New Online Training Available for Members

New interactive training available at www.lds.org uses e-learning technology to train members serving in Church callings. Training lessons are currently available for Church record keepers, Primary teachers, and Young Women leaders. Topics include learning to manage unit finances and membership records, teaching children reverence and appropriate behavior in Primary, and using Personal Progress.

The training lessons are presented in a downloadable slide show format and have been posted on the Internet to increase availability to members. Each slide show requires between 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Slide shows include video and audio clips, printable application questions, practice scenarios, interactive dialogues, and tables and charts with suggestions related to the training topic.

Training Clerks and Auditors

Eleven slide shows are available for clerks and local unit leaders learning to record and manage unit finances and membership records. Currently, English, German, and Spanish translations of the lessons are available. The lessons will eventually be translated into 11 other languages: Chinese, Dutch, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Swedish, and Tongan. Translations will be posted online as they become available.

The lessons mimic the personal training a newly called priesthood holder with record-keeping responsibilities might receive from his predecessor. A narrator guides each of the lessons, periodically asking viewers to answer questions, take notes, or participate in interactive learning activities.

Six of the lessons address the roles of bishops, stake presidents, stake auditors, stake audit committees, and stake and ward clerks in caring for historical, financial, and membership records. Other lessons discuss how-to procedures for processing weekly donations, handling expenses, and updating membership records using the Member and Leader Services software.

By examining interactive forms and watching choreographed charts, clerks and auditors learn how to properly complete data fields on Church records and how to support their local priesthood leaders by keeping accurate records. Along with completing the lessons, clerks and auditors can download a 22-page question-and-answer sheet. The list of more than 60 questions and answers covers many of the basic questions that clerks and auditors ask upon beginning their callings.

To view this lesson, click on “Serving in the Church” listed in the left column at www.lds.org, click on “Melchizedek Priesthood,” then “Record-Keeping and Auditing Training.”

Teaching Children Reverent Behavior

Six slide shows in English provide teachers and leaders suggestions for overcoming common behavior concerns many Primary teachers face.

Topics covered by the training include dealing with disruptive and inattentive students, setting rules for acceptable Primary behavior, caring for students with special needs, responding positively to negative behaviors, talking to disruptive children, and using ward resources to encourage reverence.

Each lesson uses a real-life scenario to describe suggested approaches to teaching appropriate behavior.

For example, one segment shares Sister Pond’s approaches to dealing with a disruptive student. Sister Pond learns that teaching Primary means becoming an example to the children as well as teaching lessons. Viewers watch as Sister Pond obeys promptings from the Spirit to enhance preparation for her lesson and prayers for her students. The online training pauses several times to ask viewers how they would respond in Sister Pond’s situation.

Another lesson describes Brother Long’s frustration with students in his Primary class who don’t pay attention to his lessons. Viewers learn from Brother Long’s experience how to recognize the learning characteristics of a particular age group. Brother Long then applies this knowledge to better understand how to teach his class. The lesson then asks viewers to propose how to teach a gospel principle using activities appropriate for a child’s age.

To view this lesson, click on “Serving in the Church” listed in the left column at www.lds.org, click on “Primary,” then “Help Children Behave Appropriately.”

Using Personal Progress

Eight slide shows in English are now available online to help leaders and parents encourage young women to use Personal Progress to remain temple worthy and prepare to become future leaders, wives, mothers, and homemakers.

The set of eight lessons opens with a video clip from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He relates the Savior’s parable of the ten virgins and teaches of the importance of preparation. In the same slide show, viewers can click on a map of seven areas around the world to hear young women testify about how Personal Progress helped them prepare for the future.

In another lesson, viewers observe a conversation between Sister Chan, a Young Women leader, and Lin, a young woman in her class. Viewers review how Sister Chan learned and recognized Lin’s interests and helped Lin set Personal Progress goals that matched her interests. At the end of the lesson, visitors are asked to apply the lesson’s principles to members of their own class.

A conversation in another lesson teaches leaders how to meet with parents and introduce the Personal Progress program. Viewers watch a ward Young Women president ask Maria about her future goals and then suggest how Personal Progress could help her reach those goals.

Other topics addressed in the lessons are how to modify a value experience, how to use Mutual to support Personal Progress, how Young Women leaders can gain a testimony of Personal Progress by earning their Young Womanhood Recognition award, and how to encourage young women to continue setting Personal Progress goals.

To view this lesson, click on “Serving in the Church” listed in the left column at www.lds.org, click on “Young Women,” then “Encouraging Young Women to Work on Personal Progress.”

Members involved in Church record keeping can access new online training in multiple languages.