Virtual merit badges have been Scouting’s response for continued activity due to the Corona Virus pandemic. This Scoutmaster Dave talks about how virtual merit badges work and how to find some to take advantage of.
Transcript:
Since the current pandemic has begun I have received a large amount of requests for merit badges for which I am a councilor. All of which, except for Camping can be done virtually.
The most popular are Family Life and Communications, although I have gotten calls for both Game Design and Art merit badges.
Video has really been a great way to meet with scouts and get merit badges completed, as without the logistics of planning a meeting, going to a location and back it can take less time for a councilor and you can work with the scouts over numerous meetings.
When I am acting as a merit badge councilor I will ask the scout when preparing for the event to make sure a parent or guardian is near by. They don’t need to be on camera, but I have them pop in and say hi, at the start of the session. I also ask the scout to wear a scouting t-shirt, or class b as it’s commonly referred to, and of course have access to audio and video.
These sessions have generally worked out well, and I keep a whiteboard of all the in-progress sessions I have going. Right now, I have nine in various stages.
But while working on your own and engaging a councilor is great, one of the things that can come about during the last few months are virtual merit badge events run by councils.
Scouts taking advantage of this is a great opportunity to keep involved with scouting and experience some merit badges that they might not normally have been able to do.
Many council activities also allow for out of council scouts to attend, and this expands the opportunities exponentially.
Virtual merit badge clinics have popped up all over the country and can be found with a simple google search.
In my general opinion as long as everyone involved, the scout, councilor and council goes into it with the right intentions, virtual merit badges are great.
The danger of course is when classes are offered with no real means of either completing the badge virtually or dumb down the requirements. This does a disservice to the merit badge program and the scout participating.
Many badges there is work to be done prior. This pre-work should be held to the same scrutiny as if you were meeting in person with a scout. If the requirement calls to complete a task, it should not be acceptable for the one or two scouts in attendance to have completed the task and then talk about it. All should complete the same requirements, regardless of if each scout in turn presents the material.
Rigor needs to be maintained or the system starts to fall apart.
There is one scout in my troop who has taken up the challenge, signing up for many virtual merit badge opportunities and by summer’s end will have completed more badges then he would have attending the two traditional summer camps he normally attend. For this I applaud him for taking up the challenge in a new and difficult situation.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was Virtual Merit Badges.
