Why Digital?

Thing 3: WHY DIGITAL?

Why digital? I can understand why this question might be asked. Older members of staff who have worked in social care for a long time can be heard saying “We managed fine without all this fancy computer stuff, why bother with it” As the younger members of staff start to share their knowledge of IT the Older members have begun to appreciate the great benefits it offers. They can often be heard saying “It’s ok we can check the bus tracker at the stop for the next bus” when they are supporting someone to go out.  Using smart phones to look up holidays which they can then cost accurately for the people they support or looking something up and being able to answer that persons question correctly. Staff I have worked alongside tend to use digital without realizing they are and have a misconception that to do digital they need to be sitting at a computer worrying about security and safety.

Step 1: I firstly had a look at the info-graph provided by skills for care as instructed in SSSC23digital Things.

Due to my own experience I was surprised that the Perception of skills showed that 90% of staff surveyed felt that they had confidence in their basic online skills I would have thought this to be much lower. Management perception of 52% probably gave a true comparison to my own experience at this time and that within a generation the gap between these statistics will disappear.  The use of digital technology for at least one work related activity coming in at 95% does not surprise me at all as digital is all around us in our everyday activities, whether we realise it or not. I lately witnessed an example of the use of digital which evidence the time saving, accuracy and usefulness of digital technology. My husband was struggling to increase the volume on his Sat Nav system built into his car; he read the manual, played around with buttons much to his frustration and annoyance. From the rear of the car my daughter (30yrs his junior) advised “you can only increase the volume as the sat Nav is giving instructions, all of these makes of cars are the same.” Her dad was surprised “how did you know that?” “I used my phone to look it up” was her reply. It took her minutes, no fuss, and no trouble and left her feeling satisfied that she had solved the problem.    

 

Job descriptions include the need for basic IT skills and as our workforce attracts the younger generation the knowledge, willingness and abilities will be shared and improved training will be required to allow much more use of digital technology. Improving practice and saving time better used for valuable support and hopefully avoiding the two tier workforce that the SSSC believe we must work to avoid.    

When I considered the section “What stops the use of digital technology?” I felt that the staffs concerns were not what I would have expected and that their concerns would have mirrored that of the managers so I was quite surprised. 

 

Step 2: Next I carried out the short self- assessment scoresheet as instructed. I am self- taught in the use of computers and I manage to get by but as I have progressed in my career in social care I have realised the benefits of Digital technology.

I feel that in the assessment of my capability I am probably scoring at 3 – average, I suppose it depends on who I am comparing my skills with, I am not afraid to give things a go or indeed to ask someone with greater knowledge for help. I use Word frequently, e-mail, access information and save and share information. At the moment I am trying to teach myself excel which I feel excited about as I can see the time saving benefits of this for calculating support hours, staffing hours and annual leave records. I am also very aware though that a computer is only as good as its operator and that input must be accurate.

In the confidence stakes I  have scored myself 3- average, I am confident and willing to try but the part of digital use that I am not so confident with is online security the more I read about hacking, identity fraud and trolling the more my confidence in this area falters.     

Relevance, well I felt this rated a 5 – very high. I feel the relevance of the use of my digital skills in my role and the potentials are vast. My reasons for this are based on the fact that I see the benefit of my very small amount of knowledge and the way in which I use that and I consider what I could do with more training. I reflect on our SSSC code of practice 6. Be accountable for the quality of my work and will take responsibility for maintaining and improving my knowledge and skills and how in turn it facilitates code 2. Create and maintain the trust and confidence of people who use services and carers.

Digital technology provides speedy communication, information gathering, accuracy and also allows us to reduce our carbon footprint so makes us environmentally friendly too.

                                                                                                                                                                                       

Thing 4 Digital footprint

I was advised by SSSC to complete Thing 4 next, This would lead me nicely into learning more following my discovering of my activity history   


Thing 4: Digital Footprint

I have learnt that a digital footprint is the trail you leave behind when you use the internet. This history if not managed can be accessed by others. There is nothing you can do to retrieve information once it has been put out there publicly. Digital footprint could be used to gather information about me that could put me at risk of identity fraud. It can either create a good impression or a bad one.

