Hello, all. I'm new to this list, and this kind of thing isn't
really natural to me, but my friend Charles Fry in my ward
recommended that I subscribe and ask for your advice on a problem I'm
trying to solve.
Earlier this year I was called by the presidency of the Seventy to
serve as regional welfare specialist for the Pittsburgh PA Welfare
Region, which consists of the three stakes and one mission district
that take in all of western Pennsylvania and portions of western NY,
eastern OH, and the WV panhandle. It's a big territory, with a very
low density of members of the Church. (PA has the lowest density of
Mormons of any state in the US, and western PA's density is lower
than the state's average.)
I've been struggling with how to deliver effective training in
welfare principles, policies and procedures to priesthood and Relief
Society leaders in the region. Of course, I can do some face-to-face
training, say twice a year to each of the stakes/district, but
realistically that's probably the limit. This fall I've delivered
three classes (10 sessions) by telephone conference call to about 140
participants. I've had up to 20-25 people in a single session.
These telephone conference classes have worked (surprisingly) well,
and I've gotten good responses on the evaluation forms I've asked
people to complete after the classes.
But I'd like to move up a notch and would like to explore delivering
synchronous Web-based training over the Web. I'd like people to be
able to view materials that we are discussing, go with me to Web
sites, for example www.providentliving.org, see photos, read
materials together, etc. I want to maintain the ability to talk with
one another, which has been the best part of the conference calls—the
sharing of ideas and experiences.
I'm writing to ask if anyone involved in Church instruction is
familiar with doing this kind of thing. I work at Duquesne
University, which is beginning to use a product called Horizon Wimba,
which may well be the best tool for doing the kind of thing I have in
mind. But I thought before I contact that company to explore what
they can do I thought I'd put the problem out there to a bunch of
sympathetic and knowledgeable people to ask:
1. Is there a precedent for this model in Church training that
anyone knows of?
2. If you were going to attempt something like this, where would you
start?
3. Are there other products comparable to Horizon Wimba that I
should explore?
4. How difficult and how expensive is an approach like this going to
be?
5. What kind of skills should I be looking for to help me pilot an
approach like this?
Any other advice you have would be most appreciated. Thanks in
advance for your consideration.
Best wishes,
Evan Stoddard
Pittsburgh, PA_______________________________________________
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