Summer Sunday School: Using Computers
By: Neil MacQueen

There are several reasons why using Bible software during the summer is a great idea. First, summer often means lower attendance, which means you need fewer computers (or maybe just one) and less software.

Summer is often the time when the regular teachers take a break--meaning it's a good time to introduce something new such as software.  If you already have computers in your program, the kids won't want to take a break.

Summer Sunday School often needs a little more excitement to motivate kids to come. Spending extra time in the computer lab will help. Tell your students ahead of time which Sundays they'll be in the lab.

Summer classes often don't feel as pushed by the curriculum. You have time to do what you want, so you can introduce computers into your curriculum, try out new software, and take your time.

Finally, summer is a great time to go back over previously purchased software that you didn't fully use last time you booted it up.
 
For those of you in Rotation Model Sunday Schools, summer is an excellent time to let the kids stay in the lab for a couple of weeks in a row. I call this taking the computer workshop "offline."

Normally in a rotation schedule, each group only stays one week at time in the computer lab. During the summer, however, you can spend several weeks in a row depending on what you want to accomplish. Why? Summer has always been a time to do things differently. Doing the summer differently will also make your return to the regular fall schedule seem fresh.

Ideas for Summer in the Computer Lab
First, summer can be "do over" time. At some point every year, most teacher have the feeling that we should have spent more time (or done a better job) on a key story or two. Maybe you have a CD you just didn't feel you had a grip on until after you have used it, or didn't get the attendance during that CD's use you had hoped for, or had a technical problem that is now cured. Now you can go back and do it over.

Summer can also be "go back and go deeper" time. It is an excellent time to pull out that certain CD and go deeper into its content. Many times I wish we could go into a CDs certain program area, but we just didn't have the time. In my 14 years of computer lab teaching experience, I've found most kids don't mind "going back" at all when "going back" takes place on the computer.

Or, this could be the "Summer of Key Verses." You could review just the "key verses" from last year's lessons.

You can also create a Year-in-Review Question set to see how much info they've retained from the year. Biochemically speaking, the brain moves refreshed memories into "easier access" areas of memory. Thus, "refreshing" content is an essential task for all teachers to do.

Another idea is to do a fun makeover on your lab. Move your computer lab to a different room. Often, churches have unused rooms during the summer. If you have a smaller lab, it is easier to move. If you have smaller attendance, you probably won't have to move all of the computer equipment either. This time would also be an excellent opportunity to paint and decorate your computer workshop while the computers are elsewhere.

Don't Have Summer Sunday School?
* Put one of your computers on a rolling cart and wheel it into your Fellowship Hall after worship for coffee and juice time. The kids will love you for it, and it will give adults a reason to stick around a little longer.

* Create a "Lending Bag" of software you are willing to lend to your students over the summer. Keep good records of who has what and encourage parents to go through the programs with their child. Give them a simple handout of questions for each program that when filled-out demonstrates to you that they did the program. Award fun prizes. You could expand on this concept to include previously viewed videotapes.

Avoid Some Mistakes
Don't feel bad if you've made some or all of these 10 mistakes or were about to. I've made some, too. There are other less obvious mistakes you can make, but the following 10 are ones that concern me the most.

1. Too many kids, not enough computers
Enthusiasm can turn into chaos with too many kids. The answer may be to control the number of kids, not rush out and buy more computers. How many kids per computer? "2.5" 

2. Too many computers, not enough teachers
It's amazing how many labs tell me that their lab teacher (singular) had problems with a certain piece of software that they have on all 6 (or 8 or 12) of their computers. They ask me about the software and the lesson plan, and I tell them to get some help. An extra teacher and a teen or two can make or break your lab.

As prices have plunged, more churches have begun teaching with software unprepared and overwhelmed. Fools rush in with money, no experience, and untrained teachers. 

Too many teachers? Nope, you can't have too many teachers. You've got 40 to 50 minutes a week at best in the average Sunday School. Maximize it.

Too many computers and not enough kids? Believe it or not, there are churches that get used (or new) equipment by the truckload or buy their computers thinking "one computer per kid" only to discover later they didn't need all the equipment (and that bigger labs require more teachers and bigger software budgets). Then they wonder why no sane teacher will set foot in such a lab -where the computers are lined up all in a row and the kids all have headphones on. Be sure to get your numbers right.

3.   Believing this is easy, and settling for "happy"
You can't just turn on software and expect learning to happen. Yet, many newbies think it's just that easy. They rush into creating a lab expecting the software to do their teaching work for them. 

Yes, the kids will be happy to plow through your software (and miss half its content doing so), and they'll look forward to the lab the next time, and the next. But "happy" isn't what we're after with computers; it's merely where we begin. We're after teacher-student sharing and reflection. That happens as you go through the software with your kids, not when you sit back and watch.

Some churches think teaching with computer requires people with computer skills instead of teaching skills. But once the software starts up, it's all about teaching, not about "tech-ing."It is easier to show a teacher the necessary technical ropes, than it is to show a techie how to teach.

4. Mis-judging software before trying it out in the classroom
You should immediately assume that most children's software is not built to appeal to you. It's about how they enjoy it. We test each program with real kids. More than once I've been surprised by what my students like or grab onto in a program. And because I'm right there with them as that moment arrives, I can run with it.

Quite often, the difference between "happy kids at the computer" and "happy kids who are learning at the computer" is what the teacher brings to the lesson. (Yet, if you have a lousy lab set-up, such as, a lab that's too noisy and has poor acoustics, it can undermine the teacher's effort in a heartbeat.) 

5. Putting your computers too close together
When you stack computers too close together, the music, sound effects and narration wash over each other and create cacophony. It's particularly bad for the teacher who should be sitting equi-distant between the pair of computers they are working with. Start with an adequately sized room and place computer about 5 feet apart with dividers between them.

6. Not having enough software, and not being able to choose the right software for the lesson
I continue to hear from well-meaning people who expect to have one program that will teach all their stories on a 233mhz dinosaur. Or complain they don't have any money for software that matches their upcoming lessons because they just spent $2000 on new equipment.

7. Using the same old software until they groan
This is the result of #6 above. Word processing to create a "newsletter about the story" works about once a year. Microsoft Word is not the kind of software that will light any fires. Variety is the spice of life. If you're not going to use a variety of programs, why bother getting started?

8. Not having a lesson plan and not being prepared
If you're not previewing, preparing and going into class with a lesson plan, then let somebody else teach the kids.

9. Thinking those six year old computers are fantastic
Well, they are fantastic --compared to nothing. But the screaming fact is that you can't teach with the screensaver. You teach with the software. And if your computers can't run most of the Christian software available, then there's a fundamental flaw in your lab concept.

10. Too Many Good Computers (!)
I know it sounds unbelievable, but I regularly encounter churches who get too many computers. Some business gives them a room full, or some member writes them a big check. And the church ends up with more computers than they can properly manage or have room for. And they can't afford all the software they really need. Then the computers crowd the room, which then creates a noise problem. And now your real teachers want nothing to do with the lab. 

The solution is simple: only have or turn on as many computers as you can adequately support with good software and good teachers.

Hardware Assessment
Finally, summer is the ideal time to assess your hardware's future. Even if you have much older computers, you may not need to replace them this year. How is that possible?
Because it depends on the stories you want to teach in the coming year. If most of those stories can be taught using older software, you can probably squeak another year out of your older computers. But, if all the stories for the coming year seem to require newer software that's beyond your current equipment, then this summer-the-year-before is the time to realize it and start either backpedaling, or thinking about replacing your equipment.

Neil MacQueen is a Presbyterian minister, and founder and president of Sunday School Software.

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