Thanksgiving week on WELSTech brings lots of video blessings (enjoy some popcorn while you watch) plus a great conversation with Gail Potratz on the life of a school/church tech director. We introduce a new book which helps us focus on our many reasons to be thankful, and we enjoy a taste of heaven with a special version of Jerusalem The Golden.

We celebrate the life and legacy of Pastor David Witte, the voice of WELS Through My Bible series, who recently passed away.

A Day in the Life of a Tech Director – Gail Potratz from Emanuel in New London, WI joins Sallie to discuss the wide variety of responsibilities which a school and church technology director covers including planning, purchasing, maintaining, documenting and providing professional development for staff on the wide variety of tech software, hardware and infrastructure (while pursuing personal professional development to learn about all of these responsibilities).

Meet The New Google+

364 Days of Thanksgiving by Pastor Andrew Schroer

A Man Named Martin – Part 1: The Man video series  – Study Resources and Martin Luther Booklet

This week we’ve added another video from the WELS Hymnal Committee to the WELSTech “Like’s” list on Vimeo. Enjoy a special setting of Jerusalem the Golden, recorded at the 2014 WELS National Worship Conference, one of the 50 favorite hymns identified in their recent survey. Learn more.

Episode 421 – Martin and Sallie take a walk through the new Windows 10 operating system. Release date: Wednesday, December 2

This week’s WELSTech episode features a community discussion on video conferencing in church and school settings plus feedback on everything from sketchnoting to closed captioning. Learn about spiritual support for military members and families, live streaming from your mobile device, ProjectFi, Advent by Candlelight resources and more!

Video conferencing & more – Martin and Sallie open up the community feedback mailbag and share a variety of topics at the intersection of ministry and technology.

iPad Pro – Reviews & more reviews

Advent by Candlelight resources from WELS Women’s Ministry

Learn a Google Slides hack to change your slides into a free-form desktop publishing alternative. Find this video and lost more on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube Playlist.

Episode 420 – Learn about “A Day in the Life of a Tech Director” from WELSTech’s own semi-regular classroom technology correspondent, Gail Potratz. Release date: Wednesday, November 24

This week on WELSTech we roll up our sleeves and start project planning as we discuss the latest chapter of With All Your Heart, the WELSTech book on project management. Pastor Caleb Bassett gives us insight into the work of the WELS Hymnal Project, and we share a resource for reaching out to new residents of your community.

Hymnal Project Planning – Pastor Caleb Bassett from St. Stephen in Fallbrook, CA serves as the chairman of the WELS Hymnal Project Technology Committee. He recently talked with Martin and Sallie about the tech tools adopted to support the work of the large, geo-graphically diverse committee membership.

Project Planning – This week Martin and Sallie discuss chapter 3 of With All Your Heart, the WELSTech book on project management for churches, Christian schools and other faith-based organizations. We examine a great Biblical example of project planning from the book of Nehemiah and share tips and tools for starting a project with that example in mind.

OneDrive Storage Plans Change

WELS Worship Helps

New Mover Church Postcards – Sample from Grace, Kenai, AK

Long time WELSTech listener and contributor Perry Lund pointed us to our latest addition to the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching Playlist, Office 365 Admin Updates. Check out more on the Microsoft Mechanics YouTube Channel.

Episode 419 – Tune in for a show full of all your great community feedback! Join us Tuesday, November 17 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

You’ll flip over this week’s WELSTech topic – creating video for flipped instruction in the traditional classroom as well as any setting learning takes place. Sallie shares what she learned from her new friend, The Copyright Coach, and Martin demos an impressive follow-me tool for recording classroom instruction. Plus we take a tour of the Bible.com site.

The technology behind flipping learning – Martin shares his recent Wisconsin Lutheran State Teachers’ Conference presentation about flipping instruction with tips on software for creating videos on your computer, tablet or Chromebook plus hardware recommendations on microphones and other devices.

Google gets back into podcast distribution with Google Play Music Podcasts

Luther Preparatory School celebrates their 150th Anniversary with a special service featuring choirs for all four synod schools – Sunday, November 15 @ 3:00 pm Central

Bible.com – Mobile apps

This week’s we’ve added a new video to the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube Playlist featuring Pastor Kevin Hundley’s (Bethany, Kenosha, WI) WELSTech Conference IGNITE presentation about On Demand Virtual Confirmation Instruction (slide deck).

Episode 418 – Tune in for a discussion of project planning as Martin and Sallie share chapter 3 of WELSTech’s DIY book discussion project, With All Your Heart: Project Management for Churches, Christian Schools & Other Faith-Based Organizations. Join us Tuesday, November 10 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

On WELSTech this week we tackle classroom management from all angles – using technology, monitoring technology, and even good, old-fashioned teacher awareness tips. The discussion features our very own edtech guru, Jason Schmidt, who always delivers some lively conversation. Martin and Jason share their smartphone choices, and there’s a brand-new WELSTech Photo Challenge for November!

2Eyes & 2Feet – Jason Schmidt from Bennington Public Schools is back for his 5th season of guest hosting on WELSTech, and, as usual, he’s brought his own sunshine along for the classroom management discussion. Listen for tech and non-tech ideas for effectively overseeing today’s “digital native” students.

YouTube launching ad-free $10-a-month subscription service

Be part of the WELSTech Photo Challenge – Already 241 royalty-free photos strong!

Visit the Time of Grace blog

Celebrate Reformation with Koine’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God, the newest addition to the WELSTech Music YouTube Playlist.

