Be Inspired! Shirley Ayres Consulting

“We have enough people who tell us the way it is – now we need a few more people who can tell us how it can be!”

A brief roundup of some of  the topics we will be featuring in 2010 

The Advanced Practitioner – managing your career

“Find It Here” – the launch of the first comprehensive Directory of online resources for people supporting children and young people in care

The Big Ideas survey – share your thoughts about how we can improve social work and social care 

Integrated Working – what stops care and health working together?

The e-Learning revolution and social media – a new approach to improve the skills and knowledge of staff in the care sector?

What makes a good employer? A simple audit tool which reveals whether your employer demonstrates that staff really are the most important resource in the organisation.

New Partnerships – Shirley Ayres Consulting will be joining up with a number of organisations who are committed to driving up standards in social work and social care.

Leadership and Management in Social Care – has the investment paid off?

An undervalued and unrecognised resource? - the launch of an exciting new website for grandparents.

Introducing Blastbeat Education UK a not for profit company that has developed a fun & exciting Music & Multimedia Business progamme offered to young people and schools around the world. Blastbeat promotes and encourages young original songwriters & musicians, supporting youth communities on a local & global level, empowering young people to create social enterprises creating community and social capital to help bring about change for the good of society.

Quality Assuring Training  – do the increasing number of quality marks and standards really make a difference to the unregulated training in the care sector?

Stress busters – See life from a different angle.

BASW and the new National College for Social Work

“The insurmountable difficulties of today are the solved problems of tomorrow.” ~ Cardinal Heenan

Tags: advanced social work practice, be inspired, care sector, elearning, encouraging innovation, integrated working, Leadership and Management, Learning and Development, quality assurance, Social Work, Stress busters, training

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• Launch of the Final Report of the Social Work Task Force
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• Have you joined LinkedIn yet?

Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Three years ago, the term barely existed. Today, social media encompasses social networks, mobile platforms, information sharing, online video, and far more. Facebook the leading social network has over 200 million members.  An interesting development has been the growth of professional networks. Networking is about building relationships, facilitating knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

Research undertaken by Bersin and Associates http://www.bersin.com/Blog/post/Informal-Learning-becomes-Formal.aspx indicated that informal learning now accounts for over 80% of the learning that takes place in organisations. Social media can make informal learning formal, encourage employees to contribute to the development of a learning organisation and empower people to publish their expertise and learn from each other.

Social media and collaboration tools such as basecamp provide organisations with an easy way to connect with stakeholders, provide direct access to information and an environment for them to contribute to developments and discussion. One of the biggest professional networks is LinkedIn with over 56 million registered users in 200 countries with 2.6 million registered users in the UK. LinkedIn is a good way to raise your profile and connect with people who share similar interests across the world. The launch of the network for professionals who work with children and young people in care was a response to a request to provide a forum for professionals from across the children’s workforce to share good practice and information.

If you are new to LinkedIn I thought it would be helpful to offer a few tips for making the most of your presence online.
 
1. Complete your basic profile
It is straightforward and worth the time to do this. Put as much detail on your profile as you can, including your current position, work experience, education, specialist skills and interests.  If you upload your CV you can complete your profile in minutes. HR people and recruiters use LinkedIn for candidate searching and they do it by key words. Add targeted words to your profile summary so that people can find your areas of specialism and expertise.

2. Upload a photo
A photo makes your profile more personal. It is good to put a face to a name. Everyone has at least one good photo of themselves but do make sure that it is suitable for a professional network. It is worth asking friends for an honest opinion of your photo.
 
3. Start to connect
Find out which of your colleagues and friends are already on LinkedIn and invite them to connect with you. I suggest that you create your own messages rather than use the default settings. You do not have to accept invitations to link in with people you do not know but always respond with a polite message if you do not know the person.

4. Get Involved in groups and discussions
Find out about interesting groups to join. For example the network of professional social workers. This means you can ask questions, answer questions, link up news articles and other relevant information and you could even moderate a group.

5. Update Regularly
Keep in touch by regularly updating your news, interests and activities.
 
6. Get Recommendations
Having other professionals confirm your skills and knowledge is very powerful. You can  ask your colleagues, your manager, clients and even friends if relevant.

7. Accounts and Settings
Spend some time familiarising yourself with your account and settings. LinkedIn is a secure site but you do have choices about what information is accessible only to your network and more publicly available. You can decide how you wish to communicate with the world and how the world can communicate with you. Apart from my email address I have not included any personal information. You can edit your profile, your public profile settings and your contact settings.

