Best Group Chat Options For Scouts BSA Troops

October 13, 2020 Steve Conn Newsletter Comments Off on Best Group Chat Options For Scouts BSA Troops

There are a bunch of different “group chat” applications.     Slack,  WhatsApp, Discord, Hangouts, and Band are the ones that I am familiar with and have used.   They are all pretty similar (although the look and feel are different)  I’ll go through some of my history with them, and how we use them.

The “Too Long: Didn’t Read”  of the rest of this is “find out which of the above your SPL and ASPLs are already using and go with that, and in the absence of clear direction from youth, I would probably go with Google Hangouts. particularly for younger scouts.  It is the simplest, it is well known, and parents have at least some trust in Google    Discord is a  close second, and has several advantages.   See the end of this email for my recommendations on how to get started, and the link for the SPL Council Discord server if you want to see it in action

Why would you use a group chat application in Scouting?  There are a number of reasons.  The youth tend to be pretty comfortable with them, and respond to them.   Most youth do not seem to respond to email.

  • All the major group chat applications are cross platform.  They work on Android. IOS, Windows, and Mac.
  • They provide a permanent record of the conversations
  • They allow you to set up different chats for patrols, leaders, or specific events.
  • You can set a policy that dictates that at least two adults must be in any chat you maintain Youth Protection compliance.
  • They are invitation only.  They are not available to the general public, and they are not viewable by the public
  • The youth respond while they might not respond to email.

The negatives for any of these platforms are basically the same as the negatives for any social platform.  There is (on any cloud based application) a risk of data breach.  Someone with the invitation link can share it inappropriately.   It is possible that youth can go out of sight and act inappropriately.  But that can be said about any form of communication including email, text, and phone.  With these platforms you can put procedures in place to reduce the risk significantly.

My personal experience:   

The platform that the youth in Troop 220 and Crew 176 use is actually Google Hangouts.   We have been using hangouts for at least 5 years.  We started using hangouts in Crew 176 when I was Advisor.  Our Crew President was a HS junior, very busy, and not responsive to email.  I wanted a YP compliant way to talk with her and guide her in planning meetings and activities.  (without going into the differences between Venturing and Scouts BSA, Advisor is roughly equivalent to Scoutmaster and President is roughly equivalent to SPL).

We started mostly looking for a video chat platform, but Webex and Skype did not work on her Logan HS issued Chromebook.  I don’t remember who suggested Hangouts, but we tried it, and it worked.  Soon we invited the other crew officers, and then the rest of the crew.  When the new Crew President was elected, I set up a private chat with her and another adult.

When we started Troop 220, the initial leadership team came out of the Crew.  The Crew president became the Founding SPL and we opened up a new Hangout specific for Troop 220.   We later formed hangouts for the PLC and a hangout for each patrol.   The SPL and all the ASPLs have a hangout of their own with the Scoutmaster and ASMs.  I have put in a tradition, where upon election the new SPL starts a hangout .with me (the Scoutmaster) and any other adult of their choice.    When we were planning events, the scouts in charge of the event would form another hangout.  220 has used Hangouts successfully for the past two years, and Crew 176 continues to use Hangouts.

Positives –  It is very simple to set up and administer.  You can have ongoing text chats as well as video meetings (for groups of 10 or fewer) Anyone with a google account (does NOT need to be a gmail account) can join.  It works very well on all platforms.   I have sat in on virtual PLCs and troop meetings from my car.  I have started a meeting on my phone, then (upon retiring home) joined from computer.  I have started a meeting on the computer, then switched to phone so that I can get myself dinner.  All the transitions were seamless.    I am a member of every troop hangout.  I want to know how a patrol is doing, I can check the chat in their hangout.  Are they organizing meetings?  Are they working on skills? Are they arguing?  is there no activity?  It is all very visible.  Because I have a direct line to the SPL, I can send coaching and reminders that no one (other than the second adult, usually an ASM) can see.  (Hey, SPL – what is your agenda for the PLC?)  The SPL then goes out and is the public face and ;look pretty organized.  Several of our SPLs have kept the private chat (with a second adult for YPT) going even after their terms as SPL were older.  They occasionally .seek my guidance and mentoring on non scout related subjects,