Episode 417 – Fresh from presenting at the Wisconsin State Teachers’ Conference, Martin shares tips for building the technology behind flipped learning. Join us Tuesday, November 3 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

This week’s WELSTech episode is dedicated to feedback, ideas, questions and links shared by WELSTech listeners. Learn about a cloud-based database tool, text messaging for congregations, a creative, bathroom-friendly way to promote mobile apps which keep people in the Word, and an easy way to share websites with your students using Google Classroom. That’s just the start of the list of WELSTech goodness wrapped up in episode 415!

Anything goes – Martin and Sallie share a month’s worth of Community Feedback and there is literally something for everyone. We dare you to not learn something new along the way!

The Bible App for Kids Storybook – Order on Amazon

You’re sure to get a grin from these videos – A Conference Call in Real Life and Email in Real Life – new additions to the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube Playlist.

Episode 416 – Jason Schmidt returns for his 5th year of guest hosting on WELSTech with a discussion of classroom management with technology. Join us Tuesday, October 27 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

The beginning of the project management life cycle is the topic of today’s WELSTech With All Your Heart book discussion. The show also includes an interview with James Mahnke from Luther High and tips for pastoral blogging.

Starting off right – This season Martin and Sallie’s book discussion happens to be one they’re also writing along the way, With All Your Heart: Project Management for Churches, Christian Schools & Other Faith-Based Organizations. The discussion topic of the day is “Discovery” which focuses on the steps which should happen at the start of a project including brainstorming, defining goals, assumptions and requirements, and gaining support for the project.

Planning the details – Luther High School’s (Onalaska, WI) Technology Directory, James Mahnke, talks with Martin and Sallie about the annual BrainStorm K20 conference which he has been involved with for the past 17 years. From a start of just 30 attendees to current attendance of 750 to 800, the conference team has “well-oiled” planning techniques and areas of responsibility.

New from Microsoft – Surface Book

Why Pastor’s Should Blog

New on the WELSTech Product Demos Playlist is this short introduction to Brainstorming Made Simple from bubbl.us.

Episode 415 – Don’t worry! WELSTech will be back again next week with a month’s worth of Community Feedback from you, our faithful listeners! Join us Tuesday, October 20 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

WELSTech welcomes a special visitor from Mexico, Missionary Mike Hartman, who shares an update on the ways technology is serving the work of spreading of the gospel. Martin and Sallie discuss ways to gather feedback on the work of the church and school, tour the updated iOS Podcasts app and share an overview of the new early childhood devotions.

Latin America Update – Missionary Mike Hartman from Mexico dropped by the WELSTech Studio West to share news of the tech-enhanced outreach efforts currently underway in Latin America.

The survey says – Martin and Sallie discuss the art of gathering feedback in the church and school setting.

New Chromecasts

Early Childhood Ministry Educators Weekly Devotions

Share these Latin American Missions sites with your Spanish speaking friends:

Tune in to the WELSTech Instructional Playlist for the Academia Cristo Update for September 2015.

Episode 414 – The season’s book discussion continues as Martin and Sallie share chapter 2 of With All Your Heart: Project Management for Churches, Christian Schools and Other Faith-Based Organizations. Tune in to learn about steps for starting a project. Join us Tuesday, October 13 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net

School is back in session, and that means the monthly WELSTech focus on educational technology is back also! Gail Potratz joins the conversation to share an overview of Google’s learning management system, Classroom. Young engineers are in the news, and Martin shares a sunny way to manage your schedule.

Learning Google-style – Martin and Sallie welcome Gail Potratz from Emanuel in New London, WI back to the semi-regular classroom technology correspondent share for a new season of edtech knowledge sharing. This month the topic is Google Classroom as Gail walks through creating classes and sharing assignments, even using some of her favorite Google extensions, Doctopus and Goobric.

Congrats to the Shoreland Lutheran High School Engineering Team for winning the GE Design & Build Challenge at the Milwaukee Maker Faire!

Announcing the WELSTech Photo Challenge October categories … Reformation & Fall.

Brainscape flashcards

This week we’ve added a video from the WELS Hymnal Committee to the WELSTech “Like’s” list on Vimeo. Enjoy a special setting of In Christ Alone, one of the 50 favorite hymns identified in their recent survey. Learn more.

Episode 413 – Martin and Sallie welcome Missionary Mike Hartman to WELSTech as he shares an update on the tech enhanced work happening in Latin American Missions. Join us Tuesday, October 6 at 4 pm Central – welstechlive.wels.net

This week on WELSTech we talk about a creative way to involve members in your ministry efforts, share some security tips for your social media accounts and even throw in some cool (and educational) websites for kids.

Creative team – Tom Plamann, Technology & Creative Arts Coordinator at The CORE in Appleton, WI, joins Martin and Sallie with a look behind the scenes at the planning, creativity and cutting edge technology (minus a fear of failure) which goes into each worship service.

iOS 9 available for iPhone and iPad

Websites for Kids – A list of great kids sites including …

This week we’ve added not one, but two, projection mapping introductory videos to the WELSTech Product Demos YouTube Playlist – 3D Projection Mapping and Projection Mapping: The Future is Here. Learn more at Projection Mapping Central.

Episode 412 – Martin and Sallie welcome back Gail Potratz to the semi-regular classroom correspondent chair to talk “making” with tech in the classroom.  Join us Tuesday, September 29 at 4 pm Central. welstechlive.wels.net