[Teachldsseminary] CHAT:Electronic scriptures

[bevtracy@comcast.net]

There are a lot of things that can be done with electronic scriptures now.  I think you can even make notes in them.  Sometimes the goal is finding the scripture quickly and not spending too much class time determining if a certain scripture is in the "big book or the little book."  But, the value of looking up and reading the scripture is also that we become familiar with the books.  I can picture certain scriptures by where they are on the page.  I know a note that I have written and sometimes even what color pencil I have used.  Whether or not a Palm is a problem depends on the goals of the scripture activity.

Every year we have a scripture mastery challenge with the stake high council.  Two years ago, several of the men on the high council were feeling pretty smug because they had their palms all ready.  However, the Seminary students skunked them because they knew how to find the scriptures associated with the clues and what they looked like on the page.  

I haven't ever had this challenge but if it were my student, I would probably ask them to have their hard copy scriptures with them, in case they had something they wanted to mark in them.  If the student can truly master the scriptures better with the Palm, then they won't be drawn to their books, but if they see the value of having those books there, they will make the transition on their own.

Bev
Fair Oaks, CA

> I have a difference of opinion about the student using the Palm Pilot. I 
> think the faster a student can find a scripture the better. If students 
> take too long looking up chapter and verse/s in the book, it has been my 
> experience that you can lose the attention of the class. In fact, I do many 
> of my lessons in PowerPoint and have all the scriptures that I want the 
> student to read and or discuss up on the screen so that the whole class can 
> read the text at the same time so we don't waste a lot of time trying to 
> find the chapter and verse/s in the book. 
> 
> Bill EMS CALIF