Some coaching on virtual communications

Stephen Downes https://www.downes.ca/ provides a useful hour to help us practically approach our use of virtual technology.  While an expert on community learning online, he is one of those experts who merrily lays out his mistakes along the way.  A good example of use of self, in the virtual dance and I think will bring us along to making virtual, more real. While the focus is on virtual teaching, it is rich in transferable knowledge to virtual … care.

He suggests key is to have our virtual activities aimed towards the community.

Please see the presentation here: https://www.downes.ca/presentation/536

Here is some learning theory and philosophy when using the technolgy by Stephen Downes https://socialhealthpracticeottawa.wordpress.com/2020/09/08/applying-presence-experiences-that-create-the-person-being-there-what-presence-means-in-a-digital-world/ 

Applying Presence in a digital world, “experiences that create the person,” Presentation by Stephen Downes

At a time when “virtual” is landing as a major direction of human care and action, Stephen Downes https://www.downes.ca/ lays out some theory and constuctivist philosophy which I found helpful to wake up, pause and reflect on as clinicians and organizations embrace virtual technology.  The talk is framed for educators, but it got me thinking we are all advancing a form of: “experiences that create the person.”

Being There: What Presence Means in a Digital World

To the extent that learning is a social activity it depends on presence, that is, it depends on the interaction and sense of commonality we have with other people. But presence doesn’t need to be direct and personal; it can be mediated through objects and technologies. An author can speak to us through a book, a friend can speak to us through a telephone, an actor can convey meaning through cinema. But with each medium, the character of presence changes, as some affordances are amplified and others diminished. Which leads us to the question: what is the character of presence in digital media? Unedited Text Transcript (produced by Pixel 4 AI).

See the presentation Here: https://www.downes.ca/presentation/526

A few resources on use of ICT and teamwork that can help mental health workers teams, with practice changes

With the immediate shift for many of us out of our offices much less, the limits on our community and organizational based everyday work, these resources are meant to help us step back, reflect on our approach to work and then apply to practice.

Please share your own resources, ideas, stumbled upon, ICT resources, that help us in recovery recovery practices.

For me In this crisis, I’m trying to see how to bridge the medical measures, with these Recovery measures: “social connectedness; hope about one’s future, positive identity, meaningful goals and social roles and empowerment.” I think it is a great opportunity to work in this crisis, a crisis for both the clients and providers and keep learning about the recovery process.

(see https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/50/1/42/5382193)

With thanks to Stephen Downes website https://www.downes.ca/  for sharing resources on use of the internet for learning.

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Virtual Teams: So you’ve just become a remote team leader … what next? Tips on adjusting

by Martin Hawksey

“… Whilst as a manager you’ll be able to use much of your existing expertise it is worth acknowledging that there are aspects of leading virtual teams that are different. In terms of change management having a week or less notice that you are becoming a distributed team is far from ideal. As such allowing your team to find their feet within a new environment is very important. You yourself will probably be in a similar position of working out some of the practicalities particularly if you are suddenly using new tools. You can use this to your benefit acknowledging your current limitations and inviting members of your team to share their own expertise. …”

Here is the link to the article: https://mashe.hawksey.info/2020/03/virtual-teams-so-youve-just-become-a-remote-team-leader-what-next-tips-on-adjusting/

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Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All

by Daniel Stanford

“When we try to replicate classroom experiences in an online environment, it’s easy to think of video conferencing as our go-to tool for all sorts of learning objectives—and for good reason. Most of us have participated in a video conference at work or had a video chat with friends or family at some point. We like the idea of being able to see and hear our students while interacting with them in real time just like we do when teaching face to face. But there are two key factors that make this approach problematic. …”

Here is link to article: https://www.iddblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/bandwidth-immediacy-matrix-by-Daniel-Stanford.png

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… What can managers and HR professionals do to support employees?

by Center for Workplace Mental Health

With many organizations requiring employees to stay out of the office, it’s more important than ever to encourage and facilitate regular communication with employees. Here are tips for managers and human resource professionals in supporting employees in staying connected to the workplace and each other:

