Thanksgiving week on WELSTech brings many reasons to pause and give thanks, plus an interview with the good fellows at ShopWELS vendor Troxell, shopping online stewardship ideas, shopping apps to making your Black Friday (and every shopping day) a breeze, gift ideas and the best Black Friday deals. We’ve got everything but the pumpkin pie!

White Glove Treatment – Bob Berry and Chris Hunt from ShopWELS vendor, Troxell, joined Martin and Sallie to talk about their company and product line (including Chomebooks and Google licensing) and their commitment of support as schools transition to various degrees of device assisted learning.

Black Friday and Beyond – Martin and Sallie continue the shopping theme with a look at more of the ShopWELS.net site features as well as several ways to shop online and benefit the work of WELS. There are even some cool shopping-centric mobile apps that get a mention.

iPhone 4 Donations for Malawi

Episode 370 – Edtech guest host, Gail Potratz, joins Martin and Sallie to share thoughts on her implementation of a badge system for digital assessment. (Broadcast date – 12/02/14)

This week’s featured video was added to a brand new YouTube playlist, WELSTech Promo – Thanksgiving from Water of Life Lutheran Church in Las Vegas, NV

On WELSTech this week the discussion topic is online learning and we welcome a special guest, Dr. John Meyer, from Martin Luther College to tell us about their spring course offerings which range from one hour webinars for clock hours to 3 credit hour courses. Martin gives us the skinny on a brand new gadget and Sallie shares community feedback from the WELSTech audience.

Learning Online – Dr. John Meyer, Director of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education at Martin Luther College, joins Martin and Sallie to discuss the variety of offerings available in the area of online learning.

Episode 369 – Join us on a special date and time – Monday, November 24 @ 11 am – for a look at ShopWELS.net offerings and an interview with ShopWELS vendor, Chris Hunt from Troxell. (Broadcast date – 11/24/14)

This week we’ve added an entry on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching Videos YouTube channel – Salman Khan talk at TED 2011

On this week’s WELSTech we redefine our understanding of productivity as serving others, the work God gives us in his Word.  Martin and Sallie shares useful insights from Part 2 of Matt Perman’s book What’s’ Best Next. Listen also for ideas for churches use of Instagram and an overview of the newly released Logos 6.

Gospel-Driven Productivity – In Part 2 of What’s Best Next, author Matt Perman equates being productive to living a life of service. Martin and Sallie discuss the book’s definition of productivity and how it relates to activities Christians do every day in every aspect of their lives.

Episode 368 – Dr. John Meyer, Director of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education at Martin Luther College, joins Martin and Sallie as we share information on online learning opportunities. (Broadcast date – 11/18/14)

Check out this week’s entries on the WELSTech “Like’s” list on Vimeo  – Jonah Interactive Bible Study

It’s a happy day on WELSTech as we select the winner of our HymnSoft giveaway. Plus listen for mobile app, gadget and more recommendations courtesy of our Pastor’s Tech Survey.

HymnSoft – Carl Nolte, Editor of Sacred Music and Worship at Northwestern Publishing House (NPH), returns to WELSTech to share an update on HymnSoft including new features that will be released with the free update in Spring 2015.

As promised, we select the winner of a copy of HymSoft Player 3.0 (a $249 value) courtesy of NPH. Congrats to Pastor Emile Burgess!!

The survey says … – Last month Martin and Sallie shared some of the results from the recent WELSTech Survey. Today they share the remaining survey recommendations.

Episode 367 – Having trouble determining What’s Best Next? Join Martin and Sallie for a discussion of part 2 of Matt Perman’s book on that topic focusing on Gospel Driven Productivity.  (Broadcast date – 11/11/14)

Thanks to our Pastor Tech survey we learned about MuseScore and found an new video for the WELSTech Product Demos YouTube channel – Part 1 of MuseScore in 10 Easy Steps

This week on WELSTech we’re happy to welcome back Martin to the podcast host chair and also welcome Jason Schmidt to our edtech focused discussion. Learn how to introduce STEM in your school, even without a high dollar investment and keep listening for the latest tech invite-only buzz.

