Collaborate with WELSTech on our classroom technology discussion of Matt Miller’s book, Tech Like a PIRATE! We review chapters 5 & 6 this week and share a few summer hardware pics we’ve added to our setups. There’s community news covering AI Sermons, Google Ads for Non-Profits, and video professional development for teachers.

Image is AI-generated using Canva.com

Collaboration and Imagery – Martin and Sallie discuss chapters 5 & 6 of Matt Miller’s Tech Like a PIRATE: Using Classroom Technology to Create an Experience and Make Learning Memorable.

Tech Like a Pirate – Chapters 7 & 8

It’s summertime on WELSTech, and this week the discussion is on chapters 3 & 4 of our current reading selection, Tech Like a PIRATE. Martin and Sallie share their picks of the week (royalty free images for your phone and an Apple watch competitor) plus lots of Community Feedback. Join the conversation!

Video, Audio, and Games, oh my – Martin and Sallie discuss chapters 3 & 4 of Matt Miller’s Tech Like a PIRATE: Using Classroom Technology to Create an Experience and Make Learning Memorable.

Register for the free SPARCC EdTech Conference – Live streaming on July 18

Tech Like a Pirate – Chapters 5 & 6

Welcome to summer on WELSTech! Martin and Sallie share an abbreviated show centered on chapters 1 & 2 of the summer reading selection, Tech Like a PIRATE. Picks include puzzles with a tech twist to entertain and passkeys with a storage solution to keep you safe. Plus, the Taste of Missions event is coming up quickly. Enjoy the show!

Aaarrrggg – Martin and Sallie kick off a summer book discussion of Matt Miller’s Tech Like a PIRATE: Using Classroom Technology to Create an Experience and Make Learning Memorable.

“Don’t just teach a lesson. Create an experience!”

-Dave Burgess, Teach Like a PIRATE

Register for Taste of Missions

Tech Like a Pirate – Chapters 3 & 4

WELSTech is back! They may be a bit rusty, but Martin and Sallie are happy to be back at the podcasting desk and happy to be joined by edtech guest hosts, Rachel and Jason. The discussion focus is the currently “hot” tech topic, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and its effect on education. They share details on a free summer online conference from Martin Luther College (MLC) which includes that same topic, as well as watches and notes and streaming from Sweden to enjoy.

Incredible AI – We welcome our semi-regular classroom technology correspondents, Prof. Rachel Feld, Director of Academic Computing and Online Learning from Martin Luther College (MLC), and Jason Schmidt, Executive Director of Wisconsin Virtual School to the show for a wrap up of our The Incredibles of EdTech series. This week we focus on the versatile, powerful, and somewhat scary character of baby Incredible, Jack Jack, and compare him to Artificial Intelligence (AI). From email to quizzes to images (Jack Jack in a Spiderman suit), and much more, an assortment of AI tools stand ready to generate whatever content a user desires. We discuss the challenges and blessings AI presents for education.

Register now for Open Learning @MLC

On this episode of WELSTech, Martin and Sallie talk with e-news expert Amanda Klemp about the content and desired statistics for e-newsletter efforts. Plus, we share image resources and ideas for both church and school e-news to support the efforts. The picks this week are helpful for detecting ChatGPT content and for upping the ante on your Mac webcam.

Shoot for 3% – WELS Editorial Projects Manager Amanda Klemp joins Martin and Sallie to share her experience overseeing the many WELS e-newsletters. Listen for insight into desired thresholds for open and click rates that may surprise (and relieve) you. Amanda also details important considerations for determining the format and style of your messages.

Stock images

Tune in for ideas to use your calendar to get creative!

For the 700th time, welcome to WELSTech, a show about technology and ministry and where those two intersect! Martin and Sallie look way back to 2008 when the show started and explore the changing landscape of tech-in-ministry which they’ve observed through the years. Church texting platforms, fancy social media posts, and AI-generated text are some of the 2023 tech-in-ministry topics discussed on this episode as well.

A big milestone – Martin and Sallie suited up to celebrate this 700th episode of WELSTech with a look back at where and why it started, tech-in-ministry topics then and now, retro WELSTech images, and book reviews through the years. Plus, the WELSTech “ace in the hole” is revealed!

Top 28 Church Texting Platforms – Comparison chart in the PDF

Amanda Klemp from WELS Communication Services shares tips for great e-newsletters

Things are lively on this week’s WELSTech as we return to our Incredibles of EdTech series. Tech infrastructure is the focus, and we learn about challenges and strategies for managing this invisible force. Outreach, working genius, chair wheels, and grammar are just a few of the other topics which fill to overflowing this episode. Enjoy!

Invisible Infrastructure – The podcast table has 5 seats this week as we welcome our semi-regular classroom technology correspondents, Prof. Rachel Feld, Director of Academic Computing and Online Learning from Martin Luther College (MLC), and Jason Schmidt, Executive Director of Wisconsin Virtual School, along with special guest Bob Martens, Director of Information Technology at MLC.

We continue with the third installment of our school year series – The Incredibles of EdTech. Like Violet, the oldest Incredible child, whose superpower is invisibility, tech infrastructure is an invisible, yet incredibly important, component of educational technology. Bob is freshly off teaching a new MLC Graduate Studies course on the topic and shares details about what’s involved, determining expectations, and partnering with local experts to support ever-changing infrastructure needs.

Everyone Outreach

From the WELSTech Google Group

Join us for a very special episode as WELSTech turns 700! We’ll take a look at tech in ministry, then and now.

Recorded in the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton, a site visited by President John F. Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II (among others), WELSTech is covering WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership in style! Listen in as Martin and Sallie are joined by WELS Tech team member Dan Retzlaff to reflect on the mountain of information gained as well as the incredible worship experiences and fellowship opportunities which happen when you spend time together with 1,300+ fellow WELS members.

Martin and Sallie are joined by Dan Retzlaff, Director of WELS Software Services, for a discussion of their experiences at WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership. Dan also shares a behind-the-scenes look into the work of his Software Services team.

The Incredibles of EdTech series continues with a lively discussion of the invisible superpower of infrastructure.

Join Martin and Sallie for a look back at WELSTech 2022 featuring our favorite ministry resources, interviews, and picks. As we wrap up the 15th year of WELSTech, we look ahead to our upcoming 700th podcast and beyond, with lots more tech-in-ministry goodness planned for 2023!

Wait for it! We’re delaying our next release so we can record from WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership. Look for that episode on January 20.

Tis the season for the WELSTech Christmas special! Each year at Christmas we host an interview-only show with someone from the Center for Mission and Ministry to share more about their area of responsibility for WELS. This year Pastor Dan Sims joins the conversation as we talk about the work of WELS Christian Aid & Relief. Merry Christmas!!

Compassion ministry – Pastor Dan Sims, Director of WELS Christian Aid & Relief, joins Martin and Sallie to share details on the work of this group including the three areas of support carried out under theme verse –

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:10

Enjoy the MLC College Choir singing Away in A Manger.

We close out 2022 with a look at the best of WELSTech throughout the year.