Site news

WELS.net University Upgrade

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:48:33 CDT

by Sallie Draper.

We've upgraded the Moodle software that runs WELS.net University. Hopefully users won't notice too many changes. All of the functionality of the site remains in place, but the new software version makes the site much more secure from hackers.

One new feature that users are sure to enjoy is the top drop down menu bar. Find all of the great WELS.net University content just one click away in this new menu system.

What do you think of the upgrade? Have you experienced any problems because of the change? Contact me - techtrainer@wels.net - with your comments.

Happy Moodling!

Great Quick References

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:43:16 CDT

by Sallie Draper.

You'll want to check out the amazing, free quick references available from Custom Guide. Topics covered include all of the Microsoft Office products and versions, various Adobe software products, Mac software and general computer topics.

Shepherd's Staff Virtual Training

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:14:45 CST

by Sallie Draper.

I know a number of you work with Shepherd’s Staff Church Management Software from Concordia. I just wanted to make you aware of a five week online training session for Shepherd’s Staff users being offered twice in the coming months by the WELS Technology Office. The session entitled Membership & More will be offered from January 28 to March 2, or March 31 to May 4. Membership & More focuses on the Membership and Attendance modules of the popular church management software package from Concordia Technology Solutions. New and experienced users will learn tips and tricks for managing important member data efficiently and will experience the power of sub-groups and reports which can be created.

The class is designed to take advantage of a virtual classroom which includes discussion boards, self-guided tutorial exercises, screencasts and a weekly audio/web conference where class participants will be given a chance to ask questions and delve deeper into concepts learned during the week.

Training topics include:

Managing people data
Entering activities, skills and training
Maintaining an electronic registry of official acts
Creating sub-groups, a.k.a. the hidden power of Shepherd’s Staff
Running Membership reports
Maximizing member communication
Tracking attendance

The cost of the course is $30. To learn more or sign up for either session visit: http://www.wels.net/jump/mam.

If you are not a Shepherd’s Staff user, but your congregation is interested in the product, WELS congregations can get a 10% discount. Just email softwaresales@cts.cph.org for more information or visit http://www.shepherdsstaff.org.

Take Note

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 09:41:54 CST

by Sallie Draper.

Recently someone e-mailed me for help with note taking. She was looking for tips and tricks to help with capturing the important information from various meetings, conversations, web research, or any time she was faced with information that she wanted or needed to remember in a systematic, concise way. I looked around a bit and came up with a few ideas that I thought we all could benefit from:

Back to school - Check out these note taking tips students receive at a liberal arts college.
Map it - Visually organize your thoughts using mind mapping software such as MindManager, FreeMind or the online tool MindMeister.
Next action - Organizational guru David Allen, author of the popular book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, suggests that meetings be closed with a summary review of what "next actions" (or things to do) are needed and who is responsible for each - great things to take note of!
Bookmark it - Online social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and Furl are growing in popularity. They provide a place for organizing web sites by tagging them with keywords for easy retrieval and sharing. Learn more by watching this cool 3 minute video from CommonCraft, Social Bookmarking in Plain English.

Do you have a burning tech topic that you would like to learn more about? E-mail me, and I'll reaseach it for you and share the findings. Then we can all learn together!

Sallie Draper

Wikis in Plain English

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:44:42 CDT

by Sallie Draper.

Lee Lefever over at the www.commoncraft.com blog is back with another excellent video explaining the basics of Wikis in Plain English (3:52 minutes).

And the blogosphere is a buzz with ideas for using Wikis including this post from lifehack.org on the 5 Uses for a Wiki at Work including

Operation Guides
Dashboard
Water Cooler
Fact and FAQ Lists
Making Plans