• Mobile Digital Scriptures – LDS Technology Forums

– Android G1 Scriptures Application thread! It’s great to see the LDS community active in the G1 realm as well! Yeah!

• Blogs » LDS Mormon Network

– This is a blog entry about a brother and sister in the gospel that have fallen upon hard times. They wrote a song to celebrate Christmas and shared it on their MySpace page. Take a listen and download the song to help them out!

• The Official Site of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

– I didn’t know this, but Motab is doing a 12 days of Christmas video thing with one each day… this is great!!

• Seth Adam Smith: The Greatest Gift to Give

– This post and the accompaning video really touched me today. We all have need to forgive an to forgive others. Thank you for this wonderful gift this Christmas season Seth. It really touched me and brought the Spirit into my heart this morning.

• Church Calling Application – LDS Technology Forums

– Another great application idea for folks developing stuff for the church. An application that helps organize callings. I know we do this with excel in our ward, but it would be better if it were integrated with MLS.

• Grandparents on Facebook: Part II – Getting Started | The LDS GrandParent Place

– Another great introduction for Grandparents trying to get into using Facebook to connect with their Grandchildren. She even did a 7 minute video to help! Awesome!

• YouTube – Grandparents on Facebook – Getting Started

– Great video made my LDSNana to introduce Grandparents to Facebook! Thanks for putting this together!! This is great!

• How to save $$$ this Holiday Season

– Oh that makes me smile… go here and look at the video.. but make sure your kids aren’t around… Thanks for sharing Larry.

• YouTube – MormonMessages's Channel

– Here is another great contributer to the good content on YouTube! Yeah! Make sure you rate the video’s up so they will show up in searches and related video suggestions!

• YouTube – A Light Unto All: A Christmas Gift

– Another great Christmas video… soon I’ll have enough to watch one every day up till Christmas in December with my family! That’s an interesting idea…

• StayLDS.com

– I have seen lots of Anti-LDS sites to try and take people away from the church, but never one explicitly designed to help those that are struggling in the church. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but I’m glad someone is working on it.

• Telling our stories through New Media subject of new BYU class

– This is another class that is using Web 2.0 in the classroom at BYU! Everyone is getting the vision!! Yeah!!

• LDS.org – Christmas

– The church has put together a great page to “learn more about the birth and life of our Savior Jesus Christ. These scriptures, articles, hymns, and messages will be helpful to anyone who is preparing a talk or lesson or would simply like to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas.”

Awesome page!! Thanks for doing this y’all!

• Joy to Everyone

– I know I am a bit late on this… I have been busy… but here is a great video! It was put together by some folks at BYU!

Contributing good content to the world that uplifts others and helps them feel the Spirit… now that is what education is all about!

• U.S. Historical Documents iPhone/iTouch Application Released | Standard Works

– Our good friends that brought us the Standard Works Scripture App have released another great application with the same awesome annotation capabilities. While I’m not one for blindly endorsing people, I am very fond of this application! Tons of great information in there!!

• Church Newsroom Widgets

– Nice way to spread the gospel! I’m putting on my blog!!

• Twitter and LDS General Conference by Tom Johnson

– This is a great example of using technology to connect to a larger group. Some folks used Twitter as a meta conversation to conference. I admit that I have a hard time staying awake, and this might prove a great place to focus on what is being said!

• Getting the scriptures on blackberry – Page 2 – LDS Technology Forums

– Awesome post that lays out how to get the scriptures on your blackberry! Thanks for doing this Steve!

• Grandparents On Facebook – It’s A Good Thing: Part One | The LDS GrandParent Place

– I love the LDS GrandParent Place! This is a great article that encourages Grandparents to get onto Facebook so they can connect with their grand, and great-grandchildren!

I second this… Facebook is one of the best ways to keep up with people… ever! I know more about my cousins than I have in a long time! (and visa-versa!)

• YouTube – Did You Know 2.0

– Great video about today the world today to put things in perspective. (about 8 minutes long)

I came across this great video this morning about a networked student.  It really get’s the old juices flowing when thinking about spiritual education as well. 

So how does this all apply in a spiritual setting? I’m glad you asked.   Here are a couple of points off the top of my head.

Distance Education
Notice that this “Student at 21st century high school” only spends 3 days a week in classroom, 2 days online.  This is a great model for increasing interaction.  Technology enables more interactions outside of the classroom.  Meaningful interactions that can build up students.  I think we should certainly encourage as much interaction as possible. 

That doesn’t mean we should spend less time in a physical classroom where that is possible, but rather that we can increase interaction with those that can’t make it to a physical classroom every day of the week.

Personal Learning Network

Students in the 21st century need to be taught how to build up a personal spiritual learning network.  A lot of the work that happens in Sunday School and Seminary/Institute classes are there to teach students how to study the scriptures.  Well, today there is  lot more information out there that they need to learn how to navigate as well.

Social Bookmarking Site

This student goes out and finds relevant sites about their topic and bookmarks them where others can find them.  In the church there is certainly a ton of information out there, just from the church alone… not to mention the millions of personally created sites.  Social bookmarking sites will help students navigate this sea of information in meaningful ways.  As students begin to find the best content (D&C 88:118) and pass that on it will also help put that information to the top of search engines. 

Blogs

Students have the opportunity to not only comment on blog about their “own informed point of view,” but as they create their own blog they think critically and have opportunities to expression opinions to a global audience.

iTunes / Mobile Devices

Students in the 21st audio and video podcasts that support his learning.  In the church that is certainly the case as well with BYU TV, CES video’s, General Conferences, CES Firesides, etc. all available!

Connection with experts – Skype

Students can connect with LDS people all over the world.  If they are having a lesson on missionary work I’m sure some of the folks at A More Good Foundation would be DELIGHTED to do a Skype video interview about using the internet to spread the gospel.   Then there is the added ability to connect with General Authorities, or others that may have a special story to tell that will help the students.  Oh, and think of the global impact as well.  Perhaps connecting with a seminary class in Germany and chatting with them on a regular basis to see how the church is different/same there.

Personal Student Projects

Perhaps my favorite part of this video is where they talk about a student’s work culminates into a project of their own.  Where a student share’s his knowledge with the world through video, voicethread, wiki, etc.  In the case of the church, a student is sharing their testimony with the world.  We all know that often a testimony is gained in the bearing of it.  This is certainly no less the case.

Teacher Role

Teachers teach how to build this network, offer guidance, serve as a modeler, help the students differenciate between good information and propaganda, and help the students organize information.  They teach them to set up network that will help the student navigate their future in the gospel. 

Other Ideas?

These are just a few quick ideas off the top of my head this lovely morning.  What did you get out of the video?  If you are a teacher, how can you apply some of this in your classroom?  It can be on Sunday in church or some other setting where you get to teach. 

Hey… we are all teachers to some extent in our homes… how can you apply this with your kids?!  Mine are just starting to use the internet.  I should show them how to bookmark and share things with others.  And how to search and find good content. It’s never too early!

• YouTube – Playing With People Cartoon – Ted Sowards – LDSFF 2008 in HD

– A cartoon made for the Mesa-Phoenix LDS film festival INstitute academy awards, about a german professor who switches the roles and personalities of Men and Women in the LDS culture.

Another great example of user generated content… and funny!

• Read The Scriptures Newsletter

– ReadTheScriptures just added the Children’s Scripture Stories to the things that can be read! This is great! Now I can just whip out my iPhone and read with my kids directly from my email! And it will keep me on track! I love these the ReadTheScripture folks! Keep up the good work!

I have used three different versions of the scriptures for the iPhone/iTouch and I like them all for different reasons!  I thought I would give a little rundown of the difference in hopes that it might help some others that are looking for scriptures for their iPhone or iTouch.  Obviously if you have an iPhone you can get to the scriptures online, so this is for those that want to do more/faster/or offline (iTouch). 

Here is a little breakdown of the functionality with pro’s and con’s as I see it.

The Scriptures (iTunes, Website)
Developer: Lee Falin

• Cost: $FREE!
• Search: Yes
• Chapter Summaries: Yes
• Footnotes: Yes
• Topical Guide: Yes
• Bible Dictionary: Yes
• Marking Capabilities: No
• Notes Capabilities: No
• Bookmarking Capabilities: No 
• Multiple Languages: No
• Settings Page: Yes – change font size, style, alignment, night viewing, remember position settings. (UPDATED… I originally had this wrong!  Thanks Lee!)
• Change Font/Size: No… maybe… can’t see a way to do it. 
• Navigation: All screens have a scroll navigation/search button. 
• Developer Actively Updates:  Yes… today I got the latest!
• Stability: Great!  Haven’t had it crash at all.

Review: 

I must say I am very pleased with this application.  It is fast.  The latest version (released today I think) has study helps and a very nice search feature that updates with each letter entered.  It is free… and the developer (a PhD student who could no doubt charge for this app and use the money has made it not only free… but asked that all proceeds be donated to the Perpetual Education Fund.  The only major feature I would like to see is some marking capabilities… but that is on his “not yet” list… so maybe one day.

Potential Audience: People that just want to have the scriptures on their devices so they have them with them for reference, occasional reading, etc.

Rating: B+: I would really like to see annotation capabilities… but it’s Free… can’t beat that!

LDS Books (iTunes, Website)
Developer: Terry Evans (I actually think Terry and his wife work together on this one… but I can’t find her name… How cool is that to work with your wife on a project like this?)

