Tag Archive for: twitter

531 – Skill Sharpening

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A new year brings new opportunities and professional development resolutions. We all have a lot to learn, especially if we would like to keep up with current options in technology. This episode covers different ways to plan for, curate and consume learning resources that will keep you current. You may even be inspired to share your knowledge via a blog or, dare we say, a podcast!

The discussion:

Learn something new – Martin and Sallie kick off the January discussion topic, Sharpen Your Skills, with a look at sources and methods for professional and personal development.

News in tech:

WELS now:

  • Interactive Faith online Bible Study – Isaiah: God confronts and comforts his people – Missionary Daniel Habben from St. John, Antigua leads the study on Wednesday’s beginning January 10 through February 7 at 6 pm and 8 pm CST.
  • Mark your calendars for the WELS Ed, Tech, Lead Summit, happening June 25-27 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, WI. Learn more and sign up for updates at welsedtechlead.com.
  • List your tech skills and find skilled WELS/ELS techies at skills.welstech.net.

Picks of the week:

Ministry resources:

Ripl Pro

Community feedback:

Projection and Wi-Fi hardware available on the WELSTech Google Group

Featured video:

New on the WELSTech YouTube Instructional Playlist, Starting a PLN on Twitter: A Quick Guide For Teachers from Common Sense Education. Consider subscribing to their YouTube channel.

 Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 532 – The “Sharpen Your Skills” focus continues next week. There’s still more to learn! Release date: Wednesday, January 17.

Get involved:

471 – 200 Pixels

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We’ve arrived at another community feedback week on WELSTech, and the sites and resources shared are functional, friendly, free, and favorable for furtherance of ministry. :-D Sallie’s coding Minecraft sheep to produce diamonds, Martin’s scanning historic photos with his smart phone, and WELS has a new youth ministry resource worth checking out. Listen & learn!

The discussion:

Tab-palooza – Sallie’s loaded up a whopping 27 tabs of WELSTech goodness for this week’s WELSTech community feedback discussion. From G Suite tricks and updates to ministry tech ideas for the upcoming Advent and Christmas season to a tool for creating virtual reality scenes, there’s something for everyone!

News in tech:

WhatsApp Video Calling

WELS now:

Forward in Christ archive

Picks of the week:

Ministry resources:

New Youth Ministry Resource Available – Order from NPH

Featured video:

Learn more about the Transformed program for Youth Ministry by watching Pastor Jon Enter’s 2016 Youth Rally Transformed Workshop, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 472 – We’re giving thanks WELSTech-style as we talk with Pastor Andrew Schroer, author of 364 Days of Thanksgiving. Release date: Wednesday, November 23.

Get involved:

470 – Social Media in Ministry: Twitter

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This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie broadcast from the new WELS Center for Mission and Ministry Welcome Center and discuss one of the biggest social networks that congregations don’t know quite what to do with…Twitter. Tune in for ideas on building a Twitter following for your organization and helping your members “spread the Word.”

The discussion:

Twitter for MinistryWelcome to Twitter – The latest installment in the WELSTech Social Media for Ministry series focuses on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Check out the Twitter for Ministry infographic for tips on the why, what, who and how of Twitter.

News in tech:

WELS now:

Follow WELS on Twitter – @WELStweets

Picks of the week:

Ministry resources:

Follow Concordia Technology on Twitter – @ConcordiaTech

Featured video:

Visit Getting Started with Twitter for 6 short video overviews on using Twitter.

Twitter Help

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 471 – Tweet @WELSTech or #WELSTech and be part of Community Feedback week! Release date: Wednesday, November 16.

Get involved:

359 – The State of Social Media

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The WELSTech spotlight shines on social media for ministry as Martin and Sallie (mostly) agree on recommended platforms and talk with blogger Lauren Hunter about a free social media for churches ebook series. Plus Sallie shares a new resource for teaching students to program – starting in Kindergarten!

The discussion:

Where things stand – We’ve likely moved beyond the point of calling church and school usage of social media “new territory,” but it is still unfamiliar and at times uncomfortable for many. Martin and Sallie share their thoughts on the best social channels for outreach, inreach and professional development.

Don’t miss a discussion so exciting it was tweet worthy …

The interview:

Lauren HunterA fresh tech-in-ministry voice – Interviews are back on WELSTech! Martin and Sallie chat with Lauren Hunter, founder and lead blogger at ChurchTechToday.com. Listen as she talks about highlights of the 7-year history of the site, tips on church use of social media and predictions of the next big technology tool for ministry.

