SSSC 23 Things Digital – Thing 4: Digital Footprint

I watched the video Orange Digital Dirt. This video is one of many videos currently circulating on keeping yourself aware of your presence online. Watching this video reminded me of the videos we used to watch in secondary school about internet safety. In my college and university courses being aware of your online presence is a necessity as most of those on the course will be working as freelancers.

I googled myself to find out what my digital footprint was. I have a strong digital footprint. The first page of results shows my Facebook, Twitter, Google, Linked In and Mandy accounts. This is not a problem for me as I have tried to raise my digital footprint within the last few years due to my other work as a freelance Costume Maker. This role makes me very aware of my social media presence and digital footprint and I check my privacy settings on social media regularly. The only part of checking my presence on google that worries me is that my website does not show up on the first page of results and as such I will need to work harder to raise its profile. I also need to update my about pages from various social media websites as they are slightly out of date.

I have friends and family who work as nurses and teachers. Many of them use pseudonyms in their social media profiles to keep their work and personal lives separate and to prevent their clients from finding them. As my other job is a freelance costume maker using a pseudonym would make it harder for my clients to find me and examples of my work. Almost all of my social media profiles link back to my website.

I read the article from Just Creative: 8 tips to effectively manage your digital footprint. I feel that the most important of the tips is to “Know What’s Out There”. It is difficult to regulate your digital footprint if you don’t know what is on the internet about you as the information doesn’t always come from you. Not only could your friends post things that you don’t want anyone to see put there, may be someone who shares a similar name and job title that has information that may cast you in a bad light. It is also important as if you know something out there reflects you in a negative light then you have the opportunity to tell whomever find the information the circumstances of the information before they reach a harsh conclusion. For example I once knew a woman who was involved in a drink driving related accident. The newspaper wrote an article about it and as she knew her digital footprint she could now tell future employers that she was now tee total as a result.

I also feel that the passwords tip is important and I am considering using a password manager in the future.

I looked at my Location History and My Activity on my google account and I was slightly surprised to see how much information is saved by Google. It stored over the last years’ worth of searches and locations. I have two google accounts – one for personal and one for work. And it was interesting to see that I had limited my work account’s data storage but my personal account I hadn’t thought to limit. I had also not realised that it stored audio clips from whenever I had used the Ok Google feature which I have subsequently turned off. Although the other features like search and location history do hold a lot of data I do appreciate how the apps work with the information such as the location history informing the Google Maps app or Google saving my contacts as I frequently lose my phone or get lost.

Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJfw3xt4emY
Article link:

http://justcreative.com/2016/05/09/8-tips-to-effectively-manage-your-digital-footprint/

My website address is:

www.bobbijeanpshields.weebly.com

For those looking to get started with SSSC Open Badges

I have recently started using the Open Badge system on Scottish Social Services website. When I first signed up I was unsure of which badges to start with. 

There are two badges for complete beginners to Open Badges:

• Getting started with Open Badges - https://www.badges.sssc.uk.com/badges/starter/
• Writing evidence for Open Badge applications - https://www.badges.sssc.uk.com/badges/evidence/

The Getting Started badge isn't the badge I started with as on reading the criteria I realised that in order to complete the badge you had to attend a webinar. The webinars only happen once every few months and the next one is in September so I have signed up to it but cannot complete the badge until then so "Getting Started" is a slight misnomer unless you want to wait until after the next webinar to complete any badges.

I started with the Writing evidence badge. This badge show you how to complete the evidence for all of the Open Badges. Although each badge does have its own criteria the Writing Evidence badge shows you the basic format that all the badges require and tells you about how using the badges benefits you and what the SSSC is hoping to achieve with the SSSC Badges.

So although there is a Getting Started badge I would recommend starting with the Writing Evidence badge as it will better allow you to proceed with more badges. Another reason I would recommend doing this first is that many of the badges require the Writing Evidence badge as a prerequisite before they will let you complete the badge. For example while you can do the Informed about Dementia Badge without any prior badges, you have to have the Writing Evidence badge before proceeding to the Understanding Dementia badge.

After the Writing Evidence badge I moved on to the 23 things digital. I did this partially because I enjoy digital learning but also because it has a clear structure of which badge to do in what order and it was on the first page of the all badges page.

While working my way through the 23 things digital I will be looking at earning the dementia and medication badges next. I work for a Care at Home service so these seemed the most relevant. As I complete more badges I will continue to post about them.

I would love to hear your comments on your experiences with the SSSC Badges and suggestions of which badges I should do next.

SSSC Open Badges 3

As part of applying for the SSSC 23 Things Digital – Thing 3: Why digital? I looked at the infographic from Skills for Care and how the infographic differed/aligned with my own experiences in Social Care.

“Staff have confidence in their own basic online skills with over 90% feeling confident or very confident.”

In my experience I have found this not to be true. This is due to the fact that there are many people working in social care who have do not have the basic IT skills that most people under 30 would have learned in high school or primary school. Those who have never used this kind of technology are daunted by the prospect of learning. Many of them would need one to one tuition in IT and this is not always feasible. Of those who do have basic IT skills they may only be confident in carrying out certain tasks online such as using Facebook and checking emails but have not grasp of how to find research data or start a blog. To those competent in IT these seem like very simple exercises however this can impede people from trying to learn as they have built up these tasks in their own minds.

“But 52% of managers feel staff do not have sufficient basic online skills”

I can understand this assessment although it could be argued that some managers are also lacking in IT skills. If the managers of a company do not have basic IT skills this can hinder the use of IT in the workplace.

