It’s refreshing to see that a great institution like the Scouts have embraced the digital revolution in the latest overhaul of their movement.
While wood whittling and black smithery were once the must-have badges for any keen Scout, this changes in the latest evolution of Scouting. This month, 250 Scouting badges have either been introduced for the first time or updated to reflect changing times.
One of those 250 badges is the newly launched Digital Citizen badge.
Gearing up the younger generation for what will likely be a lifetime spent in a digital environment, the Digital Citizen badge is designed for the digital age. The badge gives Scouts a chance to showcase their survival skills albeit with somewhat of a 21st century twist.
To gain this Staged Activity badge, Scouts must firstly complete the basics such as showing they can turn on a computer, use various software packages, use different types of hardware and function cloud-based platforms such as Google Drive and Microsoft Sharepoint.
However, it’s in the later stages of the badge that it becomes more interesting and sees Scouts having to become more focused on search, design, social media and web development.
Below are a few of the more advanced things that they must do before they can become a stage 4 “Digital Citizen”…
– Show they can use multiple search engines and multiple search operators such as AND, NOT and OR
– Collect information using bookmarks or favourites by saving URLs or using a social bookmarking tool like Diigo, Reddit, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us or digg
– Create a social media page for their section, a band, local interest group or something similar
– Create and make live a multi-page website with their own information presented using infographics, images and graphs
– Share their website with a wide audience
– Get feedback on the website and make improvements to it based on the feedback
– Create a piece of digital media using either CAD, 3D sculpture, graphic design or photo editing software.
What do you think, are these the skills youngsters need for a head start in an digital environment?
Find out more for yourself here.