8. Personalize your LinkedIn page
There is an option of making your public profile have your name in the URL. For instance, instead of www.linkedin.com/00×00sa28ur09 you can change it to www.linkedin.com/in/shirleyayres Go to the edit my profile page and change the public profile URL address. But be aware that this is also open to Google and other search engines, as it becomes your public profile which is accessible outside of LinkedIn.

9. Explore the Applications
There are a number of additional applications that you can add to your profile page. You can browse through the applications and find the ones relevant to you. Slideshare Presentations allows you to upload and share presentations. If you are a keen reader, you can create a reading list from Amazon and Events allows you to share information about conferences and events you are attending and interested in.

Questions or comments? Email info@shirleyayresconsulting.co.uk

Tags: empowerment, encouraging innovation, internet social worker, linkedin, social media, Social Work, workforce engagement

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What will be the impact of the internet on social work practice and the delivery of social services in the next few years? Access to quality information is becoming increasingly important and this is reflected in the success of Directgov which provides access to government services through one website. There is now a government expectation that by 2011, all Local Authorities must provide… “Universal, joined-up information and advice available for all individuals and carers, including those who self-assess and fund, which enables people to access information from all strategic partners.”  Local Authority Circular (DH)(2009)1: Transforming Adult Social Care
If you are just starting to use a computer and want advice in plain English, you have some experience and want to learn more or you are helping people to learn about the Internet it is worth looking at the Digital Unite Learning Zone. Here you can download a range of free Learning Guides covering everything from social networking and blogs through to web tools and security.  Digital Unite has a remit for “helping older people unleash their digital talents” but the Learning Guides provide a useful introduction for anyone of any age who wants to understand more about how to use the internet more effectively. 
The link to the website Get Safe Online is particularly useful with lots of clear and useful advice about things that you can do to avoid becoming a victim of fraud, identity theft and other Internet crimes. It has a quiz, Just how safe are you? that asks you ten questions about online security and directs you to pages with more information if required.

Another useful website with free online learning is Alison ALISON* is the world’s leading free online learning resource for basic and essential workplace skills which includes basic study skills and touch typing skills. All courses on ALISON are accessible free to individual learners.

Shirley Ayres Consulting are committed to empowering people through access to knowledge and information. We are very aware that in the 21st century organisations need to find different ways to engage, excite and energise their stakeholders. This doesn’t just mean communicating well – it means having a good story to tell. Our approach combines extensive knowledge of the care sector with new technology to promote effective communications.   We support individuals and organisations to make connections and partnerships across sectors and disciplines.

Tags: alison, be inspired, digital unite, free on line learning, new technology, online information and advice, shirley ayres consulting, Social Work

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ALISON’s newest free interactive multimedia e-learning course explains the simple and inexpensive principles that help create a safe and comfortable computer workstation environment. With information, instruction and training, this Health & Safety training course will help individuals avoid accidents, injury and ill-health possibly caused by bad posture or the likes of repetitive strain injury (RSI) and other poor habits formed around the office or home computer.

The course will be of special interest to employers, especially those in small & medium enterprises as a tool to assist in meeting health and safely obligations in the workplace. ALISON provides free group management functionality that allows any trainer, tutor or teacher to create a learning group to which they can invite learners. The benefit is that all tracked learning by the learners of the group can then be easily documented, in terms of lessons covered, grades achieved and time spent.

Enrol on this free course today at ALISON

Welcome to ALISON  which enables anyone, anywhere, to educate themselves for free via interactive self-paced multimedia.

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Tags: alison, elearning, ergonomics, free on line learning, health and well being, internet social worker, scie, Stress busters

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Dawn Primarolo, Minister for Children, Young People and Families, today announced three new pilot projects to help up to five million mums, dads, carers and grandparents get important parenting information support and guidance. This will be an invaluable resource for social work and hopefully draw together the wealth of information that is currently located on many websites.

The Parent Know How Innovation Fund has created the three pilot projects, as recent research showed that 80 per cent of parents reported they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the information or support provided by existing Parent Know How services. These latest additions to these services will launch in January and will join a range of other telephone helpline and innovative services available to mums, dads, carers and grandparents to ensure that wherever they look for information, they receive coherent advice from respected sources.

Dawn Primarolo said: “We are committed to finding innovative ways of getting information out to families including grandparents. Through Parent Know How, we fund a number of organisations to reach out to parents and carers and I am delighted that we are developing three new services. I am particularly pleased that we are supporting organisations that will provide online information for grandparents with childcare responsibilities.

“Parent Know How is about pulling together relevant information into one convenient place. Parents, carers and grandparents will now have access to advice and support where and when they need it to help them achieve the best for the children in their care.”

