Scoutbook: Your Digital Scouting Experience

Want to know how the BSA is migrating advancement, calendaring and other tracking online?  Watch this video.

 

If you did not have a chance to watch the webinar on Scoutbook this morning, go to this video and watch it.  It is about an hour, but will answer a lot of your questions about the future of BSA online advancement.

 

Scoutbook: Your Digital Scouting Experience

http://livestream.com/bsa/nationalcouncil/videos/99410741

LEARN MORE ABOUT SCOUTBOOK IN ONE HOUR!

LEARN MORE ABOUT SCOUTBOOK IN ONE HOUR!

Are you getting questions about what Scoutbook can offer parents, Scouts, and volunteers? Here’s a chance to help your team understand what you gain with this revolutionary Scouting web application.

Scoutbook is the unit advancement software from the BSA.

From the first knot tied to final hours of service performed, the Scouting experience is a journey like no other. Scoutbook ensures not a moment is missed – tracking advancement, milestone achievements and all the fun along the way. You’ve probably already heard about or are using Scoutbook. Now it’s time to encourage other Scouters to join the more than 300,000 Scoutbook users who are taking advantage of the digital resource.

Recommending Improvements to Merit Badges

BSA’s electronic mailbox: merit.badge@scouting.org is more than just a place where counselors can get their questions answered. It’s also Scouting’s official e-mail address where counselors can recommend improvements to merit badges that Scouts can earn. These range from simple typos in the pamphlets to more extensive changes that effect both requirements and content.

Correcting errors is by far the most common improvement brought to National staff’s attention. These include: misspelled words, misplaced or dangling modifiers, and mathematical or grammatical errors. Another type of error is discovering the wrong knot or technique was used to explain a step or process. For example, a unit leader once noted in an earlier version of the Canoeing merit badge an illustration showing the truck-er’s hitch being tied incorrectly. If tied as shown in the pamphlet, the knot would collapse under strain, causing equipment damage and possible injury to others.

Small Group Sessions—The Ideal Teaching Approach

The 2015 Guide to Advancement points out in Section Seven, topic 7.0.3.0, “A small-scale approach in merit badge counseling is encouraged. Teaching a badge to a Scout and his buddy or a small group affords the counselor coaching and guidance opportunities not possible in a large group setting.” Mentoring Scouts requires establishing a relationship with the Scout and his buddy not likely achievable in an auditorium-sized merit badge fair. The Scouts whom you mentor may even get more serious about the subject matter in order to gain a deeper understanding.

 

Understanding the new Cub Scout advancement program

This fall, Cub Scouts everywhere are blazing new trails in advancement. Gone is the multitude of achievements, electives, arrow points and activity badges that confused leaders and parents — plus the beads that skittered across floors during pack meetings. In their place is a new advancement program that is simple and consistent.

Approving Eagle Projects

Approving Eagle Projects

Larger video or to download video for better resolution

Handout:

• Notes for Eagle Project Approvers, Unit Leaders and Boards of Review. This guide is for Scouters at the unit, district and council level who are involved with approving Eagle projects.
• Guide to Advancement (chapter 9)
• Approving Eagle Projects Presentation (PDF)
• Approving Eagle Projects Presentation with speaker notes (PDF)

A Peek at the New 2016 Boy Scout Requirements

UPDATED

The requirements have been posted at: http://scouting.org/programupdates

Webinar on new requirements higer resolution and slides are here

•Requirements and more information is here.

•MORE Webinars can be found here.

