Outline for a session to introduce Slow Ways to Explorer Scouts & Leaders
Use this format or adapt it for your audience. Make it local, relevant. Connect to your own activities and contexts. Familiarity is needed with Slow Ways, the website, and its tools, resources and ways to contribute. Tailor a session using local routes, prepared Waylists and examples of journeys and reviews.
Aims
- Inform Explorer Scouts and Leaders about Slow Ways.
- Explore a range of options to use and get involved with Slow Ways.
- Scouts and leaders walk, review and survey (local) Slow Ways routes – both as part of Scouting activity and independently/voluntarily.
- Slow Ways are integrated into relevant Scouting contexts, activities, badges, Awards.
1. Introduction
Set the scene setting, outline session aims & format (see Get Involved – Award schemes for background).
2. Slow Ways background & overview
- Play 15-minute video introduction to Slow Ways by Dan Raven-Ellison.
- Recap background to Slow Ways – what it is, what it aims to do, why – in local setting.
3. Interactive Q&A
3.1 Show your local place and surrounding places e.g. Hemel Hempstead
Which nearby places do you go to? Why?
How do you get to them?
Would you consider walking? (Yes/No/Maybe – explore reasons why/why not)
3.2 Show Slow Ways routes (in green, use Layers Menu, top right)
What reasons might there be for walking between these places? What benefits might there be?
(For a list of benefits to cross-reference with responses, see ‘Guidance for Town, Community & Parish Councils, Local Authorities, Protected Areas’ template, part of Get Involved: Councils & local governance).
Focus on specific routes – and prompt discussion – by clicking on them.
3.3 What links are there with your own Scouting activities?
4. Slow Ways website, Reviews and Surveys
Create and share your own examples (with scope for inputs from Explorer Scouts and/or leader).
Explore the website as a tool for making the most of Slow Ways:
- for using and exploring routes, for planning, saving and sharing journeys.
- Slow Ways, routes, places
- Journey Planner
- Waylists
- for helping to contribute and help create a trusted national network of walking routes.
- Route Review, including star rating, comments, verification, photos (see ‘How to review a Slow Ways route’).
- Place survey – show example (See ‘How to survey a Place’).
- Survey – show example (See ‘How to survey a Slow Ways route’).
- for making your own links with your own activities.
- Discuss use of Slow Ways in Scouts settings, contexts.
- Consider using Slow Ways to connect with other Scouts groups or activity venues.
To help with this:
- Prepare local and/or relevant examples – “here’s one I prepared earlier”.
- A range of ‘How to’ short films is being prepared. This draft of ‘getting started’ shows a 4-5 min introduction to the website tbc. Use these as required.
- For webinar sessions covering Groups, Introduction, Website, Surveys, see ‘webinars’ on the Slow Ways YouTube channel.
5. Get your Scouts group involved
Here’s a range of options:
- Use and explore routes
- Choose and walk a Slow Ways Route
- Use the Journey Planner, create Waylists
- Help to create a trusted national network of walking routes
- Review a Place
- Review a Slow Ways route – include comments, star rating, verifying, photos
- Collectively review a route – leave a single review capturing group feedback, or leave several reviews showing individual reflections
- ‘Swarm’ – choose a place or an area, and review all its Slow Ways routes
- Add a Slow Ways route, if needed
- Survey a Slow Ways route – this requires online training
- Make your own links with your own activities.
- Create a ‘Slow Ways Voices’ film…
- Share what you do locally, on social media using #SlowWays and @Scouts
Enjoy exploring Slow Ways in your Scouting!