Scouting University - Ideas needed

[moosetracker 132]

Went to a Council wide meeting for Training staff. I guess being a Training chair I will be working our Scouting U, not going for fun. We hold it every 2 years, and I have gone to 3 or 4 (not sure).

 

Had some discussion on if our SU was being run as an "official" SU should be. If not we needed to change to be official. Ours they say is sort of like a Pow-wow but it is not for just Packs, it is for Packs, Troops, Ventures.

 

How is yours run?

 

Also they are fishing for new ideas and stated the best place to find new ideas are from what other Councils do for thei SU.. So.. Q.. What are some of the courses you think are popular?

[GKlose 24]

Here is a document that describes ours:

 

http://www.yccbsa.org/Training/University/110709UofSCatalog.pdf

 

I was at that one, and at the two previous ones. 18 hour-long sessions total, so far, and I can only think of a couple that I didn't much care for. The presenter was less-than-dynamic, and I figured out that I was scheduled to be in another session with him, so I decided to skip that one and find another. One session on Wilderness First Aid was rather poor -- the instructor was a no-show, so there was a fill-in from the "instructor pool" came in and just started winging it. I thought the session was far too important for that kind of thing.

 

Some of the ones I liked best were ones that I least expected. For example, there was a session on "Recruiting and Organizing Parents" that was fantastic. The same guy also did a really good session on Membership the prior year. I also remember a session called something like "Dealing With Difficult Scouts" that was taught by a child psychologist. It was a very laid-back session, but it was also very informative.

 

So I think that maybe that is the key: the quality of instructors. You don't want just anyone "winging it". You want someone that is highly-skilled in their subject area and is a good presenter.

 

In our UofS, there are still sessions that I'd like to attend (I've heard the session on the White Mountains is fantastic), and I would also like to volunteer to teach a session. But this next year I may also start in on the Commissioner program. I think our UofS has been a great resource.

 

Guy

[Gunny2862 11]

GKlose, that looks like a great organization, ours is usually about 3/4 to 1/2 half that size.

 

moosetracker, Yes, it does need to address the needs of more than just one group of Scouters, be for those Scouters and not just re-hash/re-cycle old issues. Unless it is KNOWN, that only one group will attend - In which Case I wouldn't advertise it as a University to keep from weakening that name - I'd call it Council (InsertGroup) Seminar weekend (or something to that effect)

 

While it CAN be a good place to do the Basic training courses; With the online training being available I hate to see a good instructor wasted on those. However they can be a good place to do some Instructor Development as long as one ensures the syllabus is followed and the Instructor gets immediate and relevant feed back after each session.

The larger Basic courses take almost, if not a whole day and thus prevent reaching into some of the more interesting evolving topics like are in GKlose's example.

 

[jhankins 10]

Ours is called Megaversity. We usually hold it at a school where the leaders joke about being in High School again.

 

Here's our flyer from last year:

 

http://doubleknot.com/openrosters/DocDownload.asp?id=26446

 

 

[moosetracker 132]

GKlose does have different topics that we could look at. Thanks..

 

Ours is no longer on the website. It has been over a year since they ran it. Our next one is this coming March. But in the type of content that GKlose has, ours seems to be on target.

 

Gunny - that is what I was hoping to hear. I love the way ours is run. The person who mentioned changing to be "legal" was the person who started it 12 or more years back. When she did she said she read it was suppose to be serious study, with people writing reports at the end etc.. She didn't want that, so moved to her own format. Now she said maybe SofU changed their format, in which case great, otherwise to be "legal" we should change to the true version..

 

If that was what she saw 12 years ago then there was a reason she changed it.. WHO WOULD WANT TO GO ????? So I am glad that that is NOT the way others run their SofU.

 

The two that will never go away in our SofU, they have the largest turnout are definately the cooking demos.. Our favorite is Dutch Oven cooking, (Yes, you get that lots of places, but the guy we have is fantastic.. and you get to eat what he makes.. YUM.. Lunch..) Also great is utensiless cooking.. cooking on stones, in orange peels etc.. I forget what meat it was but they plastered something in mustard and threw it right in the fire. When it comes out the mustard is flaked off.. Yumm...

 

I enjoyed the Eagle court ceromony one.. Something on balloon making (though my critters were pathetic.)

 

I have been to one or two that the instructor was not good. But, over all they were all great.

 

 

 

[emb021 16]

Most Scouting Universities are a day (or a weekend) of Scouting training. They can cover a wide range of topics, and be aimed at all or certain programs. Some may allow for older youth to attend.

 

Now, some SU programs may tie it into some kind of degree program, as a means to encourage repeat attendence. Sort of: attend and take certain courses, get a bachelor degree; come back next year and take certain coures, get a masters; come back next year and take certain courses and do either a project or write a report, get a doctorate degree, etc. But you're not forced to do this. If you just want to come and take courses, that's fine too.