News in tech:

Ministry resources:

  • Find Out How Churches Benefit From Religious Service Exemption

Tips & picks of the week:

WELS insider:

  • Find out more about Practical Evangelism for Congregations, part of the WELS Evangelism Certificate being offered through Martin Luther College

Need to know:

  • iPhone 4 donations needed for Malawi
  • Pastors – Take our 5 minute Tech Survey (bit.ly/pastorstechsurvey) and you could win a copy of HymnSoft Player 3.0 (a $249.99 value) courtesy of Northwestern Publishing House
  • Presenters at WELSTech Conference 2015 (wels.net/welstechconf), July 9-11, 2015 at Country Springs Hotel and Conference Center in Pewaukee, WI attend for FREE?!! We’re currently looking for presenters and tech topics of interest for our breakout sessions. Give it some thought and submit your ideas!

Community feedback:

Coming up on WELSTech:

Episode 360 – Take note, next week WELSTech will broadcast live on MONDAY, September 22 at 4 pm – welstechlive.wels.net. Martin and Sallie share the scoop on digital note-taking tools. (Broadcast date – 09/22/14)

Featured video:

There’s a new entry on WELSTech’s Music YouTube playlist, David Wesley’s In Christ Alone  –

 

Get involved:

226 – 7 Best Teacher Resources +

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

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:

122 – Social Networking Show and Tell

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This week the WELSTech podcast discussion centers on the use of social networks to further the spread of the gospel.

The discussion:

Ministry Is Social – Martin’s recent Social Networking and Ministry presentation at a Minnesota pastor’s conference is the topic of the day.  Use the link above to follow along “Prezi-style” as he and Sallie discuss the appeal and flavors of social networks and some interesting examples of the use of Facebook and Twitter in ministry.

The interview:

Jason Tesch(21:50) Team Effort – Jason Tesch from Eastside in Madison, WI joins Martin and Sallie to share the story behind their polished church web site.

Ministry resources:

(37:45) How to Build a Facebook Page from Mashable

  • More on FBML (Facebook Markup Language)
  • Check out the new FBML-enabled WELSTech tab – set to be the landing page for “non-fans”

Picks of the week:

Of interest:

(44:46) Join Martin in Saginaw, MI for FinalWeb for Dummies. The three day face-to-face training will be held April 6-8 on the campus of Michigan Lutheran Seminary.  Check out details and register at bit.ly/fw4dummies.

Community feedback:

  • (46:39) Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared links to …
  • Ryan Rosenthal from Faith in Fond du Lac, WI shared a link to The Periodic Table of Videos
  • Coming soon to WELSTech in response to a request from Pastor David Ernest, MLC’s Prof. Jim Grunwald will join us to share info on the new Certificate of Educational Technology program that kicks off this summer.
  • John Shoosmith from Redeemer in Yakima, WA continues to refine the awesome Closed Caption Video resources on the WELSTech Wiki.
  • Steve Mathwig from St. John’s in Oak Creek, WI asks about minimum upload bandwidth for streaming live events.  Martin suggests 384 kbps or greater.

Coming up on WELSTech:

(52:57) Episode 123 – Join us on St. Patrick’s Day as WELSTech “goes green” with ideas for eco-friendly churches and schools including tips from Office Depot representatives. (Release date 03/17/10)

The featured artist:

(53:58) We close the podcast with the music of The Branches Band (www.branchesband.com) – Nothing But The Blood from their CD “Sing, My Tongue”

Get involved:

  • Add a comment below
  • Send us an e-mail [email protected]
  • Leave us a voice mail 405-FOR-WELS (405-367-9357)
  • Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net
  • Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
  • Follow us on Twitter – mspriggs and welstechtrainer
  • Use the del.icio.us tag welstech
  • Use the diigo tag welstech
  • Join the WELSTech community:

078 – Twitter and the Twassroom

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This week the WELSTech podcast focus is Twitter in education as Martin and Sallie talk with two WELS teachers who are blazing the Twitter trail, Gail Potratz and Jason Schmidt.

The discussion:

Twitter in Education – Gail Potratz, Technology Coordinator for Emanuel in New London, WI and our “Semi-regular Classroom Technology Correspondent”, sits in on the podcast as we discuss Twitter for teachers.

The interview:

Jason Schmidt(20:43) A WELS Teacher Tweets – Jason Schmidt, 3rd and 4th grade teacher from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE and jasonschmidt123 on Twitter, joins Martin and Sallie to talk about his experience as a Twitter user and about the many classroom and professional development resources it has made him aware of.

