Thinking of the Future: innovations for social work practice

Wow! it's been  a whole month since the conference:Social Media for social work. We had a great turnout on the day and very positive evaluations of the sessions (although more time to digest information and discuss the sessions was requested in the feedback). Our participants really enjoyed the range of presentations and workshops and came away with clear plans for what they might implement in practice: we even had a few Twitter converts on the day. For those unable to attend, or who have missed our dissemination activities since the conference see the link here: Learning Wheel which captures most of the themes and presentation slides and activities (you will need a QR code reader to access the presentations)

We heard from practitioners across Scotland who are using social media platforms really effectively to engage with carers (see for example: Aberdeenshire:Fostering and Adoption), and in another service where Facebook is used to  support care leavers. Several presenters showcased their projects using apps for training and development and a new service user feedback app. The social media for social work App was also used to engage practitioners in a fascinating discussion about implications and barriers to of using social media in practice: Social Media App presentation

The really great outcome form the day is the several fabulous contributions to the Innovation Station. Practitioner and academics who work with a variety  of service user groups came up with some exciting ideas for integrating digital technology and social media which the conference team will be looking at in more depth with these innovators to take forward over the coming months.

It was widely acknowledged by participants that this event was only just the start and ongoing support would be needed to integrate social media and digital technology into practice arenas. How lucky we are in Scotland to have IRISS and the support of SSSC to enable these developments in the future.

Countdown to #smswp

With less than a week to go its a bit frantic as the conference organising team finalise the programme. We are going to be hearing from practitioners from all across the UK who are using social media and digital technology really effectively in social work practice,  as well as academics who are designing new ways of supporting social workers in practice with  digital tools. The conference # is #smswp, please use this to share your thoughts and views about the conference presentations and discussions or to follow what is happening if you aren't attending in person.

The Innovation Station will be open throughout the conference and we invite practitioners to come along and talk to our hosts Amanda Taylor, Kane Needham and Deborah Millar about ideas you have for integrating social media in your practice - you will hear about some great initiatives and methods at the conference and we hope these influence and inspire you to try new ideas for yourself in your work.

We have a busy programme but we have left plenty of spaces in the day for networking and discussions. The event sold out quickly and lots of partner agencies helped us promote this unique event. I will blog about what happens and what we achieve next week.

Thinking of the Future: Innovations & Developments for Social Work Practice

We are delighted to announce this unique conference sponsored by the Scottish Social Services Council. We have an outstanding line up of presenters from across the UK, including social work managers, practitioners and academics. The conference will include workshops, presentations, and opportunities for networking and discussions between delegates and presenters.

Delegates will be able to choose from a range of workshops which explore how social media and digital technologies are being used in social work practice.  Delegates will be able to discuss ideas they have with innovation specialists at the Innovation Station hosted by Amanda Taylor who was recently named by JISC as one of the top 50 social media influencers in Higher Education in the UK.

Also Featuring:

Dr Tarsem Singh Cooner and Dr Anne Campbell who  have both developed Apps for social work which are widely used by practitioners and academics for training and development, Ian Watson from IRISS, and practitioners  from across Scotland who are using new technologies to work with and support service users and carers.

Follow the link to book your place: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thinking-of-the-future-innovations-and-developments-for-social-work-practice-tickets-19249165773

Social Media and Digital Technology for Social Work practice

It's been a long time in the planning but it's been well worth it. I have been working  with David McKendrick from GCU and Jon Bolton from the University of Dundee to plan a conference about social media in social work practice. We have been sponsored by the SSSC to hold the event at the Stirling Court Hotel on 8th February 2016.

The three of us hatched the plan for the conference as we recognised that there were pockets of good practice happening and we thought it would be helpful to provide opportunities to share the practice and for social workers to think about what social media and digital technologies could contribute to practice.

There's been a massive amount of interest in this event and we've got a great line up of presenters, who are all innovators in their fields. We have Amanda Taylor one of JISC's top 50 social media influencers hosting our Innovation Station at the conference. The general idea is that practitioners can come along and talk to our tech team about ideas they have for introducing social media into their practice. Our team will discuss the technical, governance and practical aspects of these ideas and explore how they can be taken forward into practice.

We are thrilled that Dr Tarsem Singh Cooner the designer of the Social Media for Social Work App will be demonstrating how this can be used in practice. Dr Anne Campbell is also coming along to talk about several Apps she has been involved in developing for social work training and practice. As well as academics we have several practitioners from across Scotland who will be talking about how they are using social media to support service users and carers.

There's still a lot of work for us to do but we are really excited to be launching the conference
programme and looking forward to having lots of discussions about how we can make effective use of digital technologies and social media in social work practice.

Booking details and further information available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thinking-of-the-the-future-innovations-and-developments-for-social-work-practice-tickets-19249165773

Social media in social work practice: conference

I'm very lucky to be working with David McKendrick from GCU and Jon Bolton from The University of Dundee on this conference funded by SSSC. It will be held on 8th February 2016 at the Stirling Court Hotel and we have a fantastic programme of speakers and workshops. The conference will invite participants to think about how they can use digital technologies and social media in social work practice and we will have experts on hand to test out ideas and look for how they can be implemented in practice. The programme will be launched in the next couple of weeks and bookings can be made on eventbrite. Watch this space for further details and reserve your place as this promises to be a very popular event.

Social work education :not just "common sense"

I was invited by The Guardian to write a blog about social work education: see link below.

http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/social-life-blog/2015/jun/17/dont-take-social-work-training-away-from-universities

My motivation to write about this issue stems from my desire to ensure that current students and those about to embark on their social work education develop as knowledgeable, reflective and critically aware social work practitioners, and avail themselves of the wide range of additional opportunities which a university education can bring. The Guardian blog explores some of these. I might have added that university education exposes students to knowledge derived from a long standing commitment by the profession to continuously improve practice and service users experiences through rigorous research and inquiry. Familiarity with new technologies and digital competence are also much needed skills for social work practice and  are central to university education.  Social work practitioners  need to be equipped with critical thinking skills, and the confidence and abilities to challenge "common sense" thinking and be emotionally literate. I am not suggesting that private training providers can't facilitate this, I am however suggesting that the emphasis on producing social workers who can "do the job" is driven by ideology. The education of social workers does not end once they begin to practice, indeed their continuing professional development is critical, and the current governments' interest in social work might be better oriented towards supporting and resourcing CPD in the same way that other human service professions are.

Social Media Strategy

First things first: this isn't the actual strategy but thoughts and ideas about what a strategy might contain. Practical advice and suggestions seem to be a good starting point to get people on board initially. In the School of Applied Social Science (SASS) University of Stirling we have developed and delivered several activities to help us to inform our strategy. A small group of us@urbaneprofessor @vikki_mccall  recognised the potential for collaboration in developing our use of social media in research and teaching and so we combined our efforts to apply for school funds which enabled us to employ a research student @Kane_Needham  to assist us with data collection . We designed a survey which was disseminated to staff in SASS, this gathered their experiences of using social media in research and teaching as well as facilitators and barriers. Three of us delivered a seminar about how we had used social media in our own teaching and for research, this generated plenty of discussion and questions. We hosted a social media surgery which allowed people to drop in and ask questions about using social media and try out some social media activities, this was well received and we added 3 new people to Twitter!  We will be carrying out qualitative interviews with a small sample of the survey participants and we will be presenting some initial findings at the School Research Away Day in June. More on the developing strategy soon.