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!

Wow! MormonTimes posted an AWESOME adaptation of the Screwtape letters this morning about online posting. This would be a GREAT way to teach students how to engage other’s online. It is not your typical do this and don’t do this, but a creative way for students to discuss what to do.

In the perfect class with wireless they would then have 10 minutes to go online and find several articles to post on… or go home and do that. Great job Deseret News!

Gradually over the past 5 years the web and web published has changed dramatically.  It used to be that you had to be a super techie to publish anything on the web… now a days anyone can publish… anything… anywhere.  With tools like blogs, wiki’s, podcasts, video/photo sharing sites, social networks, and hundreds of software sites, anyone can write on the web now.

I envision a classroom that has many assignments online that leverage the power of the internet and the tools mentioned above.  Compared to a traditional classroom with several papers and students passively listening to a teacher talk, I have created a list of four benefits to publishing content online.  I will incorporate some of the paradigms from Steve Hargadon’s “Web 2.0 is the future of Education” into my list.

1. Motivation – When students publish on the web they are publishing to a global audience.  Typically they will spend more time pondering and thinking about what they are going to say.  The work they do then becomes part of them.  They go from passive learning to passionate learning.  They have to think deeply about what they believe and that brings the gospel deeper into their hearts.

2. Potential Projects – When technology and the web come into view the potential for projects becomes much larger.  Students are not limited to a paper, but can interpret the assigment in what ever medium best suits them.  That may be writing (my best medium), or it may be music, video, some sort of social experiment, or something totally different.  It opens the doors of creativity and also allows students to express themselves how they best learn.

3. Feedback and Participation – Traditional writing only has one, or at most a few people that will read the work, so the feedback is limited to that small circle.  In most cases those people also think and act like those writing so their feedback will not vary.  With a global audience the feedback is much more diverse.  Students will also have the opportunity to defend their work.  The work they do not only is a presentation, but it become participative as they continue to talk about it, and defend it in some cases.

4. Engagement - Most of all projects that use the technology that students are familiar with engages them.  They don’t check out, or turn their minds off when they come to class… they are excited and will often spend hours and hours outside of school working ont these projects because they are what is exciting to them.  The more time they spend working on these projects and thinking about them, again… the deeper it get’s into their souls and helps them determine who they are and what they believe!

Over the past year I have seen several good examples of teachers who are already giving their students assignments like this.  In 2002, Seth Adam Smith created a YouTube video about the prophet Joseph Smith for a Church History Project at the BYU Summer Navoo Program.  Since then he has made over 90 other video’s and continues today.  Here is one of his more recent one’s.

Another video I found that I really like is this “BackPack and Brick’s” video about repentance. I honestly don’t know the background to this one, but I have emailed the user to find out. I suspect it was an assigment… if not, it would have been a great one.

I also came across this funny video that was the winner of an Institute Academy Awards activity that was certainly thought up by the digital natives that are so comfortable and excited by this type of technology.

Although these examples only have to do with video, students can also blog, compose, write software, or a myriad of other things that they know about, but I’m not familiar with. They are, after all, the experts in this field. Let them do their work and see what they can come up with!

I came across this great article this morning about Andrew and Ariel Marshall. I never knew this, but apparently newlywed couples can serve as full-time service missionaries… how cool is that?

I guess with four kids, it’s a bit late for me… but for some of you sisters who wanted to serve a mission but never got the opportunity… perhaps here it is… just don’t wait! At the end of the article it says that you should talk to your bishop or branch president if you are interested in this.

This is the first in a series of posts about using web technologies to augment spiritual education. In this post I would like to being laying out the framework for why technology is so important in the church and how the Lord has been using it to further his work on the earth.

I believe, like Elder Ballard,¹ that God inspires man to invent tools that bring his work forward here on the earth. The Internet is one of the most powerful modern tools out there. I am excited about all that is going on with the web and believe it will continue to have a large impact on the world. More important than that though, I believe web technologies like all other media, are going to have a huge impact on people that will last through the eternities.

The Internet already effects every part of the mission of the church. For years the church has used computers to trance your ancestry. And now, with the rollout of the new family search site, families will be able to collaborate and work efficiently on family history like they never have before! In addition to this there are dozens of other services available on the web to help connect families with their ancestors.

As we look to preaching the Gospel, we need look no further than this month’s Ensign and numerous talks given by the Brethren as of late. Here is a great YouTube clip from Elder Ballard from last year encouraging us as members of the church to join the internet conversation.

There are also dozens of other ways technology is helping missionaries do their work better. I would love to write another series of articles just like this one focused on missionary work.

When it comes to perfecting the saints, there is even more than any other area. As you look at the way the church website has grown, and the ever increasing availability of the words of our leaders across the earth, and often in their own language, it is staggering. And then the tools that people are building to manage our lives and help us keep the things that are most important as a priority are amazing as well. The Perfect the Saints category of this webpage has dozens of examples of services (free in most cases).

The Church Educational System is no less progressive. They have been relentless in moving technology forward on their website. There is a plethura of information for teachers and administrators across the world. In the following essays I would like to explore how the web, and
applications that already exist can be integrated into these religious
classroom, both in institutes and seminaries across to world to
increase the effectivness bringing the gospel into the hearts of those that hear the gospel.

1. “The Lord, over the centuries, has had a hand in inspiring people to invent tools that facilitate the spreading of the gospel. The Church has adopted and embraced those tools, including print, broadcast media, and the Internet.” [↩]

So you remember those weekly reports you had to send to your mission-president while you were on a mission. You know… “I just love this area President, and my companion is awesome. We are doing just great… ” Yeah, I know that is exactly what they sounded like. Well apparently the church is testing out electronic weekly reports from missionaries… Great idea!

Great video about Missionary work. Good to share with some friends about what I did/the missionaries do.

This is GREAT!  He talks a bit about why we should use the internet to preach the gospel and the awesome new JesusChrist.lds.org website.

Okay, I admit I really like the title of this article, but it is a good article as well. This morning I read “Called to Blog: Fighting for the Church Online.” It deserves a read. A couple of excerpts:

An Orem woman posted a video of her testimony on YouTube. A man in another state watched it four times and emailed, asking for a copy of the Book of Mormon.

A man in Vegas wrote on his blog that he was grateful for the law of tithing. A questioning reader asked him why Mormons like commandments. After several online conversations, the missionaries began meeting with the man.

That is just cool… I love stories like that.

Curtis… thinks the web is an easier venue for members to share the gospel. Even students can be sharing the gospel, he said, even though most of the people they live with are already members. With the web, students can reach out to people everywhere.

“People don’t go to their neighbors like they used to,” Curtis said.

Instead, people google things, Curtis said. The Internet is where many people will go to find answers to religious questions as well.

“I’ve had a handful of people that have started asking me questions,” he said.

One woman found Curtis online and the two began conversing about the gospel. She had been converted when she was younger but went inactive after her mother disapproved. That testimony in her never left, Curtis said. After a while, she began attending church and took her family as well.

Awesome! So go out and spread the word! Technology was created just for this!

LDSTech posted a little article about a system they have been working on for a while for Mission Offices.  From their website:

“Internet Mission Office System (iMOS) is a Web application designed to
help mission office staff manage mission information and perform other
tasks.”

The main task pointed out is to visualize transfer scenario’s for the mission.  There is also a mention of financial features.

I imagine this will be a huge help for missionaries that serve in the office…