The Parent Know How Innovation Fund was designed to explore and expand the routes available to parents to access information, support and advice from parenting experts or from other parents. The three new pilots, which will run until March 2011, could reach almost 5 million people. They are:

beGrand.net – A new web-service to give grandparents a voice, support the development of grandparent communities, increase support for grandparents caring for children, increase contact between grandchildren and grandparents and improve grandparents’ parenting skills.

Parenting On Demand – Aims to develop and syndicate online videos designed to support parents/carers of children aged 5-19. The service will create a range of short video clips which will provide information and advice on a range of topics including learning, behaviour and wellbeing. The videos will also refer to other sources and services.

Relate for Parents – A new relationship support service from Relate. It will aim to develop online media tools to cater for parents needs by providing advice, support, and guidance to enable them to understand and improve their family relationships, manage conflict and make change happen.

The research, Parent Know How Telephone Helplines and Innovation Strands Evaluation, can be found at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research

Tags: DCSF, Learning and Development, resources, Social Work

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• New Publications from the Department for Children, Schools and Families

This new SCIE resource introduces a range of guidance materials and links to support the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The section is in the early stages of development, but will eventually provide an accessible resource that people will visit as their “first port of call” when looking for information about the MCA.

SCIE has also launched some new materials twhich have been commissioned by SCIE and the Department of Health with the aim of helping the people responsible for implementing the Act to understand its requirements. Some of the materials focus on a particular field (e.g. end of life care,

learning disabilities or mental health), others offer more general guidance. There are also links to materials about the MCA that have been produced by other organizations including Alzheimer’s Society, Mental Health Foundation and the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Given the potential of the MCA to touch the lives of millions – particularly those who live with learning disability, dementia or mental health problems and those working and caring for them – the resource will provide the opportunity to link related policy areas together. Examples include the development of the National Dementia Strategy and SCIE’s practice development work on restraint, due to be launched in late summer 2009. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/misc/mca/index.asp

Tags: information portal, mental capacity act 2005, new resources, scie

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An intriguing new development from MacMillan Cancer Support. Learn Zone is a treasure chest of useful information including a Leadership & Management Toolbox. All the L&M Toolbox information and resources are suitable for any leader or manager and are not specific to cancer care.

Spend a few minutes online registering with them and your reward is full access to the Toolbox where you will find:

• A place where you can access quick and practical resources to support your knowledge and skills development.

• An online source of high-quality leadership and management development resources, in a range of different media, from Harvard Business School, Ashridge Business School and 50 Lessons.

• A resource for you to access whenever you like, wherever you are.

• A comprehensive set of materials covering a broad range of generic leadership and management knowledge and skills.

• A collection comprising everything from short video interviews with international leaders and brief book reviews to academic journals, substantial learning guides and multimedia modules.

• Issue of the Month – each month a particular L&M issue or topic will be highlighted and links provided to a range of resources in the toolbox.

In addition to the L&M Toolbox, the main MacMillan Learn Zone site gives you free and easy access to a wide variety of online resources, e-learning programmes, professional development tools and information about MacMillan’s latest learning and development opportunities related to cancer

care. For more information visit www.learnzone.macmillan.org.uk to register and start using their online resources.

Once registered  yu may be interested in completing the self evaluation for social workers. The personal development self-assessment tool is set out as a series of gears for you to adjust, allowing you to assess your competencies in relation to your specific professional role. You can save each assessment and return to it as often as you want. You can also print out a summary overview.

Definitely worth a visit!

Tags: a wide variety of online resources, e-learning programmes, evaluate your social work skills, free access, Leadership and Management, professional development tools

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What makes a good employer? A simple audit tool which reveals whether your employer demonstrates that staff really are the most important resource in the organisation.

Quality Assuring Training  – will the new quality marks and standards make a difference to the unregulated area of training provision?

The ALISON free on-line learning community continues to grow rapidly worldwide. Gain an on-line computer qualification. Find out more about the recently launched ABC programme.

Recruitment Agencies unite to promote quality – is your agency signed up?

Stress busters - See things from a different angle

Get closer to London’s exciting cultural scene as the city’s top venues open their doors, spaces, backstage areas and more, and invite you to take part in Open Rehearsal.

Have you ever wondered what happens backstage at the National Theatre? Or do you long to take part in a singing workshop with the BBC? Perhaps you’d like to get your film screened, or have some ideas for a musical? From Friday 26th to Sunday 28th September 2008 London’s Open Rehearsal festival lets you do all these things and more.

Highlights of this year’s Open Rehearsal season include a world-first as The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House holds open rehearsals for the first time in the company’s long history. In addition, there are events at both the Young Vic and the Old Vic, the Barbican, the National Gallery and more.

