From iPads and eBooks to SMART Boards and YouTube, there has never been so many tools and technologies to help us teach. Whether you are technologically illiterate or a digital native yourself, you can use these tools to meet the needs of the 21st century learner. In this workshop, Digital Publishing Specialist Jared Dees will present twelve tools for teaching religion and a brief overview of how to effectively use each one.

1. NCEA | Boston | April 12, 2012
12 Edtech Tools Any Religion Teacher
Can Use Effectively
Jared Dees
Digital Publishing Specialist
Ave Maria Press
Creator
The Religion Teacher

4. “I've just picked up a
fault in the AE-35 unit.
..
It can only be
attributable to human
error.”

7. Presentation Objectives
Technology doesn’t have to be intimidating!
We’ll focus on what is important (how to be a good teacher and
catechist), then apply technology in simple ways.
We’ll also focus on how technology can increase both
knowledge about God and faith in God.

8. Presentation Objectives
At the end of this presentation, you will be able to:
• explain the learning PROCESS.
• explain the conversion PROCESS.
• use one edtech tool to effectively teach your students.

9. Knowledge Faith
Objective Subjective
Cognitive Affective
Fides quae Fides qua
“Faith which” “Faith by which”

10. www.avemariapress.com/engagingfaith

11. Knowledge Faith
Learning Conversion
PROCESS PROCESS

12. What is the Learning PROCESS?
P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
Based on:
Constructivism Learning Theory
Scaffolding Theory

13. How do we learn something new?

14. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
Created
Watched training PowerPoints, Word Presented a webinar
Experience with
video about Took notes on the Documents, and on eTextbooks using
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office training video (O) Reports using PowerPoint 2010
2007 (P)
2010 (R) Microsoft Office (ESS)
2010 (C)

15. What is the Conversion PROCESS?

16. Called to Continuing Conversion
Faith is a gift destined to grow in the hearts
of believers. (156) Adhering to Jesus Christ,
in fact, sets in motion a process of
continuing conversion, which lasts for
the whole of life. (157)
(General Directory for Catechesis, no. 56)

17. P
Prior Experience
What is the Conversion PROCESS? R
Receive Grace
O
A Divine Pedagogy
Openness to Grace
“Thus catechesis takes the form of a
C
process or a journey of following the
Conversion
Christ of the Gospel in the Spirit towards
the Father.” ESS
General Directory for Catechesis, 143
Witness

18. Every dimension of the faith, like the faith itself as a whole, must be P
rooted in human experience and not remain a mere adjunct to the
human person. Prior Experience
(GDC, 87)
[The Divine pedagogy] underlines divine initiative, loving motivation, gratuity R
and respect for our liberty; with regard to man it highlights the dignity of the
gift received and the demand to grow continually therein; (GDC, 143) Receive Grace
“Conversion begins with an openness to the initial proclamation of O
the Gospel and the sincere desire to listen for its resonance within”
(NDC, 17B). Openness to Grace
“This is crucial: we must be converted—and we must continue to be C
converted!” (Go Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for
Catholic Evangelization in the United States, no. 14) Conversion
To prepare such witnesses, it is necessary for the Church to develop a ESS
profoundly religious catechesis, nourished on the Gospel, which will deepen
man's encounter with God and forge a bond of permanent communion with Witness
Him.

19. The Learning PROCESS and Conversion PROCESS
Find out more in the free eBook:
The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning
Get it at www.thereligionteacher.com/ncea2012

20. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

21. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

22. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

23. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Keyword Activity:
R
List the terms you would use to research a
Receive Grace
particular question.
O
Example:
Openness to Grace
What terms would you use to do research on the current
C pope? List five to share with the class.
Conversion
ESS
Witness

24. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Google Graphic Organizer
R
Question:
Receive Grace
O Answer:
Website Source:
Openness to Grace
Supporting Website 1:
C Supporting Website 2:
Conversion
ESS
Witness

25. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

26. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
Activity: Teacher Direct Presentation Create a PowerPoint PowerPoint
Pre-presentation Instruction / Lecture Handouts Assessment
PowerPoint Have students
Practice note-taking summarize and apply Use the students’
Students create a skills with students. what they have PowerPoints to asses
short PowerPoint Move beyond what is learned by creating a understanding.
presentation on written. slideshow
everything you know presentation and Create PowerPoint
about the Sacraments teaching the class. templates for them to
of the Catholic complete from
Church. memory.

27. P Life Story Slideshow
Prior Experience Create a PowerPoint presentation depicting certain life experiences related to a topic. (e.g.
Forgiveness, Christmas, Easter, Lent, Mary, peace, communion, etc.)
R PowerPoint Guided Reflection
Receive Grace Teacher creates a collection of images, words, and meditative music to play during prayer time.
(Students may also volunteer to create these.)
O Viewing Environment
Openness to Grace The teacher fosters an environment to view the presentation that promotes meaningful reflection.
C Saving the File For Reference
Conversion Having been significantly impacted, the students saves the file and comes back to it again for
further inspiration and support for the changes in their lives.
ESS PowerPoint Witness Talk
Witness Student creates a witness talk using PowerPoint slides to direct the story.

28. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

29. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

30. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Pre-assessment:
R
Prior Knowledge: Teacher creates a short quiz in Google
Receive Grace
Docs Forms and shares the link with the students.
O
Prior Experience: Teacher creates a short survey in
Openness to Grace
Google Docs Forms and shares the link with the students.
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

31. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience At Home Assessment:
R
Teacher creates a short quiz in Google Docs Forms
Receive Grace
and shares the link with the students.
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

32. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Evernote
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

33. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
Evernote
R • “Remember everything”
Receive Grace • Cloud-based note-taking system:
PC, Mac, Smartphone, Tablet, and
O Web Apps
Openness to Grace • Easy to clip from the web
• Easy to record voice notes
• Easy to take and save pictures (of
C board, for example)
Conversion
ESS
Witness

34. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Evernote Organization Tips
R • Notebook Stack  Notebook  Note & Tags
Receive Grace • Title Notes with Date:
“20120412 NCEA Workshop by Jared Dees”
O
• Clipping from the web automatically cites links
Openness to Grace • Student Ownership: Brainstorm the best tags and notebook
titles for each lesson or new piece of information.
C
Application of PROCESS:
Conversion • PK: Pre-writing, place within a shared notebook
• OK: Follow the Evernote Organization Tips
ESS
• OG: Use Evernote as a journaling system
Witness

35. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

36. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
Activity: Teacher Direct Presentation Create a Prezi Prezi Assessment
Pre-presentation Prezi Instruction / Lecture Handouts have to be
made separately. Have students Use the students’
Create a short Prezi summarize and apply Prezi’s to asses
presentation on what they have understanding.
everything you know learned by creating a
about the Sacraments Prezi presentation and Create Prezi templates
of the Catholic teaching the class. for them to complete
Church. from memory.

37. P Life Story Prezi
Prior Experience Create a Prezi presentation depicting certain life experiences related to a topic. (e.g. Forgiveness,
Christmas, Easter, Lent, Mary, peace, communion, etc.)
R Prezi Guided Reflection
Receive Grace Teacher creates a collection of images, words, and meditative music to play during prayer time.
(Students may also volunteer to create these.)
O Viewing Environment
Openness to Grace The teacher fosters an environment to view the presentation that promotes meaningful reflection.
Is a Prezi too distracting?
C Saving the File For Reference
Conversion Having been significantly impacted, the students saves the file and comes back to it again for
further inspiration and support for the changes in their lives.
ESS Prezi Witness Talk
Witness Student creates a witness talk using Prezi presentation to direct the story.

38. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

39. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
Watch educational Video Graphic Create a Video Video Assessment
video about a certain Organizers
topic. Students can create a Use the students
video that teaches, videos to assess
shows them role- understanding about a
playing, or tells a certain topic.
story. They can post it
to YouTube to edit and Use a rubric!
share with the class.

40. P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace Watch Inspirational Video
O Group Discussion about the Video
Openness to Grace With guided questions and possibly a group leader, students discuss the video and how it made
them feel while they watched it. What memories or experiences did it bring up from their lives?
C
Conversion
ESS Video Witness
Witness Students record themselves sharing their faith experience via YouTube.

41. Free Catechetical Videos for Students: www.thereligionteacher.com/videos
www.youtube.com/thereligionteacher

42. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience Screencasting
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

43. Flipping the Classroom
Classroom
Lecture
Help from Teacher
Home
Homework
Reading
Help from Parents

44. Flipping the Classroom
Classroom
(Home)work
Help from Teacher
Home
Screencasts Lecture
Reading
Help from Parents

45. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
Video Slideshow Maker
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

47. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

48. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

50. Example Wordle

51. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

52. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C www.quora.com
Conversion
ESS
Witness

55. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience PK: Need prior knowledge to craft creative questions.
R RK: Ask questions (or find questions) and read community
answers.
Receive Grace
CT: Creatively answer questions based on what they have
O learned in class.
Openness to Grace
Witness: Respond to the anti-Christian/anti-Catholic
comments with a personal witness statement.
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

56. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
P
Prior Experience
R
Receive Grace
O
Openness to Grace
C
Conversion
ESS
Witness

57. P R O C ESS
Prior Knowledge Receive New Organize New Critical Thinking Assess
RK: Read, view, or watch
other Facebook posts (class
Facebook page?)
CT: Find and share links,
images, and videos related to
the current topic of class.

58. P
Prior Experience and faith
R
Prior Experience: Share images and videos of life experiences.
Receive Grace
Receive Grace from positive comments by friends and family, video and
O image posts from others, music from others, etc.
Openness to Grace Openness to Grace is a challenge with so many distractions on Facebook.
Conversion can be guided by friends and family via Facebook messaging and
keeping in touch.
C
Witness: Incredible opportunity to be a witness on Facebook. Don’t let your
Conversion light be hidden. . .
ESS
Witness

59. Thank you!
Ave Maria Press
www.avemariapress.com
www.avemariapress.com/engagingfaith
www.avemariapress.com/techtips
www.avemariapress.com/etextbooks
The Religion Teacher
www.thereligionteacher.com
/ncea2012 = free eBook
Email: jared@thereligionteacher.com
Email: jdees@nd.edu
Twitter: @jareddees