Tech Forum

Hi,
Having spent some years working with the youth or our church, I've found that there is an enormous amount of time and effort that one could spent in helping the youth track their efforts and then consolidate them with church records. Furthermore, it would be nice to help our bishopric have statistics of where is the overall progress of the youth by quorum, age group, organizations, etc.

There are a number of "services" that can be "plugged in" to our wonderful MLS system that can improve the service a member can give.

Does anyone know if this is possible or whether there is something one can do about this.

Thanks

Most of the current tracking programs track scouting advancement. Some of these also track Duty to God requirements. I am not aware of and third-party software that tracks YW Personal Progress, but I also haven't done an Internet search for one either.

At any rate, this type of tracking is best handled by the YW & YM/Scout leaders in the ward as it has little to do with MLS.

Also Seminary has its own tracking methods independent of MLS.

MLS currently provides reminders via the Action Interview List (the exact name escapes me at the moment). And when things are functioning appropriately, the progress of the youth is reviewed regularly in Bishops Youth Committee (BYC), the Aaronic Priesthood equivalent of PEC (whose official name also escapes me at the moment, "APC"?), PEC, Troop and Pack committee meetings, and as needed Ward Council and Ward Welfare. There is a lot of overlap apparently designed in to all of this.

I've heard it said that one of the purposes of the YM & YW programs is to train the youth how to lead, plan, administrate, and administer. Thus the youth should, as much as possible, be planning and executing the youth programs. The adult leaders are there to be a safety net, and to train and advise the youth how to do it, not do it for them. From that perspective, APC becomes the youth training ground for PEC, and BYC the youth training ground for Ward Council.

Scouting advancements, YW Personal Progress, Duty to God, and Seminary participation/graduation are not tracked as official "church records" within MLS. So I'm not quite sure what need you are seeing that needs to be filled that doesn't already have viable alternatives. Perhaps you could clarify a bit more.

jbh001 wrote:Most of the current tracking programs track scouting advancement. ...

At any rate, this type of tracking is best handled by the YW & YM/Scout leaders in the ward as it has little to do with MLS.

MLS currently provides reminders via the Action Interview List (the exact name escapes me at the moment). And when things are functioning appropriately, the progress of the youth is reviewed regularly in Bishops Youth Committee (BYC), the Aaronic Priesthood equivalent of PEC (whose official name also escapes me at the moment, "APC"?), PEC, Troop and Pack committee meetings, and as needed Ward Council and Ward Welfare. There is a lot of overlap apparently designed in to all of this.

I've heard it said that one of the purposes of the YM & YW programs is to train the youth how to lead, plan, administrate, and administer. Thus the youth should, as much as possible, be planning and executing the youth programs. The adult leaders are there to be a safety net, and to train and advise the youth how to do it, not do it for them. From that perspective, APC becomes the youth training ground for PEC, and BYC the youth training ground for Ward Council.

Scouting advancements, YW Personal Progress, Duty to God, and Seminary participation/graduation are not tracked as official "church records" within MLS. So I'm not quite sure what need you are seeing that needs to be filled that doesn't already have viable alternatives. Perhaps you could clarify a bit more.

It was interesting to read about APC/BYC being training grounds for PEC/Ward Council in later years. It does make sense.

Regarding tracking of scout advancement... Why isn't the Church allowing an open source scout progress tracking project to be started on LDSTech that would ultimately integrate into the Church's Stake and Ward Website? You've got policies that demonstrate extreme concern for the security of youth data, and you're talking about "viable alternatives", which I believe are alluding to third party systems storing youth data over which the Church has no control. From the data security policies' perspective, that doesn't seem to me to be a viable alternative.

Was scout advancement brought up at this year's LDSTech 2010 Developers Conference? There must be many software developer/scout leaders like myself--that would love to contribute--which have felt the pain over the years of not having an integrated system. Since scouting is "the activity arm of the Priesthood" which consumes church funds, it seems like such a logical need/fit.

What are the main issues that are preventing a scout tracking system that ties into Church's Stake and Ward Website? (perhaps one is that not all the scouts are Church members, so now you're talking about tracking non-member data in the Church system???).

Thanks

spencer wrote:Why isn't the Church allowing an open source scout progress tracking project to be started on LDSTech that would ultimately integrate into the Church's Stake and Ward Website?

I suggest you PM Tomw about your idea.

spencer wrote:What are the main issues that are preventing a scout tracking system that ties into Church's Stake and Ward Website? (perhaps one is that not all the scouts are Church members, so now you're talking about tracking non-member data in the Church system???).

Thanks

The first issue that comes to mind is that Scouting is not officially sanctioned by the Church everywhere in the world. So I imagine the Church would be hesitant to sponsor a major effort to produce an application that is so specific to just the United States.

If your interest is primarily in scouting, I can recommend Troop Master. Our troop has used it for several years and it has been quite advantageous. It does come with a licensing fee, but the fee pertains to the troop, but then as many people can access it as needed from as many computers as needed.

nutterb wrote:The first issue that comes to mind is that Scouting is not officially sanctioned by the Church everywhere in the world. So I imagine the Church would be hesitant to sponsor a major effort to produce an application that is so specific to just the United States.

If your interest is primarily in scouting, I can recommend Troop Master. Our troop has used it for several years and it has been quite advantageous. It does come with a licensing fee, but the fee pertains to the troop, but then as many people can access it as needed from as many computers as needed.

I would imagine that official sanction would not limit such an application. LUWS was (is?) limited to US and Canada. There are enough units/troops/packs in the US and other countries in my opinion to justify such an application. Additionally, if it is community-developed and done in the proper spirit, I would hope many additional applications can be made available using volunteer manpower.

I have heard good reports on Troop Master.

etrailtoeagle.com is also very good and inexpensive - and an all "online" solution that grants parents reports and some access.

carlosrowlett wrote:Hi,
Having spent some years working with the youth or our church, I've found that there is an enormous amount of time and effort that one could spent in helping the youth track their efforts and then consolidate them with church records. Furthermore, it would be nice to help our bishopric have statistics of where is the overall progress of the youth by quorum, age group, organizations, etc.

When I was recently YM secretary, I became aware of the interview schedule each Young Man should have, four interviews per year, two with his advisor (every 6 months), one with the Bishopric Counselor over his quorum on the half year from his birthday, and an yearly interview with the Bishop on his birthday.

I set up a folder for each boy (we had 40 YM in our ward), and gave the folder for each boy to the appropriate Priesthood leader at the beginning of each month. In the folder was a profile of the boy, a page for interview notes, and an "action" sheet with goals set for the boy in that interview plus follow up on previous interviews.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but it really gave the Ward Priesthood Leadership a handle on each boy and where they were in the progress in the Priesthood and in their personal life.