New Technology Showcase:

(37:57) iPhone OS 3.0

Picks of the week:

  • (43:37) ShareThis – Sharing made easy (or was Gail’s pick GroupTweet?)
  • TweetDeck app for iPhone & iPod Touch – in iTunes
  • Twellow – Twitter directory

Of interest:

(53:57) BWTG is live!  On this week’s Bonus WELSTech Goodness episode you can learn about Google Calendar, and next Monday we’ll share “how-to” tips for Google Reader.

Community feedback:

  • (57:42) Jeremy Johnson commented on the recent Narnia discussion and blogged his take on Lifehacker’s Essential Windows Apps
  • Still baffled by Twitter search?  Sallie shared a link to the newest CommonCraft video, Twitter Search in Plain English
  • The WELSTech listserve conversation continues on stock video resources and privatizing areas of a FinalWeb site.  Check the online archive for details.
  • Ryan Rosenthal from Faith in Fond du Lac, WI shared loads of great comments on a variety of recent WELSTech topics.
  • Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE tweeted #WELSTech to share Tube Chop – use it to carve out a desired section of a YouTube video
  • Allan Bundt tossed out the idea of a WELSTech video podcast – hmmm … you really don’t want to go there ;-)
  • Brad Wheeling, who heads up Concordia Technology Solutions, is looking for beta testers for Shepherd’s Staff 2010 – Contact Brad on Twitter at CTSBrad

Coming up on WELSTech:

(1:05:45) Episode 080 – We preview the Web 2.0 tools that will be a part of the new WELS.net

The featured artist:

(1:07:07) The music of WELS artist Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com) closes this week’s podcast – I Will Sing from his CD titled “Climb The Mountain”

Get involved:

  • Add a comment below
  • Send us an e-mail [email protected]
  • Leave us a voice mail 414-375-2334
  • Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net
  • Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
  • Follow us on Twitter – mspriggs and welstechtrainer
  • Use the del.icio.us tag welstech
  • Join the WELSTech community:
    • WELSTech listserve
    • WELSTech on facebook

070 – Twitter…What’s It Good For Anyway?

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This week on the WELSTech podcast we share ideas for using Twitter as a communication channel for your church or school, and we talk with Dick Diener about some interesting classroom technology projects.

The discussion:

All Things Twitter – By now WELSTech listeners have undoubtedly heard of the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter.  Martin and Sallie bring you up to speed on what Twitter is and more importantly on how this new instant communication channel can be leveraged for ministry purposes.

The interview:

Dick Diener(19:22) Integrating technology in the classroom – Martin and Sallie talk with Dick Diener, WELS member of Our Savior in Grafton, WI and Technology Integrator for the Mequon-Thiensville School District, about several interesting school technology projects.  Dick invites WELS schools to be part of the international “Honoring Veterans” wiki sharing project.

  • Japanese Friendship Doll podcast for the Milwaukee Public Museum
  • Honoring Veterans Ozaukee County podcast project
  • Schools are invited to post their veterans projects at honoring-veterans.wikispaces.com/share

New Technology Showcase:

Picks of the week:

Of interest:

  • (52:14) Live streaming graduation and call services – Schedule for May 15-22

Community feedback:

  • (53:32) Cindy Krueger from Shepherd of the Hills in Lansing, MI shared progress her congregation is making toward a facebook presence and passed along WELSTech ideas for summer learning to others
  • Pastor Jeremiah Gumm from Cross of Christ in Liverpool, NY shared a link to 10 Things to Fix on Your Website from the Web Driven Church blog
  • Following up on the interview with WELS musicianary Mike Westendorf, Mark Heilman shared a link to Twinfinity Creations, a consignment space for Christian art, music and books
  • Recent updates on the WELSTech wiki (welstechwiki.wels.net) include
    • Work by John Shoosmith from Redeemer in Yakima, WA on the Closed Caption Video page and the Congregations in iTunes page
    • A new Technology Planning page to house ideas and sample church technology plans
  • Ryan Rosenthal from Faith in Fond du Lac, WI shared a comment on his recent WELSTech Contest win, “Of course the real winners are my school and students because of the great ideas I have gotten from listening to WELSTech!”
  • Gail Potratz from Emanuel in New London, WI left an audio comment recommending Switch from NCH Software, a format changer companion for WavePad audio editor
  • Mary Raether from New Hope in West Melbourne, FL was looking for our past conversation on wiki tools

Coming up on WELSTech:

(1:04:19) Episode 071 – The discussion will center around chapter seven of Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody, “Faster and Faster”

The featured artist:

(1:05:28) This week we close with the music of Revelation, a music ministry of Wisconsin Lutheran College (www.revelationwlc.com) – Roll the Stone Away from their CD titled “We Walk By Faith”

Get involved: