Expedition Setup FAQs

Please find below a number of FAQs related to the Expedition set up pages. Please see the Expedition Set Up User guide for more detailed information on the changes.

1. Why have you made changes and what are they?

The expedition screens for participants and the expedition set-up screens for Leaders have been updated in response to feedback and to make it easier for the administration of the section within eDofE to be completed. The changes can be summarised as follows:

Only four sub-sections to complete:

1. Expedition Training
2. Practice and Qualifying expedition for Silver and Gold level and Qualifying expedition for Bronze level only. 
3. Expedition presentation for Silver and Gold level only. 
4. Expedition reports for supervisors and assessors

• The participant ‘goals’ section is optional
• The Expedition Aim can be entered for a team by the Leader
• A mandatory start point for Practice and Qualifying Expeditions (postcode or GR)
• A Leader will ‘create an expedition’ and then add participants to it. They can also add participants to an existing expedition
• Expedition Notification Form (‘the green form’) updated and automated

2. What has changed on the Green Form?

The Green Form has been updated to reflect feedback from Assessor Network Coordinators, Managers and Leaders. There are no programme changes but there are a number of minor changes to streamline the notification process:

• Many fields of the Green Form are now automatically using information from eDofE if a Leader adds multiple participants to the same expedition
• Only one copy of the notification form and route is required by the Network Coordinator
• Address details are no longer required for the person submitting the form or for the Expedition Supervisor.
• Age of participants is no longer required (this programme rule is enforced through eDofE)

There have been no changes to the Blue/Overseas Notification Form.

3. Why is it now compulsory to add an ‘Expedition start point’ for all expeditions?

Previously the DofE has had little information on where participants go on an expedition unless the expedition required the use of a Green or Blue Form. It is important for the Charity to understand our environmental impact at all levels of the award, and to be able to respond to incidents and issues appropriately. This information can be recorded either as a grid reference or a postcode; eDofE Mapping can be used to get this information.

4. Shouldn’t participants have to input their own expedition aim?

As the Expedition Guide makes clear, an expedition team must work together to decide on their aim. Allowing a Leader to then record this aim in each participant’s eDofE record through the new expedition set-up functionality means that the aim is captured accurately, once, as opposed to each participant inputting slightly different aims, which has sometimes occurred in the past. In many cases, it has also become a barrier to completion, with participants forgetting to input this information and therefore unable to have their Expedition section signed off, despite having completed their actual expedition.

5. What do the numbers under ‘expedition summary’ mean?

The Expedition summary field contains details about expeditions that have been added to a participant's eDofE record and will contain a number of different reference numbers.  The first two letters will indicate who added the expedition in eDofE and what type of expedition this is, for example:

• PP0002095494: Practice expedition added by a participant
• PQ0002095493: Qualifying expedition added by a participant
• LP0002095491: Practice expedition added by a leader
• LQ0002095492: Qualifying expedition added by a leader
• PEx000001: Practice expedition added using the old version of Expedition Set up
• QEx00001: Qualifying expedition added using the old version of Expedition Setup

If you click on the Expedition Reference number it will display which participants have been added to this expedition (please note this will not work for old PEx or QEx references). These numbers also enable Leaders to add existing expeditions to participants.

6. Can DofE Leaders add in the Expedition Aim for participants who have already set-up their expedition?

No, Leaders can only add the expedition aim for participants whose expedition they create using the new functionality. Participants who still need to add their expedition aim to their account in order to complete the section must be encouraged to do so before they can complete their DofE Award.