Be Inspired! Shirley Ayres Consulting

Thank you to Shirley for the privilege of allowing me to guest blog on this site. As a fellow digital advocate, it is great we can stick together, and share each others projects for disabled people.

For over 2 years I have been running my blog http://martynsibley.com/. I enjoy writing articles, tweeting, sharing videos and pictures on my life: some would say a life less ordinary, while others would not feel the need to clarify. Having a disability; always striving for new challenges and living life to the full; my articles often highlight the lighter/social side to life. Having gained a masters degree, travelled to Australia, learnt to drive a car with my hands and now living independently in London; I have crammed a lot in to my 28 years. My website mantra is inspire, inform and change.

I have always said how grateful I am for those who fought for and won independence for disabled people 20+ years ago. Moreover, I remain ever grateful to those campaigning on prevalent issues today. I have also dipped my toe in the political writing arena http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/have-your-say/guest-column/putting-the-personal-into-personal-care and attended political marches http://martynsibley.com/the-professionals-video-from-the-march

For the past 2 months I have been self-employed (having worked for Scope in various capacities for 5 years) and I’m now running my own online projects for disabled people. Beyond my blog I co-launched the disability magazine http://disabilityhorizons.com/, created a series of ‘webinars’ (online seminars) http://martynsibley.com/online-learning and have other ‘new media’ plans.

The webinars are being run for my social media audience, and also in partnership with Hackney council http://www.hackney.gov.uk/disability-webinars.htm and Scope http://www.scope.org.uk/news/blogs/martyns-blog/free-disability-webinars (for their respective service users). Each series has 5 topics, which vary with each contract, and include: being a parent to a disabled child, a session for disabled teenagers, giving assistance with independent living (accessible housing, equipment, care and finance), accessing local leisure and world travel. In one hour the attendee can log on from home (or their nearest computer), absorb the 45 minute presentation I deliver and then ask specific questions in the 15 minute Q&A session. They see my screen and therefore can view powerpoint slides, websites, word documents and other useful/relevant materials. Meanwhile I explain all by talking into a microphone.

The benefits are seen by free attendance, useful information on a manner of disability related topics, personal goals to be taken away and my own theory which can be applied to all future concerns. To sign up and try one for yourself please click here http://martynsibley.com/online-learning

So, what is the theory I mentioned? It is called the Disability Diamond Theory. I created this theory because I could see the need for a disability model that focuses on an individuals’ impairment, needs, aspirations and life choices. It also encourages disabled people to aim higher, helps them along with some useful resources and explains my philosophy too. By my own admission it derives from personal experiences and is not an academic thesis. My experiences have, however, been influenced by many other disabled people and my only professional work was in the disability sector. A pretty solid foundation to write such a book I hope.

It is free to download here http://martynsibley.com/philosophy. My vision is that the Disability Diamond Theory will encourage disabled people (especially the next generation) to use the resources available (that were not around 20+ years ago) and excel in life.

I would love for you to read this ebook and feedback your views – good, bad or indifferent http://martynsibley.com/give-me-a-shout

Martyn Sibley – Managing Director Sunnier Days Ltd

Website - http://martynsibley.com/

Online magazine - http://disabilityhorizons.com/

Email - martyn@martynsibley.com

Tags: advocacy, digital engagement, disability, Disability Diamond Theory, social care

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KnowHow NonProfit charity has launched the StudyZone which offers a range of low cost online training videos on subjects requested by the site’s users.

“The launch of the StudyZone creates a space where people working in the voluntary sector can take control of their own learning and development. It’s a truly user-led, democratic platform. People can request the training they need and we will user our network of experts and volunteer trainers to deliver on the most pressing topics”  Luke Chaput, Head of Content at KnowHow NonProfit

To celebrate the launch of the StudyZone free access is currently available to the training video “How to write a winning funding bid”

The first eight online video sessions are topics requested by those who participated in the initial research:
*   Writing winning funding bids
*   Understanding and assessing impact
*   Essential leadership
*   Digital communications for successful campaigns
*   Make the most of your web
*   The essentials of charity
*   Five steps to building cohesive
*   Preparing project budgets

About KnowHow NonProfit: KnowHow NonProfit has been created to improve the efficiency of non profit organisations by increasing the knowledge and skills of people working in the non-profit sector

Tags: knowhownonprofit, online learning, social media, third sector

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Colin Paton

Yes says Colin Paton Senior E-learning Project manager at SCIE who gave a presentation at the Learning Pool London Social Care Briefing last week. The new research from Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) explores E-Readiness in the Social Care Sector and there are some fascinating findings. 

In 2006 SCIE commissioned Ipsos MORI to undertake a research programme with the following objectives:

To establish whether the social care sector in England was ready to maximise the use of e-learning in terms of technical and organisational infrastructure and in terms of the availability of e-learning content for social care

To provide an assessment of the capacity of the social care sector as a whole to  use and produce e-learning, in particular in Internet-based learning, and to  exploit its full potential in pursuit of improved services for users and carers

SCIE and Ipsos MORI ran the e-readiness survey in 2006-7 and again in 2010 that looked at the following areas across the social care sector:

 •              Access to IT

•              Usage of e-learning

•              Attitudes towards e-learning

•              Barriers to uptake of e-learning

•              What is good e-learning

•              Support for e-learning

Both surveys polled social care employers and employees from local authorities, the private sector and the voluntary/charitable sector.

From an e-learning perspective it is heartening to see that usage of e-learning as a training methodology has increased across the board since 2006-7. Attitudes from employers are much more positive towards the potential effectiveness of e-learning. They are much more aware that there is good e-learning available out there and feel more confident in supporting the take up of e-learning within their organization. It is worth noting that in both the 2006-7 and 2010 surveys employees demonstrated that they are much more willing to take e-learning training than their employers may have assumed.  There is, of course, still a lack of access to IT in the workplace (in all but local authorities). The 2010 survey reveals that personal access to IT is much higher and this may offer opportunities for e-learning undertaken at home.

The survey will be carried out again in 2011-12 and one can assume that e-learning usage to continue to increase. Key to this however will be a greater awareness of where to find good e-learning resources, greater support for both employers and employees on how to use e-learning most effectively and to select the best resources and a mature policy on home training.

The full 2010 report can be found at: http://www.scie.org.uk/workforce/getconnected/Research.asp

Definitely worth looking at the presentations from the Learning Pool Briefing which included Safeguarding Adults in Warwickshire (Carol Judge) From data protection to dementia (Ed Schrager), Social Care in the 21st Century (Lynn Meaden) with a mention of the Richmond Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy. 

About the author Colin Paton has worked with e-learning inC Latin America and the UK since 1998 and is now Senior E-learning Project manager at SCIE responsible for the development for a range of national e-learning programmes for the social care workforce.

Tags: e learning, online learning, social care, social learning

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Get the picture with Social Care TV. An online channel for everyone involved in the social care and social work sector.

“Personalisation enables me to do the things that I took for granted for so long. My personal assistants help me to achieve my independence. Managing my own budget means that I can go to concerts, for instance at the English National Opera. I feel like I’m part of the world to which I once belonged.” Stephen Page, on Social Care TV.

It’s not always easy to explain what social care is, and Social Care TV, aims to stimulate debate about the big issues in the sector. Social Care TV programmes bring real world examples to social care staff, managers, commissioners and trainers.

This is the first time that social care has had its own TV service. Films are ‘on demand’ so they can be watched in the workplace, the training room or at home. But there aren’t just films; each web page also includes lots of guidance and advice, multimedia and e-learning resources. Social Care TV can be used as a training and learning tool; it aims to understand the needs of people who use services, by presenting real life stories and linking these to easy-to-use resources, giving staff a better understanding of good practice.

Ann Macfarlane is featured on Social Care TV. Ann now works as a social care consultant but she spent the first twenty-five years of her life in residential settings and hospitals. She says this about the film which shows how she has succeeded to change her life because of personalisation:

“It makes me proud about my achievements. I was brought up in a place where other children were dying in front of me. I didn’t have a childhood and so I feel like I’ve been making up for borrowed time. The film shows that I now live at home, run my own consultancy business and crucially, have choice, voice and control. I’m sure this film will help the workforce to do a better job and understand the role that they have to play.”

The project is run by The Social Care Institute for Excellence and has a number of innovative features. 

• You can watch the films, but you can also download them from the site into presentations for training
• You can watch segments of films. You can go to a specific point of a film to address a key issue in social care practice.
• You can email a film or just a segment of a film to a colleague, making the sharing of good practice very efficient
• Users won’t just see a film on a site. There are useful text and links to specialist areas. 

SCIE Chief Executive Julie Jones says:

“The films bring to life what we do every day in our work. The social care workforce is in for a treat. Along with the accompanying care and support information on the web pages, the films are thought-provoking, interesting and full of strong messages about delivering good quality, personalised social care.”

Watch Social Care TV now

Tags: education, elearning, personalisation, scie, social care, Social Care TV, Social Work

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“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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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/00x00sa28ur09 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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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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