Glen Bernard Camp Staff Training Workshop
Glen Bernard Camp Staff Training Workshop
Technology and Camp
We know that the use of technology in people’s lives is increasing, especially amongst the age ranges that we serve at camp. There are both positive and negative aspects of technology and social media for camps and their communities. We wanted to address these items head on, highlight the risks but focus on the positive, and make it interactive for this generation of staff who are definitely tech savvy!
Here’s the outline of the workshop, with brief points about the items we discussed. We tried to incorporate a bunch of different types of technology in the workshop to make the presentation of this info interesting: a power point presentation, a GBC original video about using Facebook (which we would be happy to share), photos, a Ted talk (link included), a YouTube clip (link included) and an interactive smart phone scavenger hunt!
Each of the following items were on power point slides – we have simply copied the brief points here hoping that camp leaders can use them and expand on them in their own presentations or use for discussion amongst their staff. We spent about 20 mins on the items below, and we are happy to have a chat with anyone who would like more details. The smart phone scavenger hunt then followed.
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA ANYWAY?
- it’s public a public space
-a powerful tool – both negative and positive
-personal & business perspectives
-Toronto Star article (some facts/numbers/uses of social media which were very interesting)
REVIEW CAMP POLICY AND GUIDELINES SURROUNDING INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE FOR STAFF
-sharing our personal experiences instantly while protecting safety and privacy – we all share this responsibility
-your behaviour, both online and offline, reflects the reputation of the camp
-Communication must be appropriate for a public forum
-discuss current policy as outlined in staff manual
TIPS TO GUIDE STAFF ON SOCIAL MEDIA USE
-use common sense
-think about what you want your public image to be
-consistently review your online presence and make changes where necessary
-camp currently thrives and cannot continue to do so unless we are all on the same page, you are the key
PHOTOS ON THE INTERNET
-What is really private on the web? Answer: nothing. People who are friends with you may share photos or comments with others.
-here we showed some photos that may be interpreted differently by different groups of people (we would be happy to share photo ideas for this item if helpful)
-think about who might end up seeing this photo and what will they think?
-Most specifically, think about your profile photo and your status
MISCONCEPTIONS FROM INTERPRETATION
- be careful what you say – even if the comment is positive, think of how it might effect different people – e.g. a counsellor posting a comment that says “Jenny is my favourite camper”, if other campers from his/her cabin group were to see this, how will this make them feel?
- there is no emotion through text so it’s the reader’s interpretation – with different intonations on certain words, the same sentence can be interpreted differently
-be aware that sometimes you don’t get any background or context
-there’s always two (maybe more) sides to every story
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES
-we created a short little video about a real situation that happened in our camp community on Facebook during the previous winter – it resulted in a camper no longer wanting to return to camp
-real examples hit home with staff, happy to share our video and encourage camps to use their own real examples to educate staff
FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE
-connecting or re-connecting with friends
- way to keep in touch with friends around the world
-positive marketing
-receiving feedback
-keep interest all year long
-Generating excitement!!
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
(a fun look at where technology is going…)
GENERATING IDEAS
-we did a brief brainstorm with the group of positive ways we as a camp could use technology and social media throughout the year
SMART PHONE SCAVENGER HUNT
We divided the camp into groups, integrating different staff ages and positions, keeping groups of staff who would be working closely with one another together (for us, this was our section groups, each one consisted of a Section Coordinator, a couple Activity Heads and several counselors and Assistant Counsellors). This also gives groups who don’t know each other or have new staff a chance to get to to know each other.
Each group had a designated person with a Blackberry, we made BBM groups to facilitate the communication and transfer of info.
Each group was sent an initial clue via BBM to direct them to a location in camp. The clue was a riddle so they had to answer the riddle in order to determine where they needed to go in camp. The group then raced to that location and sent the scavenger hunt coordinator a BBM message when they arrived. The scavenger hunt coordinator then sent them a BBM message with instructions on a task they had to do at that location and take a photo with their Blackberry of the entire group involved in the task (i.e at the costume cupboard, dress up in costumes relating to a theme and take a photo of the group putting on a play). The group then had to send the photo to the scavenger hunt coordinator to show they had completed the task. Each task was carefully planned to either expose staff to a certain area of camp, encourage teamwork and creativity, or learn something relating to the use of technology or social media in the area of camp. Once the photo was received by the scavenger hunt coordinator, she would send them the next clue/riddle to direct them to their next location and task.
Once all groups had completed their hunt and returned to the central location, we showed a slide show of all the photos taken by the groups on the scavenger hunt. A great way for staff to share in each other’s experiences and laugh together!
Camps can adapt the clues/riddles and the tasks to orient staff to different areas of camp and hit on key aspects of staff training. Our scavenger hunt was very specific to our camp but we would be happy to share it with others who would like some specific ideas that they could then maybe adapt to their camp.
Our staff loved this workshop because it was interactive and integrated their tech savvy ways into a fun learning and bonding experience. We hope it might be useful in your staff training or be the springboard for a fun way to discuss technology and camp.
Submitted by Megan Snape and Jocelyn Palm
Glen Bernard Camp