Scout Association Online Stuff

We had a Cub planning meeting this evening at a pub south of the river. They took me through a lot of their tech. Some of it is stuff that is open for any scout group to use, other stuff is part of Compass (their online system)

MY BADGES APP

There's an app on the App Store (probably Android too) called 'My Badges'. It costs £1.99 but doesn't require a login of any sorts. This is where the SA have an up-to-date list of badges and the criteria. I think you can even order badges for the app. I know we have our own badge scheme, but if we ever consider updating them for Beavers, Cubs, or Scouts, then it's all in this app.

Maybe the idea of the app not requiring a login is so that members of the group who aren't leaders and their parents can access the app as it also shows you where you should sew on badges, the laws and promises, and badge schemes. If we did launch this website (or a website in general), I think this is the kind of stuff we should have under the 'Sections' page in the menu.

COMPASS APP

Through the Compass app which all the leaders have on their phones, they do the register every week. It also allows you to pick PLs/APLs/Sixers/Seconders and stuff like that. From what I can tell, they also have quite a bit of data on the kids on the app as the leader I was sat next to this evening was able to rearrange the list of Cubs based on age. Kids details are stored in compass app too so if leader needs to get in touch with a parent whilst at camp, they can just open their phone, open Compass, select the kid, and then all their contact deats are there.

I'm not sure whether some parents get access to Compass or whether it is just how they control their mailing lists, but parents are a lot more engaged and that isn't because southern parents are better, it's because they have a better line of communication with the parents. For example, they have many nights where they want parents to come down and help if they're outside and splitting into small groups (the geocaching night, and local knowledge night; stuff like that), they have nights where they want to get kids to bring in their recycling for a 'scrapheap challenge' week where the kids are told to build something from the recycling, and they have nights where they want parents to log whether the Cub has achieved their Homemaker's badge and they are able to do all this that via Compass. There is also a mailto: set up for the leaders in Compass so emailed notices to leaders definitely go out to everyone. Does Compass have an email system built into it?

TL;DR: Do we need to look at communication between leaders and parents in the 8th? Yes, the Facebook page is good but not everybody has facebook and it's not ideal for section-specific messages that need to go out.

BADGES

The Scout Association have a number of modern badges relating to digital stuff. One thing we discussed this evening was the 'Digital Maker' badge which the Cubs are going to do in June. You don't even necessarily need computers/smartphones for this one. E.g one of the things is design a website for the Cub group, and they do this on a piece of paper. They also have a 'Digital Citizen' badge which looks at technical competence and computer ability. (Stuff like create a piece of digital art, research x on the internet, name parts of a computer system)