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Our Council held the Trainers Edge training this past weekend. I helped staff it. We had about 48 people attend. It is quite different than TTT and TDC. Any thoughts about the course? I felt like it left out a lot of the "basics" of training methods. I also felt like the sylabus, as it is, would be virtually impossible to follow as each participant is supposed to come with a 10 minute presentation to present to the group. We solved this issue by putting Scouters in small groups of 6 people...kind of like patrols. Your thoughts would be appreciated as we are holding another training in early June. Thanks.

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I'm taking the course in April, but I'm cheating by reading the syllabus before hand. I got the impression that the the course is intended to have 8 patrols of 6 each.

 

Incidental, the reason I went our to read the syllabus in the first place was because the course description's pre-course preparation instruction was so general that I went searching for more information.

 

From what I can tell it is intended for people with some experience and is not for those who have never taught before.

 

I'll try to remember to revisit this after the course.

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Our Council ran Trainers EDGE earlier this month. The syllabus is designed around patrols of up to six members, so its good that your Council went that route. We told all participants in advance to prepare a short presentation to give to their patrol. We then encouraged participants to use the tool and techniques they learned in the morning sessions during their afternoon presentations. That process worked well. About two-thirds of our participants were Wood Badge Staff. The near unanimous opinion of participants and staffers was the Trainers EDGE was superior to TDC. While BSA has not formally replaced TDC with Trainers EDGE, our Council will only offer Trainers EDGE in the future.

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Beaver,

Our Council contacted the national office on this issue. Joe Glasscock responded that EDGE replaces TDC as "the required program for WB and YLT." Joe went on to note that TDC is still a valid program. So, taking Joe at his word, a Council (in theory) could run TDC for everyone, but is required to run EDGE for WB and YLT staffs. While it does not make a lot of sense that BSA would have TWO "trainer the Trainer" type programs, that is apparently what we have.

 

Our Council participants at Northeast Region Course Director's Conference hard the same thing that you heard. Interestingly, our Council also had one member on staff at the NER Conference who heard the message that Joe Glassclock delivered above. It sound like the messages have been muddy, at best.

 

I believe historically, TDC was "owned" by the Cub Scout program at the national level, while Wood Badge was "owned" by the Boy Scout program. That might explain why two similar programs exist. With the recent reorganization at national, some of this duplication may go by the wayside.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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"I believe historically, TDC was "owned" by the Cub Scout program at the national level, while Wood Badge was "owned" by the Boy Scout program"

 

Well, Kinda sorta. Some of what is the the Trainer Development Conference is content recycled from Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge syllabus. Which may well have previously existed the the Scout Trainer Wood Badge (which if I remember correctly existed at some point in the far past - 1930ish?)

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JFL49,

 

I don't disagree with you. Obviously, at the WBCDC, they were addressing the prerequisite training for WB. So from that standpoint, TE replaces TDC. They may have said that TDC would continue and I just missed it.

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My goodness, more acronyms than the Federal Government! How did Scouts ever make it this far with such a limited alphabet? I think we need some more letters in the alphabet so we can have some more courses. And when we're done, let's all learn about Soccer Scouts!

 

Take your boys into the woods. Use knives, axes, and saws. Build fires. Sit around fires at night and talk or do whatever comes naturally to boys. Be a boy yourself.

 

Here's a crazy idea... any adult training courses should be primarily staffed by Scouts and Scouters under the age of 21. I'm afraid we're losing touch.

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We have run Trainer's Edge in SELA Council for Wood Badge staff. Having particpated in and staffed TDC and Trainer's Edge. I believe Trainer's Edge is not designed for inexperienced trainers. Much of what is covered would be lost on "new" folks. The course description for TE states that it is meant for WB and NYLT staff specifically.

 

BeaverIII

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I'll take the course in August. It's required for me since I'll be the course director for wood badge in 2010. I'm not sure that the Trainer's EDGE staff would qualify for my job as a CD. Odd.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Took it today. It is clear that the presentations are made at the patrol level. There is only enough time allotted to do it that way. We only had 17 taking the class in four patrols. It felt odd standing to make the presentation to three people at a table, so I sat down to do it. I think I was the only one to do this.

 

I never took TTT or TDC so I can't compare. There was an assumption of some basic skills but there are areas that the presenter could have gone into greater detail. Especially in the trainer's use of voice, eyes, ears and body language to manage the class. Useful handouts from the syllabus anyway.

 

I know it is called the "Trainer's EDGE". But I could have done without another 30 minute explanation, complete with all 4 steps. I'd like to think that by the time you get to this course you've heard and taught the model a number of times. I guess that is not always true, Cub Scouters and Committee might have only encountered it if they went to Wood Badge. On the plus side, we did get to make paper airplanes.

 

All of our staff, except for the professional, were former WB staffers. Mostly 3 beads with a couple of fromer CDs.

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So is this course just for trainers that are part of Woodbadge or NYLT staff? Our council is promoting Edge as the class that anyone who conducts any training must have. I have not even taken Woodbadge and am not sure when (or if) I will. I am not sure on Woodbadge, since many of the principles are the same as what I covered multiple times in business grad school earning a management degree. I have been to the old TDC and really didn't learn anything there, since I have developed and conducted training courses in the 'real world'. For those that have seen the Edge course, is it really worth attending, especially in a small council, where volunteers tend to get stretched to the limit trying to keep the program running.

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many of the principles are the same as what I covered multiple times in business grad school earning a management degree. I have been to the old TDC and really didn't learn anything there, since I have developed and conducted training courses in the 'real world'

 

I too would like to know about the worth of Trainers EDGE from the perspective of someone who has been training Scouts for 20+ years and/or been training people in the 'real world'. I felt like TDC was a waste of a day except for the 20-30 min session at the end that told me where National is going with training requirements. I didn't much like what I was hearing about their mandates but it's useful info to know they're going that route.

 

If it's value-added, I'll try to schedule to take it as soon as I can fit it in my schedule. If it's just another box to check, I'll probably use that time to do something crazy like help a Scout advance. ;)

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