Cub Scout Position Specific Training Online - FINALLY!

[Eagle92]

I admit I created a ppt that combined TC, CSDL, and WDL training into one session. Long story short, we were desparate for trainers, and only had me and the DE, and both of use went through the old CSBLT when everyone was trained for all pack positions, so it seemed a no brainer. We di one joint session, then split all the DLs in one room and CMs and MCs in an other. Worked out pretty well.

 

But it was challenging to use the BSA's ppt, as you cannot move the slides around. So I had to do screen captures of it all and rerarange the order.

 

But now with online specific, life is good.

[moosetracker]

SSScout Dont worry, The less our Training staff has to do Basic training the more we can concentrate on beyond-the-basics training.

I love Intro to Outdoors because the syllabus is small with a general guideline and you are then allowed to bring the ideas across in your own style. I was not too fond of the Specifics as they tried to make the Trainers all fit a cookie cutter mold. Teachers in a school program get a syllabus, an expectation of what their students should get out of a course, but they are not given a day by day power-point that they must follow, the exact exercise they must use etc. They may get a Textbook chosen by their schooldistrict or have some freedom, but they get to choose some of the assignment, field trips, videos etc.

We get to keep IOLS (until they come up with a virtual campfire, and how to teach hands on guidance through a video).. The cookie-cutter specifics will become an occasional small class of those not computer savvy..

For me, I plan to get out and visit the volunteers of units and find out what they want, and design a beyond-the-basics to their needs. Maybe give my Training staff something more interesting and fun to teach.. Let National set the guidelines such as to teach it the EDGE way, or whatever.. Or stick within the scouting guidelines of A-Z.. Thats fine. But if it is not required training, but elective training the volunteers and staff should get some freedom of choice.

If you design courses to meet their needs, I think we will get people to come out to eat our donuts, recognize us and others at round tables, ask us to visit for more personal help.. the whole 9 yards.

Im optimistic this may be a good thing in the long run.

 

[bbender]

SSScout: haven't done the "herb tea and crullers" yet. For us, it's Chicken Biscuits and Coffee, then we have our assigned Pack Activity Coordinators (from our Training Class "Pack Jobs" sign in sheet . . . everybody gets a job!) set out the sandwiches and fruit for lunch. I sure don't think that a solo Balloon Stomp Battle Royale in front of your PC is going to be as much fun as with a bunch of other adult nut cases "playing the game".

 

Moosetracker: yep, I think as a result of this, a lot of "basic" training for those who don't dive deep into the program will be done on line. At the same time, even basic classes will need to be better to compete with the on line class: ideally, an attendee says "yah, I took the on line stuff, but THIS was SO MUCH BETTER", and then sends their fellow leaders to the next one, as opposed to "I can't believe it took three hours to cover what is a 50 minute on line class".

 

Towards that end, like you (Eagle92) I've continued in live training to combine the different roles and cover all of the material in one session to "train the team together", and now with the separate modules in the On Line Training I'm more committed to continuing that approach. Because while Live Training needs to impart the same (and better) data than the On Line Training, I don't think that the "silo" approach of dividing up the team is the best approach for live training. Especially when the folks who are going to come to a live training that might run 3 hours or more would probably be the ones who are more "into" the overall program and benefit from that breadth of knowledge.

 

To this end, and because having done all the different roles I am a firm believer in the Bill Smith admonition that "in Cub Scouting you're either a Den Leader or you're helping support what the Den Leader does" (since Den Leader is the hardest job), and because in our "neck of the woods" there are a lot of Packs that are not much bigger than a Den or two (and many Dens are "mixed" dens with Cub Scouts of multiple ranks to have viable size), and because we recognize that often the Cubmasters and Den Leaders are driving forces in activity planning (as many Committees just don't have the level of program engagement as CM and DL and aren't going to do all of the planning and support like in the On Line Training videos), we "train the team together" by covering all of the topics and information in the Syllabus by focus on the 7 "Methods" (there are 7 in the Leader Book; the Training Syllabus and On Line Training take "Character Connections" out of "Ideals" and make it a separate method).

 

1) We start with The Ideals of Scouting (covered nicely in "Intro to Cub Scouting", where we introduce Character Connections),

 

2) then a brief intro into The Den (as the basic unit of Cub Scouting),

 

3) then The Uniform,

 

4) then adding to the uniform, Advancement (we cover common approaches like immediate recognition and records, and briefly cover the rank by rank details),

 

5) leading to Activities (and planning),

 

6) touching briefly on the focus on Home and Neighborhood Centered,

 

7) and ending with Parent Involvement (again echoing Bill Smith's admonition that the best gift for a Cub Scout is . . . get his parents involved!)

 

That way, the common stuff that gets covered in the "silos" of separate modules are covered together: everyone gets the same message about the program methods and their roles in those messages, and sees what others are doing too.

 

The biggest part is that Parent Involvement part, because having introduced the ideas of Den, Advancement and Activities (how we have fun), we break down the various roles (how we "bring the fun" we've described in the earlier methods):

 

-- we start with some of the common concepts, like how to work with adults and kids, and how to bring out the "inner volunteer" in parents;

 

-- then to Den Leader, since everyone needs to know how to help at Den Meetings, to support what the Den Leader is doing;

 

-- then to Cubmaster/Pack Meetings, which have a lot in common with Den Meeting structure, so we flesh out the differences and reinforce what is similar (and here Den Leaders need to understand how they support what the Cubmaster is doing; Committee Members also need to "get it" since they have an even bigger support role here);

 

-- and we end with the Pack Committee roles / pack support roles, which we think are fair game for DLs and CMs to know about, since (1) they need to know what to expect of their Committee folk (they need to know they don't need to "do it all"), and, (2) more urgently, DLs and CMs will often be the ones (especially in small packs and as leadership turns over) who are actually taking on some of the actual working roles like Membership, Advancement, Activities and Communication, and so DLs and CMs ought to know what is involved to do it in a pinch and then have some basic knowledge to turn it over to someone else when they get that willing person.

 

Breakouts can be done all at once (DLs on their meetings, CMs on theirs, Committee on Pack Year Plan), but we generally don't because resources are just so much better now compared to the old "here's a blank sheet and some books, now go read them and make a plan" approach.

-- So for Den and Pack Meeting Plans we pull a plan from the new Guide and "walk through it" since the new Guide has good stuff that intended to work that way.

-- I actually use Wolf 1 and "do the Bobcat" bit there instead of in the advancement module, and at Den Meeting Closing we give them BSA Bobcat "stickers" after we do Bobcat Tag or Relay or whatever in our mini Den Meeting.

-- For a Pack Year Plan we present a calendar that shows great local options for what to do when (highlighting the local Council events that are just so darn easy to participate in and fun for the kids), plus we list a bunch of local destinations and overnight destinations for our neck of the woods.

 

To wrap up, we cover resources (again, for all, not in silos), and we cover future leader awards just before the "trained" recognition closing ceremony (as in, here's your next step!).

 

As the CSLPST training is pretty introductory, this streamlined "total leader training" of the whole Pack team hasn't over-burdened attendees, who always have questions that "cross over" from their "defined role" into other levels and groups and what they do. Plus, the interaction between DLs, CMs and Committee is . . . well, the team needs to know how they are all going to play the game together on the field, so my thought is, let's all get started talking together, rather than in "silos"!

 

And for those who just need "one piece" to be trained (like a Committee Person who doesn't want to know how a Den Meeting works), we fully disclose how we do this in our signups, so that if someone has Intro, How We Have Fun, and just needs, say "Pack Committee", we show 'em where they can go get that piece done in a pure breakout format elsewhere (though now that the module is on line, I suspect fewer people with a narrow focus like that will seek live training, since they can get it quickly on line).

 

And since the new disc with the Syllabus is PPT, not PDF, it can be customized to fit, say, local stuff. And everything in the Syllabus is covered, just in a different, method-based, train the team together order.

 

We're also doing a "lite" version of basic intro training (not official, won't be counted as "trained") in a "takin' it to the streets" approach like Moosetracker notes, where, depending on the Parents attending and the venue (we're setting it up as "family picnics"), we'll cover YPT (full version, so they can be registered), and the "lite" element will be so that they get some fun intro to the game (and not just creepy YPT stuff). I suspect that the "lite" element will be almost improvisation depending on the crowd: brief basics about ideals, uniform and advancement; get "yeah, we'd all like to go there / do that" reactions about "activities" options to "hook" some folks, and a brief walk though of a den meeting (organizing kid/parent games as part of it). Ideally, we get some folks saying: teach us how to lead the game . . . .

 

My $0.02. YMMV.

 

[Scoutfish]

I did it the night before last.

 

Okay, I've seen worse stuff, seen better. While I think classroom is always better( ever raise your hand for a question at a laptop? LOL! ), The online seem to get to the main point.

 

The only thing I didn't like was that the scenerio seems to be for people who are brand new to scouting and never having a single minute of interaction in scouting. Know what I mean?

 

It's geared up as if the minute I clicked on take course was also the very first experience with scouting at all.

[moosetracker]

bbender - Nice... seems like you get the option to embellish. We do with IOLS, but must follow the stiff syllabus.. Cub Scouts is a little better because you get power point lines that you can embellish on, but Boy Scout specifics almost is like memorizing a 20 page long script for each section. By the time you get done reciting your lines, theres little room for something else.. (Psst.. my instructors don't really memorize, they get the gist of the reading, then put in in their own words. Don't tell though.)

[ScoutNut]

>>"The only thing I didn't like was that the scenerio seems to be for people who are brand new to scouting and never having a single minute of interaction in scouting."

[Adam S]

As a District Training Chairman I LOVE the online position speciofic training for a number of reasons.

 

1. Making it convenient means people who would not have bothered at all get some training!

 

2. I already have had one leader tell me they have taken the same course a couple times because they have learned more the second time. Repeat training for a quick refresh is going to add great value (to both in person and online students)

 

3. The training is delivered consistently, every time, to every student. No deviations. No war stories.

 

4. The training record get in the database, no instructor to lose them, no clerk at the council office to key in the wrong member ID.

 

Online training will not replace face to face training, but if they can train online, maybe they might go ot a roundtable which thye otherwise might have skipped. I don't think this will be the magic bullet but I think it will overall improve our lot

[Scoutfish]

I do want to add though....I like the idea for another reason too: That one training night in the fall and in the spring might just be on a night that a leader cannot make it.

 

That and our distric( as well as council and surrounding council) trainings usually fall a month after roundup. Yeah, I understand you may recruit new leaders and need time to feel them out, but with online, you can have an existing leader trained and documented in YP, Leader Specific and This Is Scouting before the new season even starts.

[ScoutNut]

Scoutfish stated - >>"That one training night in the fall and in the spring might just be on a night that a leader cannot make it."

[Scoutfish]

We live in an average size( for NC )county. Takes from 15 minuts to an hour to drive completely through one depending on the direcction and traffic.

 

my distric is mostly rural, but also happens to have one of the fastest growing cosatal areas along the US hiway 17 area,

 

Anyways, one of the first things I did after becoming Cub Master was to put a bug in the ear of our DE about holding some additional training nights.

 

Matter of fact, I tried to get one at out pack CO.

 

My CO is about 20 minutes from where the training is held. About 3 miles south oif my Co is another pack. About 13 miles north of my CO is a brand new pack some of our members just started.

 

I figured this would be as oo a reason as any to get training out our Co as it would be more centralized and closer to most of the participants. My line of thinking as this: If it's closer.more people will attend.

 

KNow what I mean? Ever have to rush home from work and usually hardly have time to put on a clean shirt before heading out to the class? Forget taking a shower or eating...that has to wait until after class - which means everybody gets to smell you all night!

 

Generally, about half our area leaders are into some form of construction or general contracting/woodworking.

 

So I figured that if you had a class that was closer to home, you'd have less driving time which meant more cleanup/ eating time. That might be the thing that gets you to attend.

 

I had 8 interestied leaders in my pack, 7 interested ( new) leaders from the new pack and around 5 ish interested from the pack a few miles down the road. I gave this info to the DE who was going to try and do something.

 

That's as far as it got. I don't know if it was the DE, the Council, the instructors or who..but it never materialized.

 

Our council will hold training towards the end of Sept for leader specific and again in Feb. Granted, things are changed since it's online, but before that.....no.

 

WEll, there was BALOO, POW WOW, Outdoor Leader and Wood Badge scheduled each year, plus many camporees, parent/son camping, Webelees( That what it's called right? lol! ) etc...

[bbender]

Live training twice a year . . . oh my. So many questions, so little time.

 

Well, we just got done with our second District Training in two weeks . . . this one my first one after seeing the on line resource, and the first one in response to our "takin' it to the streets" offer of "Training: On Line, Live and Local".

 

Our Training: On Line, Live and Local concept is: if a handful of parents in a Pack want training and have a time and a place that can work for us, we're bringing it to the people. So on Thursday a Pack's message was: we've got a bunch of new dens forming and some leaders and assistants who will start up next Tuesday could we do a training this weekend if so when and where? Answer: that worked. The Live and Local team just did three hours with 7 of 'em around the tables at a local pool, while their kids swam (lifeguard attended pool for those tracking that G2SS issue, but I had a couple added helpers to keep 'em occupied). And with one pack that has some established practices and traditional activities, we needed less time to ask / tell about the spectrum of some organizational and procedure / policy options, as they've got those (and a long term and year round calendar) in place.

 

This syllabus followed the of method based focus (noted in the earlier message), and also Bill Smith's mantra of "either you're a den leader or you're helping den leaders". Here we had 1 Den Leader and 6 assistants and/or interested parents, and so we focused on the Den Meeting, how it will run, and how those other 6 will take roles to help the Den Leader Keep it Simple and Make it Fun and Get 'er Done.

 

Now the Den Leader will be taking the whole on line stuff too, and with that done later today and the new Guide (man is she happy to see the Wolf Meeting One plan with ideas all spelled out), we have a Den Leader ready to go and a bunch of assistants who are ready to pitch in and help. And I'm sure the On Line will now "bring it home" to help them out.

[Eagle92]

Since we are so short on CS trainers, last year only 1 besides DE, this year 3, we only do traiing 1 x per year as a district. BALOO didn't happen last year, but we did it this year and had 6 attend. So as you can guess I am happy tohave online training.

 

Just wish it would show as being completed if we took a class.

[moosetracker]

I didnt have time to take the new on-line specifics until this weekend.

First the good.

1) I was surprised by how thorough a job they did with the committee. I thought those were the best two modules. Much better then Troop committee challenge (which I think is a worthless). I might just suggest people on the troop committee take what is required. But, if they really want to know about committees to take the Pack one, and just make some mental adjustments due to the different programs.

2) Pack trainer I thought was good now. But the real eye opener was the fact that a few weeks back on this forum someone asked about IOLS training, and people said just take EDGE, and you are authorized to do your own. It was said by more than one person, and though some people did not think this good practice no one challenged it. I as a newbie District Training Chair accepted this. Unfortunately I got email from a Pack trainer between then & this weekend stating that he does his own specifics. I just replied to make sure he sends his list of those trained in to council. NOW this training kind-of implies.. NO.. They are trained to do enhanced trainings they need to encourage them to do the on-line courses, and take the Required courses with district or council trainers. I have now emailed my Council Committee chair for clarification before I email back to this person rescinding my previous statement.

Bad.

1) I thought they could have done better with the Tiger/Wolf/Bear & Cub Master Specifics. With all of them a lot was repeated.

2) Still dont like the fact of every course is the Exact Same.. Even clicking through and retaking the tests was annoying. That really should have been a seperate module.

3) I was disappointed to see my course numbers show up as C40, C41, C42 etc, rather than WC40, WC41, WC42 as they have done with other courses that are both class courses and web based so that you can distinguish between who took on-line & who took in-person. Also strangely each course is recorded in your on-line verification twice..

 

Example

C40 Cubmaster&Asst. Pos. Specific tng 09/04/2010

C40 Leader Position-Specific Cubmaster 09/04/2010