Tech Forum

Inventory of assets
Tracking of assets within building and between buildings
Checkout and reservation of materials
Title search
Thumbnails of pictures
Ordering of supplies and replacement materials by mail-in forms or online connection
Calendar function that displays recommended materials for each Sunday's lessons for each class.

Or better yet - but probably far future - a media server in each chapel that hosts a copy of videos, materials, etc... downloaded from Church HQ servers. Then networked classrooms that you can plug a display into and show the appropriate materials in class. Then integrate that with the application suggested above for the necessary hard-copy materials (scriptures for each student, chalk, erasers). Archives of stake conferences, regional conferences, etc... could also be included.

kgthunder wrote:Archives of stake conferences, regional conferences, etc... could also be included.

Searching these archives could be enhanced by incorporating notes taken by the stake clerk: the speaker's name, date of the address, perhaps a brief outline of the address.

A meetinghouse media server sounds cool. Have you ever needed a video that was already checked out by the other five teachers giving that same lesson? Media updates could be electronically distributed to meetinghouses.

garylm wrote:Searching these archives could be enhanced by incorporating notes taken by the stake clerk: the speaker's name, date of the address, perhaps a brief outline of the address.

We'd first have to reconcile the current policy on taping meetings. Normally Stake Conference isn't recorded.

Lets take it a step further. Give the teachers something of the equivalent of a online version of powerpoint where they can put all of their various media pieces together into one "lesson" along with any signs, etc. that they need and then save it. Come class time they can just pull it up and have everything quickly and easily at their fingertips. Could come in handy too for people who need to cover the same material at multiple buildings. Have an option to download it all to the local meetinghouse as well prior to the lesson so it's all ready to go with no worries about Internet outages.

What if the library specialist in the unit isn't ready for a computer?

About computers in the gospel study classroom, if you had gone to a lot of trouble to build a Powerpoint presentation, how much pride would you have invested in it, and what would you do when the Spirit tells you to abandon the whole thing in the middle of your lesson? I don't think many teachers could handle computer technology in the classroom without becoming prideful and without losing sensitivity to the Spirit. It's a new skill and fine balance that will have to be learned for most of us, just as we had to learn to use video and sound without drawing attention to the technology or to the teacher's technical prowess.

There is a tactile quality to pictures and text on paper that appeals to the majority of people, especially children. I don't think we'll ever be able to entirely eliminate paper in the classroom.

I like the idea of the library resource manager application. On my mission I created a similar thing for the mission office, using access. It also kept track of the stock we had of distribution items, so that (when we had a mission webpage) the missionaries knew what could be sent to them right away in stock or what they would have to wait for a few months to get. I could then enter the program and print out an order form which I placed on the president's desk for him to review and sign and then fax off to the distribution center.

A similar approach could be made for the libraries. You just import the Stake MLS CSV file to keep the membership list updated. Everyone's Member # is used for tracking checkout (if null then it is in the library).

Of course since there is no computer in the library, until the church decides to place computers in the library, it would be up to the ward librarian to coordinate to get a computer there.

As for computers in the classroom, I have had many professors (religion) who use power point but are not tied to the presentation. If the spirit directs them into another direction then they go there, most of the time they have already prepared slides on that topic too (they prepared the slides with study, prayer and guidance) but sometimes, they'll just cover the projector (or black it out) and start on that topic. The slides just enhance the teaching (video, pictures, quotes, topics) and never will replace it.

Personally, and this might just be me, but I dislike paper handouts since they just get messed up and finally end up in the trash. I DO like handouts though that are e-mailed a day before church (and a few copies can be brought to class) to the students so they can print them out or place them on their laptop/PDA/etc and bring them to church.

thedqs wrote:A similar approach could be made for the libraries. You just import the Stake MLS CSV file to keep the membership list updated. Everyone's Member # is used for tracking checkout (if null then it is in the library).

Of course since there is no computer in the library, until the church decides to place computers in the library, it would be up to the ward librarian to coordinate to get a computer there.

Remember that when you export data from MLS or any other Church system, you are responsible for the security of that data, which typically means you can not upload it to another uncontrolled system (like a web server, etc). Since this policy has been established, there has been a lot of new ideas that would necessitate the use of exported data. We are re-evaluating the policies to understand if we need to make changes or not. Until a new policy is in place, however, please abide by the old policy. So uploading MLS data to a ward library computer may not be secure and would currently violate church policy.

Also, please check with your local ecclesiastical leaders and CHQ before putting in non-church computers into a church facility.

Tom

thedqs wrote:
Personally, and this might just be me, but I dislike paper handouts since they just get messed up and finally end up in the trash. I DO like handouts though that are e-mailed a day before church (and a few copies can be brought to class) to the students so they can print them out or place them on their laptop/PDA/etc and bring them to church.

I like the idea of having handouts ahead of time. It would also remind people to study their lessons before Sunday so they can be better prepared for class.

kgthunder wrote:Or better yet - but probably far future - a media server in each chapel that hosts a copy of videos, materials, etc... downloaded from Church HQ servers. Then networked classrooms that you can plug a display into and show the appropriate materials in class...

I like that idea. One quick way to implement this idea may be using a MythTV server. They have been making a lot of advances lately. You have a single server per building and then have nice little front ends that can be used in each classroom. It would be a fun project...

For some information see:
http://www.linux.com/feature/144179 (Using Windows, XBox, and iPod as alternate MythTV front ends)
http://www.linux.com/feature/118668 (Three MythTV Linux distros compared)