Press gift certificate, where your WELSTech merchandise dreams can come true!  The winner will be selected from all correct entries and announced on our special Christmas week podcast airing December 22nd.

  • This week’s clue to the code location is … Photography in the Classroom.
  • Get the previous clues: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
  • Remember, you can use your smartphone or an online decoder to decipher the message.  Have fun!

Community feedback:

  • (47:15) Martin shared a link to The Great Bible Shift from Catalyst Space
  • Sallie shared Mashable’s 5 Innovative Classroom Management Tools that she had never heard of
  • Maren McPeak from St. Mark’s in Citrus Heights, CA tweeted a question for WELSTech-ers … “Anyone develop an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for k-8 students that references use of network, Google App and/or Moodle accounts?”
  • David Schumann from Peace in Janesville, WI shared a caution about “Toner Pirates”

Coming up on WELSTech:

(54:25) Episode 162 – GTD (Getting Things Done) meets the church office on next week’s office administration podcast, and we interview Staff Minister Jon Ruddat. (Release date 12/15/10)

The featured artist:

(55:32) We close the podcast with the music of Kevin Loersch – Mary Did You Know from his CD titled ”O Holy Night”

Get involved:

160 – Diigo

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This week the WELSTech Podcast round table includes two guest hosts, and the topic of the day is social bookmarking and more with Diigo.

The discussion:

Digging Diigo – Gail Potratz (gailpotratz on Twitter) from Emanuel in New London, WI and Jason Schmidt (jasonschmidt123 on Twitter) from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE  join Martin and Sallie to talk all things Diigo, the Web 2.0 social bookmarking and annotation tool that is so much more!

Gail Potratz and Jason Schmidt

Ministry resources:

(15:36) Shepherd’s Staff church management software year end process

  • Instructions (PDF)
  • Support forums

Picks of the week:

Christmas 2010 WELSTech Scavenger Hunt:

(32:39) Week 3 of our latest WELSTech contest is here, and we’ve hidden our “QR Code of the Week” somewhere on the WELSTech site.  Listen each week through December 15th as we reveal clues for finding 5 QR Codes which will point you to a mystery message. Following the December 15th show you can enter the mystery message for a chance to win a $25 Cafe Press gift certificate, where your WELSTech merchandise dreams can come true!  The winner will be selected from all correct entries and announced on our special Christmas week podcast airing December 22nd.

  • This week’s clue to the code location is … Lighthouse Museum.
  • Get the previous clues: Week 1 | Week 2
  • Remember, you can use your smartphone or an online decoder to decipher the message.  Have fun!

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

(42:23) Episode 161 – Our book discussion of Leading 21st Century Schools continues as we dig into Chapter 4. (Release date 12/08/10)

The featured artist:

(45:20) We close the podcast with the music of  Revelation, a music ministry of Wisconsin Lutheran College (www.revelationwlc.com) – A Voice Cries Out from their “Led by the Light” CD

Get involved:

157 – Synapse

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This week on the WELSTech Podcast we return to our Leading 21st Century Schools book discussion and interview Synapse game developer, Carol Laitinen.

The discussion:

Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom – Martin and Sallie talk through chapter 3 of Leading 21st Century Schools, the current book discussion.  You can catch up on previous chapters in the podcast archive. In this chapter the book transitions from a theoretical look at the education environment of today to a practical look at some of the leading software resources that students can use for collaboration, communication and creation.

The interview:

Carol Laitinen(17:40) Teamwork at the Speed of Laughter – Carol Laitinen from St. John’s in New Ulm, MN joins Martin and Sallie to share the story of the development of her party game, Synapse.

  • SynapseTheGame.com
  • Synapse Party Game iPod App

News in tech:

Picks of the week:

Of interest:

(52:20) View the live video stream of WELS Regional Choral Fest from Manitowoc Lutheran High School at wels.net/streams/live

  • Pops Concert – Friday, November 12 at 7 p.m. CST
  • Sacred Concert – Sunday, November 14 at 2 p.m. CST

Community feedback:

  • (53:22) Debbie Spriggs from Peace in Hartford, WI shared a link to online tutorials for PowerPoint in the Classroom
  • Pastor Aaron Frey added a link on the WELSTech Wiki Bible Software Page to a blog post comparing Bible software packages titled The Status Quo Has Lost Its Status
  • Tim Puhlmann, a member of Mountain View in Calgary, Alberta, asked about resources for developing online education, and we shared three possible platforms –
  • Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared a link to MailVu.com video e-mail service

Coming up on WELSTech:

(57:49) Episode 158 – It’s “Office Administrator’s Week” again on WELSTech as we look at all things related to church newsletters and e-news.  (Release date 11/17/10)

The featured artist:

(58:50) This week we feature the music of  Koine (www.koinemusic.com | Facebook) – Built on the Rock from their CD titled ”Koine II”

Get involved: