Open Source Idea

Discussions around miscellaneous technologies and projects for the general membership.
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joel
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Open Source Idea

#1

Post by joel »

Here's an idea for an open source project:

Lesson Exchange

What about a web site with several sections: e.g. primary, sunday school, relieft society, priesthood.

A person has the ability to log in and upload lesson plans (in a very simple format) and to categorize them.

People can download the lesson plans and rate them (and "veto" ones which are created by trolls).

So when people go to find lesson plans they search by category (or by specific lesson number, if they want) and see a list of lessons, sorted by the highest rated ones.

You could break it down even further by good quotes, good stories, relevant scriptures, etc.

This seems pretty isolated and wouldn't need a ton of integration.

What think?
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thedqs
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#2

Post by thedqs »

Would this be an add-on to lds.org? This is more for trying to get people to use it then anything else.

It would be great for the same reason as a wiki is great, you gather the knowledge of a body together for improving a single resource and the result is a better product then any one person could produce by themselves.

So include the ability to update a lesson and of course the author of administrator/moderator could veto those changes and it would be great.
- David
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mkmurray
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#3

Post by mkmurray »

Joel Dehlin wrote:Here's an idea for an open source project:

Lesson Exchange
I've seen a few posts about this very topic elsewhere on the forum. The main concern expressed was that of teachers beginning to abandon their own preparation of lessons, in favor of taking a lesson from a site like the one you describe.

What are your thoughts on that Joel? Thanks.
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bhofmann
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#4

Post by bhofmann »

I think it would be a good idea. Many teachers (in our ward anyway) search on the web for lesson helps. There are several good sites like Meridian Magazine and others that compile quotes and stories pertaining to the lesson. I think some people might take the lazy way as Mike mentioned but the teachers in our ward use those sites as tools to aid in their own preparation. They never take the lessons as-is in full, they usually take bits and pieces, I assume, as the Spirit directs. I think a Lesson Exchange would be a good thing for most people.

My two bits...
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joel
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Lazy Teachers

#5

Post by joel »

Yes, there is a concern that teachers might cease listening to the spirit and just take lessons verbatim. We should be aware of that danger.

On the other hand, the spirit can work as you browse various lesson objects and in inspire you to use particular ones. Is that better or worse than what we have today where many people open up the lesson plan during sacrament meeting and start preparing their lesson?

Whatever we do, we don't to pull people to this exclusively.

Let's keep talking.
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bhofmann
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#6

Post by bhofmann »

Joel Dehlin wrote:Is that better or worse than what we have today where many people open up the lesson plan during sacrament meeting and start preparing their lesson?
You bring up a good point. I think if teachers are going to be lazy it would be better that they copy a well planned out lesson compiled by someone else than a quick skimming of the lesson during sacrament meeting. I think the benefits of this sort of project would out weigh the negatives.
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mkmurray
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#7

Post by mkmurray »

bhofmann wrote:You bring up a good point. I think if teachers are going to be lazy it would be better that they copy a well planned out lesson compiled by someone else than a quick skimming of the lesson during sacrament meeting. I think the benefits of this sort of project would out weigh the negatives.
I think I also agree then. This resource will greatly help those who are really preparing and trying to find the right topics to hit for their particular audience and situation. And even in the lazy scenario, at least it will be a better lesson than just read from the manual.
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WelchTC
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Lesson Snippets & Stories

#8

Post by WelchTC »

Maybe the idea would be to allow people to post stories or lessons "snippets". A person would then have to pull several stories or snippets together to create a whole lesson. Also, we could allow users (not the author) the ability to assign categories that they found appropriate. Say I submit a snippet that I think goes well with Tithing but someone else may find it works well under the category of "sacrafice" or "obedience".

Tom
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thedqs
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#9

Post by thedqs »

So would the lesson snippets be just stories that go along with everything and maybe their application?
- David
JamesAnderson
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#10

Post by JamesAnderson »

Here's my idea:

When you go to prepare a lesson, provide the manual as a base to work from, then have a 'lesson builder' API.

What would you do with the API? In your account on lds.org, you would be able to see links on each article or book chapter allowing you to add paragraphs to your lesson builder. You could then use searching to find what you needed, such as additional scriptures, quotes from other books, or the magazines, music, or additional addresses. In the future audio and video clips could be put in so that you could use those more efectively via other means we have yet to fully integrate.

Given such a tremendous wealth of information already on the site, which is growing monthly if not weekly, this could be a tremendous opportunity for members to become more familiar with the words of the Prophets as they have been in the last 36 years of the magazines, along with whatever else might be in the magazines and make that even more accessible and useful.
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