Camp Parsons and High Tech

I mentioned several posts ago about the steady progress of technology through the seasons at Camp beginning with paper and pen, manual typewriters, mimeograph machines and the such.  Now we work off a wireless net and share files and a common printer.  The Scoutmaster meeting is done by powerpoint and we print off a very concise daily program to hand out to our directors.  With the use of our computers we can now update things without causing too much consternation.  Though looking at our progress to date it begs the question of what we will have tomorrow.

Every couple of weeks I get e-mails from a variety of businesses that develop electronic summer camp management.  Many of you Scoutmasters are aware of the variety of different electronic records that are out there to help you manage your troop, advancement, etc.  We get pitched numerous things; from on-line camp reservations, to employee tracking software to on-line registration for merit badges.  All very neat....all very fancy.....but are all really necessary?  Moving to a paperless work place is a good goal to achieve, but it needs to be done in an economical and common sense way.  We are always asked whether or not we have on-line registration for merit badges.  Currently we do not; partly this is due to the fact that we do not have the resource or infrastructure to do that and partly due to the fact that it really isn't that beneficial to us as a whole.  Now I know that many Scoutmasters will disagree but since we never fill up a class, it adds cost to us without value.  It may be worthwhile for an adult leader to have a manageable list of who is doing what, but you can have that without having to register with us, indeed you can print off a registration list and give it to us so that the instructors can put those names on their list.  The only benefit that I can see for us is that we have legible names on a list along with troop numbers, but that will only be from the troops that would take advantage of this opportunity (and those make up the minority).  I would rather have our staff bring laptops and make digital records of their classes rather than writing them down on a triplicate form......but having 40 laptops really isn't what we want.  As a matter of fact, I really don't like our staff having any type of electronics when working...too distracting.  Finally, I can tell you that in our experience almost 20% of scouts who sign up for a merit badge change within the first day.....so not sure how pre-registration works there.  We have also found that it is beneficial for the instructor to actually see and talke with the scout when he signs up for a particularly challenging merit badge as the scout may not have the ability to even take on the merit badge, again something else that cannot be feted on pre-registration.

What I would rather see is requiring ALL troops to submit their troop's camp attendance roster in digital form to the scout office a week prior to their arrival at camp.  If for some reason they fail to do that, then I would have a computer in the office for them to enter their scout's name on a digital roster.  Why?  Try going through the troop rosters in October and figure out some chicken scratch of a name and address when you have to verify someone being at camp or needing a replacement of advancement.  Having this would be efficient, neat, manageable and lasting.  I would go even further and have health forms be electronic, however that brings up so many privacy issues that we will never go there.

I am all for the efficiency that high tech opportunities have and will bring for us, but resources (ie: money) are not always readily available and we need to be very good stewards of our resources and focus them on what makes the most difference for the scouts and the smooth running of the camp.  Pre-registration is nice, but I really would rather spend that money elsewhere currently such as equipment, material and yes....a new dining hall.  Electronic troop rosters?  Yes, that would be a help in managing the business of the camp (ie: income) and facilitate other mandates such as youth protection (where you should be able to track youth protection training).

I am all for innovation, and maybe I can be convinced that on-line registration is integral to the program.....to me what is integral to the program is the personal interaction between the staff as teachers and the scouts learning a skill and a software program can never achieve that.