Ninja videos are great. I haven't got my own podcast out there yet but I am working on it (I need to get a hold of a microphone or do it at work where my computer has a microphone). My first introduction to podcasts was the grammar girl on itunes podcasts. Someone I respect at work, who writes very well, recommendeded the grammar girl podcast to me and up until then I had never, ever used podcasts (I know I am in the behind-the-times technology club for my age group) but I dove in and found out how convenient and easy they are. I see a lot of educational applications. For instance, if I were an English teacher I think some of my assignments would be to create podcasts for the topic and have the students watch each other's and give comments on each others. Other learning experiences might revolve around watching certain podcasts and summarizing them to other students and the class. Then there are some classic uses that any podcast could be used for: distance learning, lecture capture, repeat lecture listening, acommodating student needs. There are many others that Shawn Wheeler has outlined in some of his web pages and podcasts. They are great resources if the content is reliable. If it isn't then that can be used as an educational tool also.
As a side note, I was amazed at how much anti-mormon stuff was out there in the audio video material.
It reminded me of a few things that Elder Ballard shared in this last general conference.
“The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.
“For God doth not walk in crooked paths, . . . neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.
“Remember . . . that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men” (D&C 3:1–3).
God has spoken through His prophet and announced to the world that “the Standard of Truth has been erected” and that “no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.” That is undeniably and indisputably true. We have seen it for ourselves, in decade after decade, from the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith to the time of President Thomas S. Monson. Persecutions have raged. Calumny and lies and misrepresentation have attempted to defame. But in every decade from the time of the Restoration forward, the truth of God has gone “forth boldly, nobly, and independent.”
...There is still much to be done before the Great Jehovah can announce that the work is done. While we praise and honor those faithful Saints who have brought us to this point of public prominence, we cannot afford, my brothers and sisters, to be comfortable or content.
We are all needed to finish the work that was begun by those pioneering Saints over 175 years ago and carried out through the subsequent decades by faithful Saints of every generation. We need to believe as they believed. We need to work as they worked. We need to serve as they served. And we need to overcome as they overcame.
Of course, our challenges are different today, but they are no less demanding. Instead of angry mobs, we face those who constantly try to defame. Instead of extreme exposure and hardship, we face alcohol and drug abuse, pornography, all kinds of filth, sleaze, greed, dishonesty, and spiritual apathy. Instead of families being uprooted and torn from their homes, we see the institution of the family, including the divine institution of marriage, under attack as groups and individuals seek to define away the prominent and divine role of the family in society.
This is not to suggest that our challenges today are more severe than the challenges faced by those who have gone before us. They are just different. The Lord isn’t asking us to load up a handcart; He’s asking us to fortify our faith. He isn’t asking us to walk across a continent; He’s asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn’t asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple; He’s asking us to give of our means and our time despite the pressures of modern living to continue to build temples and then to attend regularly the temples already built. He isn’t asking us to die a martyr’s death; He’s asking us to live a disciple’s life...Our testimonies must run deep, with spiritual roots firmly embedded in the rock of revelation. And we must continue to move the work forward as a covenanted, consecrated people, with faith in every footstep, “till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
Upcoming topics for my next post:
Sharing my own podcast, or screencast. Interesting ways that people are using one of these tools to share the gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment