How About A Wood Badge Staffer Area?

[Eamonn 61]

I still am unable to get into the OA section, but I think the fault is all mine.

I am aware that Mike Walton has a very good Wood Badge Forum but I spend more time here then there. I don't know how it could work as far as getting in but I feel sure that there must be some way.

We do seem to have a lot of people in the forum that have been or are going to Staff a course.

Eamonn

[dsteele 20]

Eamonn:

 

I'm all for it. Perhaps instead of the admonition, we could have the password be the words after "I'm going to work my ticket" in the song.

 

Wouldn't be super-secret, but wouldn't be easy to get into either.

 

If it's any consolation, I can't get into the OA section either, and I do know the admonition, just as you do.

 

Unc.

[eagle-pete 11]

The Staffer Board linked from http://www.woodbadge.org seems to work well.

 

This method of allowing access is about the most secure way I have ever seen. If we truely want a Staffer area it should be exclusive only to Staffers and the only way I can see to accomplish this is by verifying someone's certificate via fax as is done on Mike's site.

 

I am also very much in favor of the idea. I think it does need to be "Staffers only". If we could set something up that could ensure this, that would be great!

 

Pete(This message has been edited by eagle-pete)(This message has been edited by eagle-pete)(This message has been edited by eagle-pete)

[scoutldr 732]

How about a separate section for Eagle Scouts with a secret password? Or one for Silver Beavers? Or one for Trainers? Or one for Commissioners (if there are any left)?

 

NeiLup said in a different thread, "There is very, very , very little in Scouting that is "secret."

 

Apparently not.

[Eamonn 61]

I am sorry that the idea seems to have upset Scoutldr.

Of course Wood Badge and Wood Badge Training isn't a secret. Ask your District or Council Training Chair and I feel sure they will be able to point you in the direction of a course.

When presenting the course there are questions that the presenters have or for instance Bob White might have a different "Take" on something then what I might have. I might see no value in something that is done on the course while someone else might see this as being a vital part.

To discuss this in open forum, would be like giving away the name of the villain in a "Who Done it" mystery. Or telling your wife about the surprise birthday party.

I do not have a problem sharing the course material with those who have taken the course.

No big secret? In fact no secret at all!!

Eamonn

[eagle-pete 11]

No one is suggesting we develop these secret "clubs" or elite organizations. There are, however, things that the Wood Badge Staff might discuss, collaborate on, and try to clarify on a web forum that may not want to be shared with Scouters who have not yet been through the course, thereby possibly tainting their experience at Wood Badge.

 

All that the WB Staff really want is for each participant to be able to experience Wood Badge to their fullest. Anyone who has attended the practical course knows that prematurely revealing certain aspects or activities would spoil the intent of the experience.

 

The advantages of a private and secure forum for Staffers would afford those who share these experiences a medium of communication where they are free to speak openly without any risk of lessoning anyones experience at Wood Badge; in fact, the forum would be beneficial, as ideas, experiences, and wisdom from seasoned Scout Leaders throughout the world could be shared.

 

I, for one, am fully in support of such a forum... though I have not yet had the opportunity to serve on a Wood Badge Staff.

 

Pete

Eagle Patrol

[eagle-pete 11]

P.S.

 

I noticed that there are no topics on this forum discussing the specifics of the Wood Badge course.

 

Coincidence? I think not.

 

Pete

[scoutldr 732]

Then I am in favor of a separate area for Trainers, password protected. WB is just another training course. The same logic you presented applies to all training.

[Eagle1973 10]

"free to speak openly without any risk of lessoning anyones experience at Wood Badge" "Then I am in favor of a separate area for Trainers, password protected. WB is just another training course. The same logic you presented applies to all training."

 

The secret might get out that the training isn't the best and therefore loose customers. Sorry to sound so skeptical, but I haven't had good trainee experiences as discussed in other training threads.

[Bob White 20]

Not to worry Eagle1973. As long as there are scouters who are willing to pronounce judgment on the quality of every training course being presented in over a thousand districts, in over two-hundred councils, based on the few sessions that you have attended, there will never be an issue over secrecy.

 

If you get a bad meal, was it the cook or the recipe? You don't know unless you know that the recipe was followed. There are always ways to tweak a training syllabus to make it more interesting or more specific to the audience. The contents of the BSA syllabi are fine. They cover the information needed for that stage of volunteer development that they are designed for. But it is the local trainers responsibility to deliver it correctly.

 

It sounds to me like what is being suggested is a board to help develop better cooks. I am surprised that you would not support that considering your past training experiences.

 

[Eagle1973 10]

I am against having it password protected, maybe us untrained/untrainable have something to add.

[Bob White 20]

Allow me to play devil's advocate Eagle1973.

 

What bsae of reference would an untrained leader have to draw on to add to the conversation? If they havn't attended the training then they have no first hand knowledge of any kind about the courses, their contents or objectives.

 

If they are untrainable (and that would be by their decision not ours) then what positive information could they possibly offer? Why waste the bandwidth or the time to read and respond to someone with nothing positive to offer? (Hence the value of the squelch feature on this site.)

 

Now if you want the board left unprotected so that interested leaders could ask questions concerning the syllabi, the training methods, or for clarification on things they learned. That is available to them now on the existing boards. Isn't it?

 

I can see lots of reasons to not need to password protect the topic, but none of them have to do with secrecy, or the untrained or untrainable.

 

 

[Eagle1973 10]

You appear to me to be totally discounting what one has learned in life from positions of management, positions of leadership, personal observations, military training, corporate training, BSA training and all types of other past experiences by saying that I would have no usuable input to such a forum just because I haven't been to Woodbadge.

 

Would you be so kind to post the Woodbadge syllabus?

[Bob White 20]

Sorry but that is not possible. The Wood Badge syllabus is a copy-written publication and to reproduce it in on the Internet or anywhere else for that matter would be illegal. Just as reproducing other BSA handbooks is illegal.

 

I am not discounting other life experiences at all. I think they will be a useful factor in evaluating a training program once you have knowledge of the specific course.

 

Do not expect anyone to take complaints seriously if the writer has no actual knowledge of the course content. Also you need to be able to separate the various elements that constructs a course and be able to discuss them separately. To determine for instance that a course is bad based on the performance of the presenter, without any knowledge of the intended course content, is hardly a sound analysis.

 

 

[Eagle1973 10]

Howabout instead of posting the actual syllabus, post the general topics?