Opinion about On-line specific training

[Lisabob]

Take the title. Tell whoever it is who is in charge (or whoever you can get to listen) that as training chair, you are going to need to triage for a while, and that you expect their enthusiastic help (not just moral support) while you get this straightened out, as a condition for taking the position. Pick ONE section of training in your district to focus on for a bit. If it is IOLS, fine. If it is cub leader training, fine. Fix that one section. Then you can start working on other areas. Me, I'd begin with leader-specific because I think it is the lowest-cost. A good training team can put this together with relatively short notice and few resources. Anything that is field work like IOLS or BALOO/OWL becomes more of a long-term project.

 

Other than trainers, who do you *want* on your training team? I'm not sure what positions you seek to fill.

[moosetracker]

Funny you should ask, I was thinking about that on my way into work.

 

My troop & Pack are doing their own reshuffle. The great group I worked with in the troop have all aged out, so except for a few who old timers they are not the group to tap.

 

I was thinking about a woman that my first need for "help" would be looking for the coordinator for cub scout and boy scout. I remember a woman that was in the cub scout training on the last course, when I was attempting to relearn some of the program myself. She was the training coordinator for her pack. She seemed full of enthusiam, and interested in Scout training obviously from the position she took on. I should be able to get her name from the group who taught the course. But this is who I thought would be my first group of people to look for.

A) I don't think responsibility for those positions would be too scary.

B) They would keep me from thinking I need to know it all. This is help that would really anchor me and help me start focusing then running around in circles..

C) The trainers at the unit level are the pool of people in scouting who have shown a personal intrest in the training program, by taking on that position in the unit.

 

I also this morning got the phone number for the council Training Chair. I want to see if she can anchor me also.

 

If taking the Chair position (permanent or temporary). I want to schedule a meeting with my trainers. Hopefully the Council Training Chair (or someone she can recommend) can come also. Just to see what is currently in place for next years training. What our problems are. And come up with a game plan for how we should step by step go about fixing the problems.

 

Anyway, that is my game plan. Any suggestions for improvement?

[jhankins]

Just 1 suggestion -- if you haven't read the district training committee book, it outlines procedures to help go along with the job and can help answer questions in that regard for you as you figure things out.

[moosetracker]

Thanks.. I did get the book. That is where I figured out the whole hiearchy of jobs & titles. Before that, when I originally offered to be TC I thought it was flatter. Trainers, cub/boy/Venture coordinators and then Chair.

 

I was under the impressiong that the cub/boyscout coordinators were in place due to the DE telling me so.. I double checked on a second meeting because our website said Vacant. He said they were in place, the web site just outdated. After he left, I asked the old District CC (who was doing the training positions).. They are not filled. On top of other info I got that was wrong.

 

I was starting to just concentrate on Registrar of Records. Now I will need to expand. I know the book has a time line of how to organize.

 

I have some dates already set up for next training (luckily nothing until Fall.) Question is, now.. What has been done for pre-planning. I was told places to hold meetings were already booked, by the DE. Now I have to find out if that is true.

 

I also need to depend on my predecessor for things like the list of Trainers and who does what.

I am without any data on the district.

I ask, but things are in such disarray.

I got the dates for next training from the former CC because he put them on the web. I asked the former DE for them before he was former. I got "Go to the Council Kick-off, they will give you a Calendar of events." Which made me feel great to have to wait to get info like everyone else in the general public.

 

Yep, I will sit with the book and read a little more in-depth.

[sherminator505]

"That would be nice "IF" we are given the green flag to do more personal tailored training to a specific units needs."

 

The problem with this statement is National's tendancy to do exactly the opposite. The trend I've seen is toward more "generic" canned courses. The plus side to this is that you are more likely to get the numbers you need to get the course to happen. The downside is that you will provide much less position-specific information. There is a point when you become too broad and lose relevance. I'm not sure how close we are to that line with regard to our current training courses.

[scouts-a-lot]

"I am without any data on the district."

 

You should be able to call your council service center and ask for an Untrained Report from Scoutnet and get an idea of who needs what. I will warn you that some people will show as untrained and are trained to the gills. A couple of years ago I was listed as totally untrained and I had been to and staffed Wood Badge. The information is only as good as the records the Council keeps.(This message has been edited by scouts-a-lot)

[moosetracker]

Thanks Scout-a-lot. Yep there was another thread I started on here about data from council. JHankins is helping me. She will be emailing me (or maybe posting to that thread) how to get the info from council dumped into EXCEL rather then a report. That will help me alot more.

 

Old DE was not accomedating with anyone about getting us data, to help us in our job. He kind of said he had more important things to do. (Giving us (the committee) the tools so we could do our jobs would have reduced all those things he was doing.)

 

We now have the Director of Field Service helping out until we get a new DE.. and he does have alot of things to do. I don't want to request a report, then turn around and request the same data again in EXCEL. Before I couldn't get it. Now I'm waiting to request it correctly the first time. But when the DFS can get to it with all the other work he does is going to be the question. Although again getting us up and running should be of some importance to him.

[scouts-a-lot]

There are some DE's that will do anything for you and some DE's that I wouldn't do anything for. They are hot and cold. Hope you get a good one!

[jhankins]

A good DE will know who his customers are: the volunteers and the community, and they understand their job is a job of service, not dictating

[jhankins]

I'll have the instruction sheet for you this evening, I'm off running errands today.

[sherminator505]

"A good DE will know who his customers are: the volunteers and the community, and they understand their job is a job of service, not dictating"

 

Too bad you don't see that same attitude reflected more at higher levels of executiveness...

[Jeffrey H]

Not to change the subject, but getting back to the original question --

 

I attended IOLS this weekend and had a very good experience with some experieced instructors. While I enjoy the benefits of online instruction, the IOLS course is one that you cannot duplicate or attempt online. The outdoors is the "classroom" for IOLS and requires hands-on instruction.

[Eagle92]

From what I've read on national's website, and have been told by my SE after his Top Hands conference is that ONLY, again stressing ONLY, the various Leader Specific Training will be availbale online.

 

BALOO will remain the same, ie daylong outdoor oriented.

 

WeLOT and IOLS will be merged into a weekend long, OUTDOOR ( caps for emph.) training that willbe for AWDLs, WDLs, ASMs, SMs, ACAs, and CAs. However the merged syllabus will not be out until later this year or next year.

 

My suggestion, and again this is my suggestion, skip WeLOT, and go ahead and take IOLS. From what I've read, all the skills covered in WeLOT are in IOLS, except IOLS goes into more details.

 

EDITED: in addition to what is already available online. there is no way an outdoors skills course can be done online as it requires you to demonstarte those skills.(This message has been edited by eagle92)

[moosetracker]

Even those of us who state that "someday" the outdoor training will go on-line, know that right now the idea is proposterous. That it is definately something that current National is not contemplating.

 

Still if technology advances, and society makes people cram more into their valuable time, who knows what we will see in 20 years.

[BadenP]

Hey moose

 

You might be surprised as to what National is really thinking. The CSE himself has stated that getting a boy into a tent in the outdoors is not a primary task of the scouting program.

I have to admit I had a big laugh when I heard my old SE say that. I kind of see good old Kudu as the modern scouting prophet, many of his words of wisdom are going unheeded at National and I think we have all seen scouting slipping over the last two decades. If National continues to blindly steamroll ahead with massive untested changes in the scouting program what we will have left in twenty years to come may be unrecognizable.