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