•Send questions to:

GCCADVANCEMENT1@GMAIL.COM

•Feedback to the National Advancement Team may be sent here:  advancement.team@scouting.org

Board of Review Training includes Eagle Boards of Review

Guides for this webinar are:

• Guide to Advancement Chapter 8
• Notes for Eagle Project Approvers, Unit Leaders and Boards of Review. at the Grand Canyon Council Eagle page
• Board of Review Presentation Slides (PPT)

Merit Badge Couselor Resources

Recording of the recent Merit Badge Webinar and resources are here

Upcoming Advancement Webinars

Upcoming Advancement Webinars

Board of Review Training (includes Eagle Boards) (Webinar): 8/18/2015 7 PM - 8:30 PM

http://www.grandcanyonbsa.org/event/1761233

Merit Badge Counselor Training (Webinar): 9/8/2015 7 PM - 8:30 PM

http://www.grandcanyonbsa.org/event/1780224

Recordings of previous sessions of these webinars are available here at this site; just keep scrolling down

HOW AND WHY THE 2016 BOY SCOUT REQUIREMENTS WERE CHANGED AND INFORMATION ON THE NEW REQUIREMENTS AND NEW HANDBOOK

This month’s ScoutCast has an interview of the Chairman of the National Advancement Team.  To listen, go here:

http://www.scouting.org/ScoutCast.aspx 

New Requirements are here 

Where did Internet Advancement Go?

The BSA is consolidating tools into my.scouting.org and they have moved Internet Advancement’s link.  You can now get to Internet Advancement either by:

1)  Logging onto my.scouting.org and pulling down the menu in the upper left and clicking on Legacy Tools

or

2)  Go to Grandcanyonbsa.org/advancement and clicking on Internet Advancement on the left

For more information see:
http://scoutingwire.org/whats-the-difference-between-myscouting-org-and-my-scouting-org/

NEW! Merit Badge Process for Scouts Parents and Unit Leaders

A new guide is available!
Click Here for guide: Merit Badge Process for Scouts Parents and Unit Leaders

It explains the merit badge process from the vantage point of unit leaders, parents and Scouts

It is available on this webpage: http://grandcanyonbsa.org/mbc

ON-LINE MERIT BADGE CLASSES

We have recently received inquiries about on-line merit badge classes that replace face to face counselor interactions with a Scout with on-line video conferencing and the completion and email exchange of written material in the form of workbooks and the like (often these webinar classes charge a fee.)  We asked the National Advancement Team for guidance on answering these questions and the following reflects that guidance:

Looking for Good Eagle Project Ideas?

Look at the best:

2015 GLENN A. AND MELINDA W. ADAMS NATIONAL EAGLE SCOUT SERVICE PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD

In 2009, the National Eagle Scout Association established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award to recognize valuable service of an exceptional nature by a Scout to a religious institution, a school, community, or other entity. The award recognizes the Scout for his Eagle Scout leadership service project, which is part of the requirements for earning the Eagle Scout Award. Each year, local councils select a council-level winner, and from that pool, each region selects a region-level winner. A national winner is then selected from the four regional finalists.

NESA recognizes the following Scouts as recipients of the 2015 Adams Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award:

History of Eagle Requirements

We hear from time to time the comment that the Eagle requirements are being ‘dumbed down’ or somehow easier than in years gone by.  Here is a short history of the Eagle project and Eagle requirements.  I’ll let you be the judge

What features would you like added to Scoutbook

Scoutbook wants to make sure that we add new features that are important to you.  To do that we need your input.

Click the link below and vote for the features you want.

Take the Survey

Judgment Calls (24 min.) covering the "active," position of responsibility, and Scout spirit requirements, and also "reasonable expectations."

Judgment Calls (24 min.) covering the "active," position of responsibility, and Scout spirit requirements, and also "reasonable expectations."

What is (and what isn’t) a camping night for the Camping MB?

We often receive questions about what constitutes a camp night for Camping Merit Badge.  When it comes to finding a place to spend the night, Boy Scouts have seemingly limitless options: tent, hammock, cabin, retired battleship, museum, church gymnasium, baseball stadium, sleeping bag under the stars.  All of these locations offer a great experience for Scouts, but only some count as camping — at least when it comes to the Camping merit badge.  Here are two excellent articles on the topic:

http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/06/24/ask-expert-isnt-camping-night-camping-mb/

and
http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/06/07/ask-the-expert-interpreting-camping-merit-badge-requirement-9a/

Scoutbook's New Look

Scoutbook has changed the look of it's interface to be more mobile friendly and the launch page is like other BSA websites.  

All the new Cub Scout adventures have been added.

Check it out!  http://scoutbook.com