Step 1 - I began by watching the Orange digital dirt video on you tube. I had heard that employers had begun to use these types of methods to check out potential employees. I watched the interview being acted out and instantly thought of recent comments that I had read on Facebook. These comments were made by a person I know who I have always regarded very highly. At the time I couldn’t believe what I was reading and thought of the damage and trouble these comments could cause. I believe this person was acting out of character and that they were either drunk when they posted it or possibly unwell. I know the person and know this has been an indiscretion but others wouldn’t and potential employers certainly would not.

Step 2 - I Googled myself to see how high up on the search engine I came. I featured first through Facebook, I clicked on my picture and my profile page came up. I am relieved that I don’t put too much personal information up but even from this I was able to see the following:

• My favourite music  & Movies
•  Football team I support
• My political tendencies

Hmm, Could this be enough to cause me a bit of grief online?

My name came up in the obituaries thankfully it wasn’t me. I then found myself on the electoral register and my blog came up also.

Step3 – Phew! I am glad I have been cautious as I am now reading 8 tips to manage digital footprint and learning a great deal. I didn’t know that I should regularly check the settings on social media sites as these sites can change their privacy controls. I did this straight away and my settings were fine.

 I felt that Tip five’s advice on splitting my footprint made total sense especially to those who use auction sites and do shopping online.  

Tip 6 has enlightened me on apps and I have learnt that there is no real way of knowing what is attaching itself to you when you download an app.  Some of these apps can glean information about you and use it to push advertisements your way. Needless to say the mobile application manager was checked and I cleared the apps from it that I didn’t use.            

Step 4 - I checked my Google account, first exploring my timeline this showed nothing very much. I don’t have Google share set up but I soon realised I am glad at this point that I don’t. Potentially my footprint could indicate locations I frequent such as the homes of the people I support, banks or the locations of my family’s homes and the regular places we go. I had already found out a bit about my Google activity and thought that this must be what the police use when they are looking for missing persons and how digital footprint has positive uses too.

During my research into digital footprint I came across an interesting article which gave me even more information.  https://digitaltiptime.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/active-and-passive-digital-footprints/comment-page-1/   

I realised  by reading this that we have an active footprint and a passive footprint the difference being that active is what we create ourselves and passive is what other people write or post about us.  The article outlines the importance of being a good digital citizen by remembering that anything you post about someone else is adding to their passive digital footprint. I particularly appreciated the piece written by the author when she made the comparison that your digital footprint is like your online credit history and that you should periodically check this.    

Posting positive comments lessens the likelihood of someone posting anything undesirable back to you (this made me think about my friend earlier in my blog).  The article asks you to consider 3 questions before you post.


                 Is it kind?                                             Is it true?                                 Is it necessary?  

This made me reflect on our own SSSC codes of conduct in particular Code 5. Uphold the trust and confidence in social services.  Staff must always consider the impact their actions might have on their career and the implications on their registration.  How can we uphold trust in social services and expect the people we support to have confidence in us if in our private lives we choose to use social media to show the worst of ourselves?

Would you want that person on Facebook to support you in your own home? 

Open Badges

13/1/18

Thing 2: Open Badges.    



 

When I first heard colleagues talking about open badges I felt quite unsure and wondered if I would be confident enough to do a badge. I now feel very excited and my hunger to learn has been reignited by the opportunities SSSC23things and Open badges has to offer. Open badge will enable me to evidence my learning as I go and to share it with the relevant organisations and people throughout my career in an accessible and portable way. I feel that the need for files full of certificates and papers are a thing of the past. I will have a digital evidence of my achievements and  have the added bonus that it will be kinder to the environment and reduce the need for storage space.
As I learn in many different ways I feel that I am now going to be able to evidence fully the knowledge I am gaining from every day things such as reading an article or learning a new skill or method as a result of an experience. In the past I always felt it was quite difficult to evidence such learning but as result of SSSC23things introducing me the world of blogging and the method used when applying for an open badge I feel that this is now going to be much more simpler.

