Recording meetings and Sunday school

[Rain]

This reminds me of parents. Mom talked about dad snoring occasionally and he would deny it.

One day when she was taking a nap he grabbed the tape recorder and started fake snoring into it to show her she was the one with the problem. Mom was in the RS presidency and he managed to add that snoring to that week's tape which hadn't been listened to by any of our many shut ins that lived in our ward.

[clarkgoble]

On 2/3/2019 at 1:53 PM, Doctrine 612 said:

Just got an email from the Bishop that they are going to have someone record what people say in classes.

what do you think about this, is it even legal?

So long as disclose they are doing it then its completely legal. Symposia are regularly recorded along with Q&A sessions at the end. A Sunday School class is no different. I know some wards for a while when I was younger videotaped Sacrament to let older members who were unable to attend Church participate. Although I vaguely remember a directive from SLC ending such practices.

As long as they have permission from the Church and local Bishop/Stake President to do this I don't see any problem.

The main danger, as Rain noted, is that such things can end up on YouTube inappropriately. However let's be honest, a lay Sunday School meeting isn't exactly reflecting too much on the Church. However there's always a danger if there's someone in the ward with fringe views who likes to speak up. Enemies will particularly latch onto anything racist, anti-LGBT or the like. So there are some real dangers although in practice I don't know how likely that really is.

[hope_for_things]

On 2/3/2019 at 1:53 PM, Doctrine 612 said:

Just got an email from the Bishop that they are going to have someone record what people say in classes.

 

what do you think about this, is it even legal?

 

Email

 

Brothers and Sisters,

The (Blank) Ward is going to be utilizing different resources over the coming weeks as we try to dial in an efficient and effective way to live caption our meetings. Today in our Sacrament and Gospel Doctrine classes, Sister (blank) will be capturing as much as she can of what is said within the following document. If you click this link, you should be prompted to "request access" to this document so you can follow along as she types. Please come early today to Sacrament meeting if you would like to make sure the wrinkles are ironed out before we start.

 

the document is a google app.

The classes are too big to be effective.  They need to break these up into smaller classes so that more people are encouraged to participate.  Not all the older people can hear very well as we had to move SS into the cultural hall.  They could get a microphone out, but again, the class is just too big, they need to break things up into smaller groups.  

[bsjkki]

1 hour ago, hope_for_things said:

The classes are too big to be effective.  They need to break these up into smaller classes so that more people are encouraged to participate.  Not all the older people can hear very well as we had to move SS into the cultural hall.  They could get a microphone out, but again, the class is just too big, they need to break things up into smaller groups.  

We had a big discussion on whether SS was too big and whether the Gospel Doctrine class should be split. It was a divided group with worries about “teacher shopping” and cliques forming. How to split it? Maybe be age would be an option we had not discussed.

Edited February 5, 2019 by bsjkki

[Jeanne]

4 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

We had a big discussion on whether SS was too big and whether the Godpel Doctrine class should be split. It was a divided group with worries about “teacher shopping” and cliques forming. How to split it? Maybe be age would be an option we had not discussed.

Just my opinion...but by splitting of age, that might be good.  Your older members have memories of what was earlier taught and might have more questions or need better understanding   Are there still cliques?  I remember in my tiny wards that there was just a natural division between families with certain last names.

[hope_for_things]

1 hour ago, bsjkki said:

We had a big discussion on whether SS was too big and whether the Gospel Doctrine class should be split. It was a divided group with worries about “teacher shopping” and cliques forming. How to split it? Maybe be age would be an option we had not discussed.

We had multiple SS classes in one of my wards when I served in the SS presidency.  At one point we had 2 GD classes and an alternate class that we rotated (Family History, Marriage & Family class, and a Provident Living class that we built custom curriculum for.)   

One of the GD classes was more popular than the other one, but both had more than ample participation, and I think people gravitated to the teaching style that resonated best with them.  

[sjdawg]

On 2/3/2019 at 5:06 PM, Calm said:

When you have trained professionals giving the talks, makes sense to record.  When lay members are speaking, I think it should be left up to the individual.  Some people don't like being recorded...some it may be anxiety and it is hard enough speaking without being worried it is being recorded and can be seen by anyone (mistakes are likely to be forgotten if not recorded so not a big deal; when recorded, stuttering or other awkwardness gets inflated as what will be now remembered); some people have good reason not to want to be recorded (stalking, for example).

People who grew up before cell phones or even video cameras may feel very differently about being recorded than younger members.

Funny then that the main concern seems to be General Authorities, who I would consider professionals, being recorded.  

[Calm]

5 hours ago, clarkgoble said:

So long as disclose they are doing it then its completely legal. Symposia are regularly recorded along with Q&A sessions at the end. A Sunday School class is no different. I know some wards for a while when I was younger videotaped Sacrament to let older members who were unable to attend Church participate. Although I vaguely remember a directive from SLC ending such practices.

As long as they have permission from the Church and local Bishop/Stake President to do this I don't see any problem.

The main danger, as Rain noted, is that such things can end up on YouTube inappropriately. However let's be honest, a lay Sunday School meeting isn't exactly reflecting too much on the Church. However there's always a danger if there's someone in the ward with fringe views who likes to speak up. Enemies will particularly latch onto anything racist, anti-LGBT or the like. So there are some real dangers although in practice I don't know how likely that really is.

I can see a more immediate problem for a ward if personal stories are shared and a member latches on something said as a negative about them and then uses the recording as proof in order to draw others into the conflict.

[Calm]

4 hours ago, bsjkki said:

We had a big discussion on whether SS was too big and whether the Gospel Doctrine class should be split. It was a divided group with worries about “teacher shopping” and cliques forming. How to split it? Maybe be age would be an option we had not discussed.

Ours was split by the alphabet when needed.

[Calm]

1 hour ago, sjdawg said:

Funny then that the main concern seems to be General Authorities, who I would consider professionals, being recorded.  

GAs are not usually in a ward's SM or SS, which is what is being discussed here.

[HappyJackWagon]

23 hours ago, bsjkki said:

We had a big discussion on whether SS was too big and whether the Gospel Doctrine class should be split. It was a divided group with worries about “teacher shopping” and cliques forming. How to split it? Maybe be age would be an option we had not discussed.

IMO this should be very simple. They should have a few different classes available, then they should let people choose where they would like to go. The end.

The idea that we shouldn't trust adults to make a decision about what class they go to and that they should be assigned, borders on silly. Some people will respond to different teachers and/or teaching styles. They should be free to go where they choose. If it becomes an issue that no one likes attending one teacher's class, they should probably take a hard look at that teacher's lesson and presentation. Forcing people into bad classes doesn't yield good results. Maybe the teacher can improve or maybe that person shouldn't be teaching a class at all.

In my ward we have one HUGE gospel doctrine class. There have been times over the years that teachers have been SOOO bad that the hallways are full and the class nearly empty. People will make a choice not to attend. The question is whether or not there is a good alternative or if it's just free time in the hall for an hour.