I've written an entire book on these subjects and more called Teaching with Computers in Christian Education. I strongly recommend you read it before getting started.

"How can my church get started teaching with computers?"

People ask this question all the time. I always answer "slowly." You want to start a small experiment with one or two committed teachers, a handful of software and a handful of kids. There is no doubt the kids will love learning with computers. The only question is whether or not you have enough information to make the most of this great opportunity. My resources will help. Do the reading and research.

"What software should we experiment with?"

This is another frequently asked question. Here's my best advice based on over a decade of experience with my own labs and helping others get started:

   ~ Pick a few of our most popular programs and start using them with kids in an experiment. ~

Our catalog and website has a "Top 7 CD Favorites Pack." Any couple of programs from that list is a good group to experiment with. It includes a variety of our most popular easy-to-use programs for those just beginning to explore what this medium can do in CE.

In general, here's a short list of program's you'd like find in many of our customer's labs:

1. Kid Pix 4 - the best creative writing and drawing program around (very versatile)
2. Life of Christ CD ...odds are you're going to be covering Jesus soon (I hope).
3. Fall of Jericho 3-D ...a versatile quiz program your entire class can use for any subject.
4. Play & Learn Children's Bible CD ... if you're going to have K's and 1st graders , this CD is a must.
5. Awesome Bible Stories ...a great example of a "lesson designed" piece of software.
6. Galilee Flyer CD... four Jesus stories in a flying game that keeps them coming back for more.
7. Jesus in Space CD... a new CD that's flying off the shelf because it covers three major Jesus stories in one terrific CD.

These programs will cover a lot of territory. After that...it a matter of the subjects you need to cover and what your equipment can run. By the way... don't let old equipment limit your choices.

If you already know what stories you must teach with your lab in the coming months, then you will obviously want to pick software that covers those stories. View our Bible Story -to- Software Cross Reference document here online to see what software we recommend for your stories. Feel free to email me your "scope and sequence" of stories and I'll return your email with software suggestions specific to your list of stories.

Make sure you have UTILITY PROGRAMS too...
They will come in VERY handy when you can't run a CD you want, can't order it in time, or can't afford the program you should be picking.

Since computers first graced Sunday School classrooms, computer lab teachers have been using various "UTILITY" programs to provide software for their lessons. In the early days, there was very little software particular to certain Bible stories.

These "utility" programs include a creative writing/drawing program, such as Kid Pix;  a quiz making program such as Fall of Jericho; and now the new "Let's Talk" CD. Let's Talk allows you (or preferably your students) to create a talking lesson about the verses you are studying. You can add quiz questions and discussion questions too. Let's Talk onscreen characters speak aloud what you create. Another "utility" program is Cal & Marty's Scripture Memory Game CD. In addition to learning a key verse in your passage, you can add comments and quiz questions to each verse in Cal & Marty. If there's no good 'memory verse' challenge the students to create their own which succinctly puts the teaching into a sentence.

My book --Teaching with Computers in Christian Education-- expands on the preceding topics and many more important issues. To order it, give me a call, 1-800-678-1948, or email me.

Learn more about our CD STARTER --many of which are mentioned in this article.

Return to the Articles Page to read more articles.

Visit the Teaching Tips Section to see the many outlines and lesson helps we have for you.

Print the "Top Ten Most Common Computer Lab Mistakes" page.

Lesson Planning '101' for the Computer Lab in C.E.

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Copyright 2002-06, Sunday Software and Neil MacQueen, www.sundaysoftware.com