Negatives:  It is possible to fall out of YP compliance, but that is possible with any of the platforms, as well as email, phones, texts or any other communication.  You have to protect against that by having enough adults on each hangout and monitoring the conversations.  If the youth have a video chat without adults present, we require that they post the start and stop time as well as all attendees to the chat so that there is a written record.   (the concern is youth on youth cyber bullying, and we believe that by requiring documentation of video chats, we can monitor for any issues

Overall –  Google Hangouts has worked well for us and I recommend it.

I noticed that many of the youth in my Venturing Crew have been using Discord.  (my kids use Discord a lot)   Discord was actually targeted to gamers, and that is their focus, but lots of people use it for other purposes.   A number of  Venturing Officer Associations (Council, Area and National) have Discord Servers.   When I started working with the SPLs and asked about their preferences, they wanted Discord.  Discord is very popular among older teens.

There are a couple of  ways that Discord is different from Hangouts.

In Hangouts, each individual hangout is a standalone entity.  So if a patrol forms a Hangout, the Hangout is its own thing, not a sub-hangout of the troop.  To the best of my knowledge, there is no hierarchy in Hangouts. Discord has a hierarchy.  In Discord, you create a “Server”  within the server you have “Channels”.  You have to be a member of the server to join a channel.  Each server has at least one Admin, who can invite or remove and set up users and channels.  There is (typically) a “management” channel available only to admins.

 

Discord also allows you to quote a previous message in your reply (similar to Slack and Whats App).  Hangouts does not make that easy, so if you have multiple threads going on a Hangout, it can get confusing

If you can imagine Slack redesigned with an aesthetic to appeal to people who play Dungeons and Dragons, you have Discord.  Probably not 100% accurate, but pretty close.

Positives –  A lot of youth (particularly the older teens) are already using it.  It has a hierarchy, so all the “channels” for a “server” are visible to everyone on the server .  There are designated admins

Negatives:  Can be  more complicated than Hangouts.  The DnD aesthetic might be a turnoff to parents of younger scouts.

Overall  –  Discord has worked well for the SPL Council and is very popular with older scouts

The parents use Whats App –  We have an overall Parents WhatsApp chat, one for the committee, one specific to SM ASM and CC.  The membership and advancement committees each have a WhatsApp

Positives:  The biggest positive is that most of the parents were already on it.

Negatives:  My biggest complaint is that it all works through the phone. more complicated, don’t really recommend it for youth

Overall –  Great for parents – OK but not recommended for youth

One of the SPLs of T220 really likes Band (she plays french horn for a number of different youth orchestras) and tried to get the troop to switch. But by then, the troop was so locked in to Hangouts, she never got any traction.  I have never used Band, so I can’t really talk to positives and negatives, but I do know that it is popular in youth organizations

I have only used Slack for professional reasons –  One of the youth started a slack channel for a project, but seems to have reverted to Hangouts. I am neutral on Slack for youth – It is probably as good as any of them.

How to get started

As with all things Scouting, using one of these platforms should be scout led.  Start with your SPL, or with your SPL and ASPLs –  If they have a preference, let them select the platform,     Once you have the platform selected, start with a small subset of the older scouts.  SPL/ASPLs, PLC, or a patrol of older scouts

Inform the parents of what you are doing, and let them know that they are free to join any chats at any time, but request that they do not participate unless they are trained, designated direct contact leaders.  (SM or ASM)   They should immediately report any concerns to you.

I hope this provides you enough information.   If you want to check out Discord in action, you can join the SPL Council server https://discord.gg/EjmuMCG

If you have other questions, please feel free to reach out to me at

Yours in Scouting

Lee