Thing 5: Social Media

Social Media is continuously growing and spreading out into different areas and different branches of the internet.  It has an impact on both our personal and professional lives and influences how other people in our community and the wider world view us. As a result of this social media can be a great tool to have in our toolbox as practitioners, however it must be used with caution. 

I work for a private nursery that belongs to a large company and they have set policies and procedures when it comes to social media of all forms. The SSSC also their own policy that you must adhere to when you are registered by them as a worker in the social services sector, Code 5.8 of the Code of Practice for Social Service Workers states -

I will not behave, while in or outside work, in a way which would bring my suitability to work in social services into question.

These policies are there for the protection of you, your employer and the service users and therefor must be taken seriously and considered whenever you post on social media.

In your personal life the easiest way to protect everyone is use common sense when posting on your accounts and review your privacy settings regularly, making sure you only make public what you intended to.

When using social media for work wither it be accounts, pages or groups it is best to keep it simple, accurate and professional. Keeping your policies in mind and executing common sense.

The last thing to remember is responsibility, no-matter what you post or why, you are responsible for your content and you alone.

Rebecca

Thing 4: Digital Footprint

I love technology! It helps our daily life, makes tasks more simple, brings joy and saves time as well as connecting us to others worldwide. The advances we make every day are amazing.

However the biggest downside to technology is our digital footprint. No matter what you do online wither it buying a new top, paying for your lunch, updating your social media, posting a picture or simply performing a google search you leave a footprint. Even now as I blog, every keystroke is building onto my ever enlarging digital footprint.

When I first watched the video and read the criteria for Thing 4 I was more than a little worried because most of my life works through some form of smart device. I love my technology and use it daily from counting my steps to paying for everything I buy, having went cashless a few months ago. The first step was to google myself and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Although most of what appeared was of myself as my name is not exactly common, everything appeared to be positive or neutral. The main articles were related to facebook, my nursery webpage, twitter and my blog. All of which I have very strong and secure passwords and have extensive privacy settings for the posts I do not want to be seen by the general public. I am lucky enough to have already known the dangers of a digital footprint and took steps to secure all my data as much as I possibly could when registering for SSSC and starting my career as a Childcare practitioner. Anyone of my perspective employers, parents of children or anyone I meet could simply google my name and I wanted to be in control of my first impression (even if it was a digital one).

This link provides 8 basic steps that will help you to manage your own digital footprint,

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

Personally I believe the best steps are personalise your privacy settings and make sure you know whats out there about you, have strong passwords and keep your devices updated to the most recent software.

The digital footprint for most is considered a necessary evil but you can make it work for you if you are in control of it. 😊

Rebecca.

Thing 3: Why Digital?

Technology is now a large part of daily life for a mast majority of the western population. It has been successfully integrated into all of our emergency services and has had profound success with very limited and rare downsides. Technology is everywhere, where you eat with the new self order in fast food restaurants, when you shop online, heating your home, when you book appointments by email or even use an app to book and track your taxi. It is becoming the new way of life. Almost every home has at least one smart device and the average for Scotland is 2 devices.

So why should this not roll into our workplace keeping our practice current and vital when teaching the future generation who will most likely be using technology that at the moment does not even exist. Everyday at work I see the gap between those who are confident and enjoy using technology and those who are not, this gap is made more apparent when the children discuss apps and programs they use at home and only some staff are able to understand and respond.

When looking at the provided infographic by Skills for Care, I found that the perception of skills to be higher than I would link to my own workplace and a surprising difference between staff and their managers.

I then completed the attached self assessment form on which I had to grade myself on Capability, confidence and Relevance. I scored myself a 4 on both capability and confidence but only a 3 for relevance because most of what I know about technology does not apply to my work as an early years practitioner. 

My nursery is slightly behind the times as we still use paper for almost everything and we have not yet moved to digital profiles. However we do you use computers with the children and we record their play experiences and activities with a camera. The technology we use at the moment is very limited but hopefully that will change and improve in the coming years. The same is said for staff in their own development of digital learning and to make use of the many opportunities that are their for professional development via digital platforms. This 23 step guide being one of many that provides some of the basics, provided by SSSC.

Rebecca.

Open Badges continued...

I am happy to say that I have recently been awarded my first two open badges for Blogging and learning about open badges and may it be the first of many.

Rebecca.

Thing 2: Open Badges

Open badges is a new method used to celebrate and keep track of the professional learning and development I have achieved. The opportunity to earn and open badge is not limited to social care workers alone but to anyone, however some are only attainable through registration. However if you are registered with SSSC then open badges count towards your continous learning. I have followed the step by step guide and its simple and easy. 

Open badges to my knowledge are the only way to celebrate all your formal and informal learning in one place and in some cases the only way to receive acknowledgement for your hard work 👏. No one institute can provide you with all the knowledge, understanding and tools that you will require throughout your career. Open badges will keep track of my lifetime learning and development throughout my career no matter how I gained my knowledge and understanding; wither it be a training course, online course, new policy, document or even and ICT video or powerpoint.

The badges are not certificate of completion however, you must provide evidence that you learned from your activity or training. The evidence you use to support your claim will also summarise what you have learned for yourself which will make it much more useful when implementing this within your professional practice and cement your knew found knowledge in the brain, or so they say😀.

The badges that you are successfully rewarded may be shared online, grouped within an online portfolio or even downloaded into printable certificates. This provides a way of showing current and future employers a catalog of your development on or with your CV which may help with employment or promotion. You do not lose your badges if you change job or position, your badges are yours to keep. 

I have only discovered open badges thanks to SSSC 23 Things digital and I hope to complete my first two shortly. Hopefully the first two of many. 😊

Rebecca.

Thing 1: Blogging

I am sure you are here for the same reason I am, you are following SSSC: 23 Things Digital. If you are I hope this helps in anyway it can as you complete your own steps. If not you are welcome to stay and read but to be honest it might not be very useful otherwise.

My name's Rebecca and I am an early years educator working full time in a private nursery.

I will be following the SSSC guide for 23Things Digital and blogging as I go along as requested by Thing1:Blogging.

I have always considered myself to be computer literate and I am rarely seen without some form of computer in my personal time, (i.e phone, iPad, computer). However with the exception of using technology with the children who attend my nursery and within certain aspects of the curriculum I have had little use of it in my day to day job. Therefor I am hoping that in following these 23 steps I will be able to use technology more seemlesssly within my practice.

If this interests you in anyway, if you are registered with SSSC or even if you are not and only wish to become more handy with a keyboard and mouse, then pop over and begin the steps yourself. The attached page is very user friendly and counts towards your continued learning time with SSSC.

http://23digital.sssc.uk.com 

I am only hoping to be able to complete all 23 steps, not leaving this as a one post blog 😆. I am also hoping to add in additional posts about new and current childcare documents as a way to ingrain the most important details to my own memory, as this blog is first and foremost for my personal development.

Rebecca.