“95% of participants use digital technology for at least one work related activity”

If this survey included texts and phone calls from a mobile device as well as sending emails to communicate then this assessment is concurrent with my own experiences. However, there is room for vast improvement when it comes to the use of technology in social care. The Open Badge system is a good step forward but it is only just gaining traction across care organisations. I also think that in order to improve the use of digital technology within social care there needs to be an understanding across companies of where they can use technology and where they cannot. This is because data protection and the right to privacy can be very easily invaded by the use of technology. The government has only just begun in creating legislation for social media and internet use across all areas, not just those pertaining to social care.

In my experience there are many factors stopping the use of digital technology. There is a lack of knowledge amongst organisations about where the use of technology to create person centred care may breach the individuals’ privacy and so many companies choose to steer away from technology entirely. Many staff do not have access to technology or do not have the skills to use it. Many organisations particularly small businesses do not have the resources to provide the technology and IT training for their staff. Some business managers and supervisors do not have the IT skills to support their staff in using the technology. Due to the pace of technology there would be an ongoing need to update the staff and managers in their knowledge of IT. When small businesses get enough money and manpower to put their staff through training they will most likely opt to give their staff training in things like First Aid or Epilepsy as these are more pressing for the staff to be trained in.

Attitudes to using digital technology

I believe that the potential for the use of digital technology is there and those companies who have the knowledge of technology are keen to use it yet I think that it will be a number of years before technology is integrated into social care, when the generations of workers who did not grow up with technology will leave the workforce and those who have always have technology surrounding them make up the majority of the workplace. These are the people who will be confident in their knowledge of the technology and by that time the internet will be better regulated by the government.

The reason that technology has not integrated into social care is not only due to the organisations and government. It is also due to the clients themselves. Many of our older clients, particularly those with dementia and other memory issues, are suspicious and wary of using technology. They may not understand it or not want it in their lives. We must respect their decisions. This is not true for every client and many of our younger clients would welcome the change.

What current learning opportunities are there for digital technology?

There are many learning opportunities to learn about using digital technology both formal and informal. In my experience there are individuals who go on formal courses to learn basic IT skills and do not learn anything by them. These individuals need one to one tuition on technology as a classroom environment does not work for them. Most individuals that I know that are good with technology learned through teaching themselves. They may have also had formal learning later however the basis for their learning was self-directed. I believe that this proves that in order to learn about technology you need to have the curiosity to seek it out. I think the best way to encourage people to learn is to teach them the benefits of technology and to give them the opportunity to find it themselves.

What is digital technology used for?

I do believe that digital technology can improve the quality of care we, as support workers, provide to our clients. Digital technology can help us to create a person centred care plan for all our clients. It can help us to engage with other organisations to enable our clients to get the best service we can provide. On the other hand I believe that integrating technology into social care will take a lot of work from everyone involved and will unfortunately be years in the making.

I completed a short self-assessment score-sheet of my digital capabilities.

For my self-assessment of my digital capabilities I would say that I am 4/5. There are still many things that I would like to learn how to do digitally. For example I would like to know how to use coding and more advanced IT but this would be for my own enjoyment rather than as work based learning.

For my confidence in my digital capabilities I would say 5/5 as I know what I am capable of with technology and I am confident in my application.

As for relevance I would say 2/5 mainly as I feel that social care has not yet embraced technology and many of the things that I know how to do with technology would not yet be relevant to working in care such as marketing through social media and creating websites.

I would love to apply my knowledge and capabilities of digital technology to my working life however at the moment I am unclear as to how they can fit together. 

The info-graphic mentioned can be found at:
http://23digital.sssc.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Digital-capabilities-infographic.pdf

SSSC Open Badges 2

I have registered online for the Scottish Social Services Council's Open Badges website. This is a website which allows me to learn about aspects of working in care and work towards Open Badges which allow my achievements to be shared online with others. These badges contain information on how I obtained the badges and what evidence I provided toward earning the badges. 

I have learned through watching  videos on the SSSC website that the method by which I will evidence my badges will promote learning more about the subject rather than repeating the information given to me as it encourages reflection on learning. I have found in my university studies of an unrelated subject that this is an effective way of learning particularly for me as I was diagnosed with dyspraxia a number of years ago and as such have problems with short term memory.

Reflecting on my learning will help me to retain more information. Producing evidence for the badges will force me to think about the subject in more depth and will enable me to see which points I need to improve upon. Using blogs and social media will allow others who may be thinking about using the Open Badges to contact me and ask questions about how the Badge system works and may encourage others to start using the Open Badges. This will improve my own learning as helping others to understand a topic enhances my understanding of the topic as they may ask questions about the topic that I had not previously considered.

The Open Badge system is also a good way for me and my manager to keep track of my Personal Development Plan within Social Care. It allows me to work with my manager to work to improve both my working practices but also to make suggestions about improving practices within the company as a whole.

Videos mentioned:

"Open Badges from the SSSC" found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ful9QqGwX7o and "Advice on evidence for Open Badge applications" found at https://vimeo.com/217511564?lite=1

SSSC Open Badges 1

My name is Bobbi Jean Shields. At the time of writing this I am 22 years old. I started working in social care after I left school, working both as a Personal Assistant for a Private Person and also for a Care at Home Service. I took some time off of working in Social Care to go to university to study a BA Hons in Costume Design and Construction. I am currently about to enter my final year of university but have returned to working within care as I enjoy working with people.

The purpose of this blog is to document my personal development plan regarding my working in care and my use of the Scottish Social Services Council's Open Badges System. 

I have learned in the process of researching the SSSC Badges and starting this blog is that these skills are transferable into any sector that I may work in as there may be other times in my working life where I am dealing with vulnerable adults or children and to educate myself on things like Understanding Dementia, Making Better Decisions or Leadership could improve the way I interact with others.