Posts

E.mail is a very important part of my working practice. Most of my correspondence with management and outside agencies come in the form of an email. At work I use outlook express and categorise mail from various senders into different folders for ease of access. I also use my mobile to access email but have work and personal mail coming in on different platforms. I find email a quick , effective and secure way to communicate and receive advice and information on a daily basis. I also find this an extremely good tool to forward documents and photographic evidence in the form of attachments. I do however treat all mail and attachments with the confidentiality that they require. In the message header information of sender,primary recipient and other recipients who have been copied into the email are visible. However using the Bcc  Blind carbon copy allows only the sender to see who has been bcc-ed into the email. This is a secure way so other recipients don't see other people'

Facebook

Facebook is a great social media site if used properly. I have my own Fb account and have all my settings set to friends only, so I can be in control of who can see my posts. The activity with the made up account was interesting I. The fact that "Sarah" had posted comments regarding her work place where strict social media policy should be in place. I have joined a couple of groups on Facebook but they are closed groups where only friend's  talk about certain things. Groups are good to target a specific audience, but the group's settings need to be closely monitored. So Facebook has its place in my personal life but it is not for me in a professional capacity.

Digital security

The most important thing I learned from this section is how important it is to take steps in improving digital security. How important it is to have strong passwords for different platforms, so if one is compromised other data on other systems remain secure. E.g. home and work usernames and passwords are not the same. Also to make sure passwords are not easy to crack., to use phrases rather than individual words, and to change passwords regularly. I found it very interesting to learn what information each app on my phone was using and how my location could be tracked. I also learned that each time my device updates security measures need to be reapplied. The most interesting part was the video on WiFi safety, I never imagined how much information could be attained through open WiFi access. I will now only use home and workplace where internet access is secure to access and send any information wether it be private and work related . 1) strong passwords 2) secure usernames 3) do no

Leadership capability feedback tool

Using the leadership capability feedback has made a difference in the way I practice. I am pleased with my  highlights. Taking intelligent risks,Seeing how best to make a difference  and communicating and promoting ownership of vision. but I am also aware of what I can do to take these forward. I am aware of the areas I need to develop,  Seeing the bigger picture, inspiring others, and promoting partnership working, but I am  in a better position now with what I have learnetd to improve my overall practice . Taking into overall account of how others perceive my practice is also a great learning tool and is of high importance to how I practice. Having feedback from both my colleagues and members of my management team has given me an insight into my strengths and weaknesses and has given me a valuable view to improvement.

Social media

Social media is an ever growing part of most of our lives, both our personal and professional lives. I work for my local council in child care and there is  guidance and policy in place for safe and reasonable use of social media, including blogs ,message boards and facebook etc .To avoid major mistakes it is important to manage potential risks through a common sense approach. Professionals should do a self assessment of their on line behaviour before posting on social media sites, and also take into account the wider audience each post can reach. When using social media in a professional capacity it is essential to post only the desired content.To understand each individual is responsible for the content they publish, and we should identify ourselves in each post. We need to be aware that when we associate ourselves with our employers we are professional and we are aware of our language and conduct The guide lines are there to protect ourselves and our service users. I therefor thi

Digital footprint

Well what can I say. This really is scary stuff. When I googled myself my recent blogs relating to 23things digitsl came up third in the search results. A link to all my blogs were there for the world to see. Further down the search was an article relating to my social media (Facebook page) . Luckily the majority of my posts are 'private' so only family and friends can see them. I was extremely surprised that all my internet actions leave some form of footprint eg,  online shopping , even using Google for research . This I found quite disturbing. When i download a file, watch a videa, visit a website, use everyday apps on my phone,even being tagged in someone elses posts. My life is not my own..I am glad there are certain thing I can do to help manage this like being more aware, making posts private, keeping my devices updated,making strong passwords etc. Having a good understanding of digital footprints help us all in our personal and work life, by keeping all our online act

Why digital

Digital technology is widely becoming more and more a part of everyone's life. This affects both our personal and working lives. More and more people access social media to keep in touch with family and friends  And most homes will have at least 1 mobile device. In our working capacity it is important that we all try to develop our skills for communication , assessment, recording and our own personal learning. I feel my own capability and confidence would rate at around 2 on the why digital self assessment and my own relevance would be a 3. I feel more opportunities for learning would resolve the two tier  workforce and enable a more confident capable environment foe our service users. The infographic produced by skills for care in some part represents my experience as a member of social services workforce . I agree with the statistics shown in the perception of skills and that the majority my colleagues will use technology at least once a day. I believe technology is used wide