Kids LOVE it! – The WELSTech virtual studio is bursting at the seams this week as we welcome back Martin and are also joined by Jason Schmidt, Technology Coordinator for Bennington ISD. The discussion topic is STEM, a popular acronym in education for the integrated study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics with emphasis on creative problem solving. Often considered an expensive pond to dive into, there are many resources available to get started with a limited budget and students can’t get enough

Episode 366 – Tune in next for a discussion of pastor tech tools and the giveaway of HymnSoft Player 3.0. Carl Nolte from Northwestern Publishing House joins the conversation.  (Broadcast date – 11/04/14)

This week we’ve added three STEM focused videos to the WELSTech Instruction YouTube channel –

STEM Education Overview

STEM Integration in K-12 Education

STEM Education – Developing 21st century problem solvers

This week on WELSTech you can learn the basics for creating your own free Google site for church, school or personal use. Martin may not be back in the co-host chair just yet, but he lends his comments throughout the show. And Sallie announces a new online training opportunity for FinalWeb users.

Everyone can build a Google Site – A free web site builder – sites.google.com – comes along for the ride with your individual and Google Apps accounts. Sallie shares the steps for creating Google Sites for church, school or personal use as well as resources for setting up student ePortfolios.

Episode 365 – The virtual WELSTech studio will be full to capacity next week with Martin’s return to the co-host chair and Jason Schmidt’s guest hosting appearance as we talk STEM on a shoestring.  (Broadcast date – 10/28/14)

New this week on the WELSTech Instruction YouTube channel is Adorama’s The Where To Start Chart video overview and super cool interactive chart

This week on WELSTech our current book discussion, Matt Perman’s What’s Best Next, is back in the spotlight as we look at gospel motivation for getting things done (GTD). Devotions for women by women are featured in today’s WELS Insider segment.

Empty Chair – Sallie’s at the helm of this week’s podcast as Martin recovers from surgery this week. Listeners are invited to send Martin their best wishes for a smooth recovery over on the WELSTech Wiki.

Meanwhile WELSTech goodness carries on as Pastor Rob Guenther from Grace in Kenai, AK spans three time zones to join the conversation. He and Sallie discuss part one of What’s Best Next by Matt Perman

Episode 364 – Join Sallie as we take a hands on look at making your own Google Site.  (Broadcast date – 10/21/14)

Check out this week’s entries on the WELSTech “Like’s” list on Vimeo  –

Luther’s Morning Prayer

Luther’s Evening Prayer

This week on WELSTech the results of the Pastor’s Tech survey are revealed. What new tools will you find intriguing? Sallie shared resources from her upcoming “Going Google” Teachers’ Conference presentations and Martin shares the power of the weekly review.

The survey says – Martin and Sallie share the first of the results from the recent Pastor’s Tech survey including favorites from the Bible Study, Productivity/Planning, Member and Prospect Management and Presentation resources categories.

Episode 363 – Making God supreme in your productivity is the topic of part 1 of What’s Best Next by Matt Perman. Read along and tune in next week for the discussion.  (Broadcast date – 10/14/14)

This week’s featured video is part of the WELSTech Music YouTube playlist, Praise You (Obi’s Song).

Check your watch because it’s time again for WELSTech. This week the topic is the changing face of education technology, and guest host Gail Potratz is back to share news from her new school year. The show also includes a timely discussion of Martin’s new phone and exciting updates to Google Forms.

Welcome back – Gail Potratz, Tech Director at Emanuel in New London, WI and one of WELSTech’s semi-regular classroom technology correspondents (SRCTC), is back to share her edtech knowledge with Martin, Sallie and the WELSTech community. Find out what’s in, what’s out and what edtech is not so scary this school year in Gail’s world.

Episode 362 – Martin and Sallie begin the review of our 5 minute Pastor’s Tech Survey (bit.ly/pastorstechsurvey). Submit your favorite tech by Saturday, October 4, and you could win a copy of HymnSoft Player 3.0 (a $249.99 value) courtesy of Northwestern Publishing House. (Broadcast date – 10/07/14)

This week’s featured video was added to both out Instructional and Product Demos YouTube playlists. Enjoy friEdTechnology’s Getting Started With Google Classroom

Are the days of paper and pencil note taking over? On WELSTech this week we talk about a plethora of digital note taking options. Plus we share the inside scoop on the ShopWELS Insider newsletter and a recommended Greek and Hebrew flashcard app. We cap off the show with not one, but three featured videos.

Take Note – Martin and Sallie review the advantages of using digital tools to store and organize notes and project “commodities” in one place including search-ability, collaboration and one-stop cloud storage.

Episode 361 – Martin and Sallie welcome Gail Potratz back to the edtech guest host chair and catch up the technology in her new school year. (Broadcast date – 09/30/14)

To complement the digital note taking discussion, we’ve added not one but THREE featured videos to the  WELSTech’s Product Demos YouTube playlist –

Google Keep

Evernote 6 for Android

OneNote for iOS 8