I am amazed that the badges will hold such a lot of information, detailing how I earned the badge, the amount of commitment and work I put in to gain the badge, the standards and skills on which the badge is determined, even keeping the records of award dates and expiry. This is such a great concept and one which I am certain that I will benefit from.
I Love the fact that Open badges allows exchanges of information between others and that it provides a connection with other Social care colleagues. The realisation of the importance of ensuring my work is to a good standard has become apparent. As I have learnt more about open badges I realise that not only will any badges I gain act as an assessment aid to SSSC on my continuing professional development but that I can share my relevant badges with employers to hopefully progress in my career.       

I can pick up my laptop and study at a time that is good for me. I feel confident that the knowledge I am gaining is relevant to my role and that I can share my learning and development with others.   

Whilst blogging in my Google account I was shocked when I found that I could find my complete Google history and also came across the search history of my daughter which was harmless enough but indicated that it is another way in which with knowledge I could hopefully prevent her from harm by monitoring this. I must admit that my lack of IT security knowledge has begun to scare me. I have already learnt just by doing Thing 1 and Thing 2 that it is so important not to enter any information that I would not be happy,safe or permitted to share. Once information is out there it is hard to reverse it.  

I hadn't realised that many people and organisation from around the world have embraced open badges. What a great opportunity for us to learn and share with one another. I feel as though I am part of  a worldwide community of learners, it’s great!

http://edumeg.blogspot.com/2018/01/open-badges.html

Introduction

Hi it's Edumeg here,




At this stage of my blog I do not wish to introduce myself by name and I have chosen instead to use my blog name. I hope that as I gain knowledge and confidence in safe internet use by undertaking SSSC23things online training that eventually I will feel happier to share more detail about myself.




I work in social care, supporting people with learning disabilities. I am a registrant of the SSSC often browsing the website for new information and guidance. The organisation I work for is committed to providing high quality training to its staff and have encouraged all staff to access the learning and development opportunities provided on the SSSC website.



As I continue to progress in my career in social care I feel the need to develop my knowledge further. Although I manage to use IT to the best of my ability it is becoming apparent that the people I support's interest and expectations of us as support workers will demand a greater level of skills in internet use. As the demands to access social media sites, dating sites, job sites, online shopping and general browsing of the internet increases, so does the need for social care workers to provide support in this area. The obvious data protection and adult support and protection implications this will entail is a frightening reality. I recognise that if I do not continue to learn new skills in this area there is a potential that I will be unable to provide the necessary support to create the opportunities that people so rightly deserve.


8/1/18
Thing 1 : Blogging


I began by trying to use WordPress.com and didn't get very far, probably due to me being a beginner. For some reason it wouldn't allow me to set up a free blog and kept taking me to links to sign up to monthly payments for my blog. When this didn't work I realised that I already had a google account so it was much easier to use google blogger. Luckily I have a teenager in the house who pointed me in the right direction. Creating my blog with Google was fairly straight forward.

Step 1.
I clicked on the blogger icon and as I was already signed in it directed me to create my blog and asked me to give a blog name and design.
Thinking of a suitable name for my Blog, seems easy enough. Once I started to research a bit I found it was quite important to consider this very carefully. I discovered that your Blog name is your online identity. If I choose wrongly and wanted to change the name at a later date it would be time consuming, I would need to reset links and potentially loose links, update URL address and it could result in expense .  I opted for a short name so that it would be easily remembered and I wanted the blog to instantly give people an idea of what I was using my blog for. I eventually decided on Edumeg as in educating me. I did think about using a name to indicate that it was about learning IT skills but thought that I might like to use my blog for further training in the future and It would be best not to categories it.
Step 2. 
I then selected a design for my blog opting for a basic design but learnt I can go back at a later date and change my design choice as I get more adventurous.
Step 3.
I then e-mailed my blog details to SSSC. I used copy and paste to enter the URL address from the title bar at the top of the window then e-mailed the detail to SSSC. Unfortunately the e-mail bounced straight back to me saying there was an error. I then tried just e-mailing my blog address and I was able to successfully send my message. 


Following my E-mail I received a message alerting me that an unidentified device had tried to access my account. I went into my Google account to the security icon and to be on the safe side I decided to change my password. I realised that as my PC is quite an old one that it had randomly detected my location and it was in fact my own device but the wrong location. Panic over!

The SSSC23things has certainly got me thinking about how vulnerable we are when we use the internet.


Finally I was ready to make my blog public and clicked the publish icon in my blog page, Hoorah!