Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

Discussions about the Lesson Schedules Tool
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lajackson
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#91

Post by lajackson »

russ2p wrote:I understand the reasoning in the blog. I wonder if this is a case of what other folks have mentioned, a lack of awareness/marketing plan/training/etc. that otherwise may have brought more users to adopt what I think is great functionality.
The article also said the site has several technical problems that are not easy to fix because old technology would need to be updated. I cannot vouch for the validity of the article, but if that is indeed the case, I can see that the cost benefit analysis might be problematic. A need to update old technology is a bit different than just needing to invest year-end manpower to get the content ready for linking.

Still, I am looking for a good solution moving forward.
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sbradshaw
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#92

Post by sbradshaw »

Awareness/marketing/training would take a lot of resources as well.
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mmhogan66
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#93

Post by mmhogan66 »

Has there been an official date completely shutting down the lesson schedule???
My stake just got around to doing training of all of the features of the tools available. Our last 5th Sunday lesson was all about the tools available for members. Of course when I went to the lesson schedule screen I received the "discontinued" notice. However, as an admin for the HPG, I was still able to enter all of the lessons for 2017. The only difference was, instead of being able to pull down a list of URLs for the desired lesson, I had to copy/paste the URL from the chapter list in a different screen. Also, built into the dates available for 2017 was our stake conferences and general conference dates.
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aebrown
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#94

Post by aebrown »

mmhogan66 wrote:Has there been an official date completely shutting down the lesson schedule???
The official date was given in the notice mentioned in the first post of this topic: December 31, 2016. That is the date still mentioned on the notice shown when you visit the Lesson Schedules on LDS.org.

Yes, it is now 2 days after that deadline, but I would note that there has not yet been a business day since the deadline. It's entirely possible that it will be shut down tomorrow. Or it could be that the site will be up for a while longer to give wards a bit more time to copy any information from the site to any alternative solution they may use for tracking lesson schedules. But in any case, plenty of warning was given. You're now living on borrowed time, and it would be imprudent to assume that the site will be up anymore.
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wrigjef
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#95

Post by wrigjef »

Speaking of alternative solutions, what are some? I know some slick documents have been compiled that can accept links, but how do people plan on distrubiting it or another alternate?
dpicken
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#96

Post by dpicken »

The church is not a democracy and we are probably wasting our time begging for this to be continued.
I added my voice via feedback asking for continuation and got a very "obedient" answer from a volunteer telling me "out of the 30,000 units in the Church only about .02 percent of them are using the function. Therefore it is not advantageous to continue supporting it when there are other sites that are much more frequently used."
I responded that if this math was right, only 6 units had been using the function and that I found that hard to believe. The next "obedient" response was "Regardless of whether it is 6 units or 600, those who make the decisions regarding the discontinuance of specific programs have made the decision based upon age of the software, cost of upgrading it, usage, and other factors."
Adding things together (demise of PAF, discontinuation of Lessons and Newsletter) it seems to me that the church has decided that Facebook, Google & Co. are OK for a wide spectrum of functions. Keeping things confidential does not seem to be high on the priority list.
russellhltn
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#97

Post by russellhltn »

dpicken wrote:it seems to me that the church has decided that Facebook, Google & Co. are OK for a wide spectrum of functions. Keeping things confidential does not seem to be high on the priority list.
Within the limits set down at internet.lds.org.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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lajackson
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#98

Post by lajackson »

dpicken wrote:The church is not a democracy and we are probably wasting our time begging for this to be continued. . . .

Adding things together (demise of PAF, discontinuation of Lessons and Newsletter) it seems to me that the church has decided that Facebook, Google & Co. are OK for a wide spectrum of functions. Keeping things confidential does not seem to be high on the priority list.
Gotta love those math skills. From the source (reliability unknown) that actually provided numbers, it was around 2% (700/30,000), the more correct description of the calculator answer, 0.0233333 which is a number.

That said, I believe you are correct. The decision has been made. There were other reasons, as well. We are not usually given the details concerning these things.

I disagree with your comment that keeping things confidential is not high on the priority list. I believe it is. But I also think many members and leaders do not understand that it does not matter what platform is used. If you give out confidential or sensitive member information, you are not in keeping with Church policy. Sadly, many do not understand the implications of keeping personal information private and other matters pertaining to confidentiality.

I don't think there are any privacy problems with Lesson Schedules, though, whatever the platform. My concern is that so many feel I should have a Facebook account and do not understand why I will not just jump off that cliff.
russellhltn
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#99

Post by russellhltn »

lajackson wrote:I don't think there are any privacy problems with Lesson Schedules, though, whatever the platform. My concern is that so many feel I should have a Facebook account and do not understand why I will not just jump off that cliff.
Depending on the settings, the pages can be public and there's no need to log in to see them. You'll have to deal with a nag screen, but you can see the Church's page here.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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ibapah
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Re: Lesson Schedules Discountinued 2017

#100

Post by ibapah »

Here is the reason given for eliminating this function on lds.org, I thought they had some good suggestions. Obviously we need to correlate the schedule between HP, EQ and RS if we are going to put them in a program or make announcements, put it online etc. Somewhere some manual says that you are to skip a lesson rather than slip the whole schedule when Stake Conference happens. I think the reason it was little used was that many didn't know about it and bishops were never instructed to use it.


LDS Response Team responded on January 3, 2017 at 9:27 PM as follows:

Chuck,

We understand your concerns, the Lesson Schedules function on LDS.org will be discontinued 31 December 2016 due to the cost of needing to update the old technology for a program which was being used by only 750 of the 30,000 wards and branches in the Church.

Other options:

1. Print a schedule of Gospel Doctrine, Melchizedek Priesthood, and Relief Society lessons and give them out at the beginning of the year.

2. Post the next lessons in the weekly announcements in the Sacrament Meeting program.

3. Post the lesson information (lesson number with link, lesson reading assignment with links, teacher ) in the ward calendar. Ward members can access the calendar on LDS.org and on the LDS Tools mobile app.

4. List the lesson schedule in a Word document and share it on Facebook, Google Docs, or Dropbox. See internet.lds.org for Church internet guidelines: https://www.lds.org/pages/online-resour ... b-internet


Response Team Volunteer GM
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