CMTeleSummit – Digital Children’s Ministry – Amy Dolan
I was hoping to publish this earlier, but I missed the first 15-20 minutes of Amy’s presentation due to technical difficulties. That turns out to be a good thing because I was work out from typing all the good ideas for the portion I did hear, and having to wait for the replay allowed me to rest my fingers. 🙂 Anyhow, here is my next installment of notes from the CMTelesummit.
Introduction to Digital Perspective – Current Reality
- Talk today about a new perspective and approach for creating a digital children’s ministry
- Current reality
- Influenced by book – Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
- Digital Native defined as anyone born after 1980
- Characteristics of a Digital Native
- Read blogs instead of newspapers
- When meeting friends or going out, meet each other online before in person
- Don’t know what a library card looks like – research done online
- Music comes online rather than from stores
- Make plans with friends by IM or text
- Characteristics of a Digital Native
- Digital Immigrants defined as those less familiar with technology environment, but had to learn how to use them later in life
- Most of parents and volunteers in ministry
- Have not been immersed like Digital Natives
- Fears in the church
- Fearful of privacy
- Concerned about violence online / in games
- Fear they will be crushed under this information
- Too much information will overwhelm them
- Those who are leaders must keep those fears in mind
- But we must not cut ourselves off because of language and cultural barriers
- Values still the same
- Old fashioned solutions will still help us today
- Common Sense
- Biblical guidance
- Education
- “Fears can’t outweigh current reality of the world we are living in.”
- Must figure out how we can utilize technology.
- Two paths – at a crossroads
- We can destroy what is great about technology
- Or, make great choices
- How can we embrace our kids’ culture?
A New Digital Perspective for Connecting With Kids, Parents and Volunteers
- Must consider a brand new starting place
- Working on Phil Vischer’s What’s in the Bible series
- Decided from beginning to approach curriculum from a new approach – a new starting place
- Created bulls-eye
- Churches that owned IPods, IPads, IPhone put right in the center
- Targeted activities right to center of bulls eye
- Created activities first from a digital perspective
- Then, moved back and assumed churches had computers
- Then moved our even further for churches who needed a paper version
- Starting place was different to assume latest and greatest technology
- Whenever you can consider a new digital perspective, you should
- Must consider busy lives of volunteers and parents
- Use technology to make things as effective and efficient as possible
- Want to consider a connected perspective
- Digital perspective allows us opportunity to connect
- Consider perspective that is global
- Consider digital learning perspective that is collaborative
- What is right for you
- Create a thinking curriculum – collaborate with kids
- Consider new perspective where children shape us
Curriculum from a Digital Perspective
- Writing curriculum using technology for kids
- Make sure content is good and biblical
- Moving forward in scope and sequence
- Holistic scope and sequence
- How can you accomplish it from a digital perspective
- How could it happen if you had
- Ipad
- Ipod
- Flip camera
- Challenge yourself to view it from perspective of digital bulls eye
- Encourage blogs, twitter, cmconnect to post practical ideas for writing your own curriculum on how you’re coming up with new ideas
- If buy curriculum
- How tweak to make digital friendly
- Skype conversation with a missionary
- Allows you not to rewrite it but tweak it
- Even on activity to experiment and see how kids connect in a new way
- A lot of technology is free
- Let others know
- How tweak to make digital friendly
- Consider a digital music approach
- Haven’t integrated digital music perspective in church
- Something we love about buying and selling physical CDs
- For volunteers to hear and practice music before service
- Send parents link to music on Itunes
- E-mail or share digital music files
- Encourage kids to create and contribute to curriculum
- Mostly for older kids
- Suppose you needed a video created or located, ask some of your kids to do that
- Goes for music, etc. as well
- Kids are adept at this kind of thing
- Make sure parents know what you are doing
- As introducing them to new words or concepts
- Have them add new word to Wikipedia
- Purchase Flip cameras for ministry to make videos or record small groups
- Report on what they’ve done
- Remember their learning
- Teach other kids
- Encourage kids to write their own blogs
- Even if it’s offline
- Teaches them how
- Rotate kids in to write blog
- Contribute to their own learning
- Shaping our learning as adults
- Purchase an IPad
- Going to be a great solution for those of us in Children’s Ministry
- Great option to save money using Ipad by eliminating supplies
- Ideas (as is without new apps)
- Ebook section – Several different versions of Bible and use it small group
- Music for lesson and allow small group leaders to use music
- Watch videos in small group
- Map feature – track biblical events
- PNS Pro App – create their own songs on piano
- Develop our own apps for children’s ministry and share
- If not comfortable with IPad, could try using IPod you already have
- Purchase an IPad
Training for Volunteers and Parents from a Digital Perspective
- For volunteers and parents
- Encourage volunteers to use Twitter
- Get on Twitter as a leader
- Bring twitter to your leaders
- Henry Zonio has great guide on his blog on how to use it
- Utilize hashtags like #kidmin
- Utilize twitter for volunteer leadership teams
- Use blogs for training
- Create your own training
- Created her own conference for her volunteers
- Put together from various sources
- Jonathan Cliff – Short videos he sends weekly/monthly to his volunteers
- Free live streaming from other events
- Training for parents
- Online shared experience for family time
- Jellytelly.com
- Parent class to unpack digital culture
- Facebook class for parents at church
- Send parents links or podcasts you’re listening to
- Facebook page for parents or ministry
- Sam Luce – Guide for how to create your own facebook page
Effective Communication with Volunteers and Parents from a Digital Perspective
- Consider eliminating some physical meetings
- Skype, IChat, Tokbox to virtually attend meetings
- Ways to share files digitally with parents and volunteers
- Dropbox.com
- Communicate well with parents
- App development
- Check in while driving to school
- Ask parents how they would like to be communicated with
- App development
- Consider totally eliminating paper take home sheet
- Assume nobody wants it and move from there
- Doesn’t mean it is eliminated. Just consider other options
- If absolutely necessary, give them something small (card or postcard) with a link to where they can go for the take home sheet
Free digital download of episode 1 & 2 (and all music) this week only for $24.99 (I think) on CMTelesummit.
Checkout Amy’s blog for more information and links: http://lemonlimekids.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/cm-telesummit-next-steps/
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