• Cost: $14.99
• Search: Yes
• Chapter Summaries: No
• Footnotes: No
• Topical Guide: No
• Bible Dictionary: No
• Marking Capabilities: Yes.. and they are AWESOME.  Backup capabilities… underline, highlight, change font color… etc, etc. 
• Notes Capabilities: Yes – and you can even show them inline with the scriptures.  
• Bookmarking Capabilities: Yes
• Multiple Languages: No
• Navigation: All screens have a home button/search button. 
• Settings Screen: Yes – Fonts, Colors, Alignment, Display options, Landscape, and others.
• Change Font/Size: Yes (pinch and settings)
• Other Features: Auto scroll feature, can even control via tilt.  Backup Feature!
• Developer Actively Updates: Yes!  Also got the latest today, which prompted me to write this!
• Stability: Pretty good… I had a couple of times it crashed today, but that is to be expected with a new update.  It is normally really good!

Review: 

I have to say that I am very pleased with this application, and I use this one as my main scripture application.  I love the marking capabilities.  I am big on interacting with technology, and interacting with the scriptures.  This brings those two worlds together and I have noticed my study is much much better because I can mark the scriptures. 

The only downside is that there are no extra’s like chapter headings/footnotes/etc.  I have not doubt Terry could do it, but from what I gather he is really big on making sure he has the rights to distribute that content… not just scrape it off of the church website, and that is much harder to get since it is not public content, and he is charging for this app.  I hope he can figure out a way to make that work, but it is still a great app!!

Potential Audience: People that would like their phones to be their scriptures.  People that like to mark scriptures!

Rating: A-: I would like to see some study extra’s some day…

Scriptures (iTunes, Website)
Developer: Michael Jensen – He developed the first online ReadScriptures.com for the iPhone before Apps were an option and make an application out of it when they came out.  He was the first to release a LDS scripture app in the App Store

• Cost: $14.99
• Search: Yes
• Chapter Summaries: Yes
• Footnotes: Yes
• Topical Guide: Yes
• Bible Dictionary: Yes
• Marking Capabilities: No
• Notes Capabilities: No
• Bookmarking Capabilities: No
• Multiple Languages: No
• Navigation: All screens have a home library/search. 
• Settings Screen: Yes – change font size, style, chapter summaries off, invert colors
• Change Font/Size: Yes (settings)
• Developer Actively Updates: Yes… at least he used to… I haven’t seen one in a while though.
• Stability: Good… but slow. 

Review:

It’s strengths are definitely in it’s content and interface.  It not only has the scriptures, chapter headings, footnotes, and all scripture helps, it also has hymns, teachings of the prophets, preach my gospel, true to the faith, Sunday School study guides, Quotes, Joseph Smith Translation, Proclamation on the Family, Lectures on Faith, Living Christ, For the Strength of Youth, the US Constitution, and even a large section of good quotes. 

The user interface is also very nice.  Easy to ready.  You can instantly jump to verses when you get to chapters.

Really the big downside is the speed.  I think that the large amount of content takes a long time to load… even when navigating into books and chapters.  I believe it also cost me $19.99 when it was first released (I think because it was the first one released), but then went down to $14.99… that makes me sad that I paid more…

Potential Audience: This would be the same people that are interested in Lee Falin’s first application.  Those that would like to have a reference with you.  It really is quite an impressive library of information to be carrying around with you, and if Lee’s doesn’t cut it for you… this one certainly will!

Rating: B-: Too much for what it does, and the speed really detracts when you are trying to look stuff up quickly in class.  You’re supposed to be faster than those with paper scriptures… not slower…

Other Applications worth Mentioning

There is also a fourth scripture app called Scriptures from Two Desk Software (iTunes) but it the website link doesn’t even work.  Jacob Thurman, the developer, doesn’t appear to be updating it anymore.  It has about the same functionality as the first application, but it costs money, so I haven’t tried it.  

Conclusion

So, if you just want the scriptures for reference, Lee’s is great.  If you want a lot of stuff… go with the Michael’s.  If you want to mark the scriptures, go with Terry’s.  Their all great in their own way.  I’m just glad to see the LDS tech community actively developing applications. 

In a future post I will write about some of the other LDS apps out there and my ideas for some other good apps for the LDS community!

• An ugly attack on Mormons — chicagotribune.com

– Perhaps the best summation of the way I feel about everything going on with the Prop 8 aftermath. Great read!

• Integrating Gospel Sharing Habits into our Existing Routines

– This is great!! A professor at BYU is encouraging making blogging part of the curriculum for the same reasons we have been talking about on here.

It benefits a larger audience outside of the church
Students take it more seriously and think critically about what they are writing.

Great stuff!!

• Video Tribute to Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

– Some other video tributes made by people. It really goes to show the power of the user generated web for good! This can certainly be harnessed in the classroom to increase this good content out there!

• Local Search Helps in Online Missionary Work

– Great tips for helping local results come up about the church.. bottom line… when posting, use your location if possible.

• What Child is This?

– Another great Christmas video to share!!