What are you waiting for? London’s doors are open! Start planning your Open Rehearsal weekend now…http://www.visitlondon.com/events/open_rehearsal/

Tags: free on-line computer training, good employers, investing in staff, new topics, quality assurung training, recruitment agencies, see life from a different angle, Stress busters, training and development

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Log on at ALISON and prepare yourself for the 21st Century workplace today!.

ALISON free interactive on-line learning for the workplace continues to grow rapidly with the launch of the global IT Skills Certification. This free and self-certifiable IT skills training now available to everyone. The certification can be achieved via the study of highly-interactive multimedia courseware which is freely accessible for study by anyone once they are a registered learner with ALISON. 

Whether you are completely new to computers or possesses some basic computing skills, the ALISON ABC IT offers full citizenship of the ‘Digital World’. ABC stands for ALISON Basic Computing.

If you are responsible for managing learning or training within an organization. ALISON MANAGER is an excellent way to introduce staff to the benefits of eLearning.

ALISON MANAGER is a complete, secure, web-based monitoring and reporting system for tracking all of your learners’ activity on the courses you have selected for them. This offers all of the benefits of a Learning Management System (LMS), but at a fraction of the costs usually associated with such systems. Find out more by emailing hhannant@alison.com quoting GB310627

ALISON ABC IT Certification is revolutionary. It is comprehensive, free, self-certifiable, and always current.  It covers not only conceptual understanding of IT and desktop applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel spreadsheets, but also the full range of practical skills required to be fully IT literate, including touch typing and the efficient use of Web-based e-mail.

The learning is self-certifiable through the ALISON Web site, with a requirement of a 75% test score averaged across all lessons. The touch typing module must also be completed for the certification to be awarded.

ABC IT-1 (Basic Concepts)

Introduces the learner to the basic concepts of computing and teaches how computing can be an everyday feature of life and work. In this module, learners are introduced to computer hardware and software for the first time and also taught the key concepts of the IT world.

ABC IT-2 (Applications)

Introduces the learner to the Microsoft Office 2003 application suite, the most commonly used office-software application package worldwide. This suite includes MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.

ABC IT-3 (Practical Skills)

Explores the practical elements of computing. IT-3 covers three important elements of computing namely: basic touch typing, using and setting up a Webmail address, and desktop ergonomics, which teaches how best to organize one’s working environment for safe use.

Web site: www.alison.com

Tags: alison manager, Social Work

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There may not be any free lunches available but there is some really good news – you do not have to pay hundreds of pounds for software, if you know where to look. You can get it for a fraction of the cost or even free!

Did you know about the download sites and software library sites that are now available online? These are all legitimate websites and a source of great software which is either free or costs a nominal amount?

A very useful resource for small charities and individuals who do not have big IT budgets.

How do these sites work?

It is a new way of marketing products without spending large amounts of money. Computer programmers and small software companies  write good programmes and  upload them to the sites for anyone to use either free or at low cost. This enables them to become established and encourage sales of their more sophisticated programmes and products.

If you are looking for a free PDF converter (I have just downloaded Primo), a word processing package or a desk top publishing package then take a look at these sites which have lots of great office software totally free.

Using a download site you can get free anti virus software, find free fixes and patches to stop your computer crashing.

Download.com

Download.com offers a huge library of free and legal software downloads, music downloads, and game downloads. We provide timely, relevant, and credible information about important software updates and game releases as they come available. The editors write unbiased reviews and ratings for thousands of free downloads, and they are committed to maintaining coverage that is objective and accurate. All the downloadable software, music, and games in our library undergo a rigorous testing process to ensure it is safe and spyware free.Very easy and user-friendly but not everything is free, so check before you download. http://www.download.com

Shareware

This is basically a search engine for free software (and shareware). Find it at http://www.shareware.com

Tucows

A bit more complicated to use because of all the technical information but do persevere because there are some good downloads and everything that is free is clearly marked ‘freeware’. Find it at http://www.tucows.com

Interestingly a lot of people do not believe that good software can be downloaded for free. So they just don’t use them! It is definitely not true that software is only good if it costs you lots of money. 

You may also be interested in the free online learning offered by:

ALISON http://www.shirleyayresconsulting.com/post/2008/05/Welcome-to-Alison-the-free-global-learning-experience.aspx

SCIE http://www.shirleyayresconsulting.com/post/2008/04/Are-you-part-of-the-internet-revolution.aspx

SONY 1012 backstage  http://www.shirleyayresconsulting.com/post/2008/05/Backstage-101-a-free-online-learning-community.aspx

Handy Tip

See more on your browser

Do you wish that your browser was bigger? Well it can be. Simply press F11 and the toolbars will disappear in effect making it bigger.

Another tap on F11 and it’s back to normal. This works on all web browsers.

Why not try it now!

Tags: be part of the it revolution, free software

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