Getting Started with Computers in Christian Education

1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Read the book Teaching with Computers in Christian Education. Learn from the mistakes and successes of those who have gone before you. Using computers in the Sunday School is different than using computers in the public schools. Over the years I've saved churches from making purchasing mistakes and wasting hundreds of dollars. Before you start spending serious money or somebody's time (which has its own cost), read my book.

Click here to view the Table of Contents from our book. Order a copy for $18 plus postage on our online order form. It will save you from making mistakes and wasting money.

2. DO AN EXPERIMENT
We recommend creating a small controlled experiment. An experiment consists of a handful of kids, a teacher who can commit to several Sundays in a row, a GOOD borrowed computer or office computer, and two or three different pieces of software. Let them loose for a month or two. Check out our TOP PICKS for some good programs to examine. Learn from your experiment what teaching with software is like, and whether or not it is for you.

3. BE SERIOUS ABOUT HARDWARE, NOT WISHFUL
Realize from the start that you need decent multimedia capable Windows-based computers. Getting started with computers that are five years old is OK, but won't let you experience the best this medium has to offer. Getting started with 133mhz and 233mhz computers IS NOT WISE. Jump over to our TECHIE FAQs (frequently asked questions) for specific advice on buying or upgrading hardware. Beware those old boat anchors someone dumped at your doorstep.

Read our Techie FAQs and Hardware Recommendations.

4. GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE INVOLVED
Find someone who likes to teach to lead this project. Do not hand over your lab to a techie who can't teach. Once the computers are operational, the computer lab becomes a classroom. You will need people who know how to share their faith, ask good questions, create a lesson plan, and know WHEN to shut off the computers --not just HOW.

5. DO SOME MORE READING!
How many kids per computer? Should I network my computers? Can I copy one piece of software to several computers? How do I set up my room? How do I train my teachers? The answers to these questions are given in detail in our book. Our answers may surprise you. In short the answers are: 2 or 3; no; no; lots of room; with a mentor-apprentice model on the job. Read the book. It comes spiral bound so you can lay it flat on a copier and copy the pages from it you need to share with others and train teachers.

6. GET YOUR NUMBERS RIGHT
It saddens me to see churches get MORE computers than they need based on false assumptions about how they think the lab will work.

7. PICK THE RIGHT SOFTWARE TO START WITH
"Selecting Software for your Start-Up" -- Our book has some great advice on this subject. You can also read a brief article about what software to choose first. Any couple of our TOP recommendations is what we recommend --IF you don't already have a curriculum you need to follow.

If you have a curriculum you must follow, feel free to EMAIL me a list of your "scope and sequence" for the coming year. I'll email back a list of software I'd do it with.

8. Don't Underestimate the Importance of Correct Set-up. 
Stacking your computers like cordwood is wrong. Space them out and put up low dividers between them so sound is blocked between them, but teachers can see what's going on.

Good Setup Pictured Left:  Dividers reduce the spray of volume coming from speakers, but do not reduce the teacher's line of vision.

--Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software