• Show empathy and be available: Understand that employees are likely feeling overwhelmed and anxious about circumstances related to the virus. Make yourself available to your staff to talk about fears, to answer questions and to reassure them about work and other issues that might come up.
• Stay connected with communication and meeting tools: Use virtual meeting options with video, like Zoom or JoinMe, for regular check-ins and to allow teams to connect with one another “face-to-face.”
• Recognize the impact of isolation and loneliness: Working remotely can cause people to feel isolated, making it more important to routinely check in with your team, not only about their work product, but also to see how they are doing. Loneliness can lead to depression and other mental health issues. Be aware of significant changes you may see in your team member’s personality or work product, because it may be a sign that a person is struggling.
• Encourage online training: This is a great time to encourage employees to sharpen their skills with online training. It is also a good distraction to focus on learning rather than worrying about other issues. Find online trainings and new learning opportunities to recommend to employees.
• Check in with your EAP and Health Plan: Check in with your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to confirm their availability and to coordinate support for employees. Remind the staff that the EAP is there if they need support and can connect employees with behavioral health support, if needed. Also, connect with the organization’s health plan(s) to learn what they are offering to support plan members and pass that information onto employees. Be sure to include all relevant website links and phone numbers for both the EAP and health plan in communicating with employees.”

Here is the link to the article: http://www.workplacementalhealth.org/Employer-Resources/Working-Remotely-During-COVID-19?fbclid=IwAR3KQiFYGaFELSkDeew_fD8ZJq7KxMWn1AEofGDBX85DusZlEXxgXJnun2w

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Helping us to learn/research that digital “….literacies are as much about understanding the how as they are about understanding the why. …”

Jimmy Young shared some of his research on schools of social work and how they are using social media at the Council of Social Work Educators conference on his blog.   He is taking a practical approach to both learning and researching the topic; kind of an open, appreciative learning approach, I find refreshing.

…. The challenge with digital literacies in social work education is that the concept is too broadly defined, and it has not been thoroughly developed, discussed, or researched enough to provide specific guidance on what conceptual framework of digital literacies is suited to the development of professional social work skills. Teaching digital literacies needs to move beyond the skills of critical analysis to building the capacity for engaging, understanding, and communicating with others in a genuine, authentic, and ethically appropriate manner.  Digitally literacies are as much about understanding the how as they are about understanding the why. …

See the post here: https://jimmysw.com/2019/10/26/apm19-social-work-education-conference/

 

Interprofessional care – learning from yet another try at using ICT to move care beyond our silos

While platforms to build care collaboration continue to pop up about our town…constantly, likely some useful learning at this rounds by The Regional Geriatric Program of Eastern Ontario http://www.rgpeo.com/en.aspx  —where ever we are in the system of care from this effort.

Monday Oct 28, 2019 8:00 – 9:00 am
The Ottawa Hospital
Civic Campus, Amphitheatre (live)
1053 Carling Avenue, Ottawa
OTN….Webcast: http://webcast.otn.ca/mywebcast?id=93148230
OTN Videoconference:
Event ID # 93148230 locally at the following rooms at The Ottawa Hospital
Admin Room L at the General Campus & Amphitheatre at the Riverside Campus.

Poster with details for event: Oct 28 Regional Geriatric Rounds -Careteam (1)

Please note recording of presentations can be found here (give them a week to post):  http://www.rgpeo.com/en/health-care-practitioners/professional-development/regional-geriatric-rounds-past-presentations.aspx

Here is a link to the platform vendor’s site, I was able to find: https://careteamhub.com/

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Thinking systems and collaboration in organizational use of ICT to achieve: accountability, governance and multidisciplinarity

ksenia cheinman‘s analysis of Information Communication Technology (ICT) content in organizations and government in the context of efforts towards an innovation, points to the need for a cooperative whole system approach. 

She provides useful resources on how to improve our approaches to knowledge/content sharing, no matter how basic the task. 

For most health and social involved organizations the resource capacity to manage such an approach dissuades bothering to read these ideas.  It is worth the time though if we are seeking accountability, governance and multidisciplinarity, the title of Cheinman’s article. 

… Innovation in the government can often seem like a symptom of wanting to prove that we are not years behind the private sector, an internal competition or a way to strategically launch one’s career. It is a means to the wrong ends. It operates under the guise of genuine service improvement, but if you look closely and more importantly broadly, in a sweeping gesture, across the whole organization ecosystem, more often than not every individual innovation breaks something else along the way. In fact, sometimes it creates irreparable large-scale damage and it spreads and propagates the same mentality across the organization, creating more of the same.

Gerry McGovern describes this production-first mindset very accurately:

Everyone wants to produce. Nobody wants to service and maintain. If you’re a new manager you must do something new. You must initiate new projects. You must produce. You must produce. […]

In 99 out of 100 conversations I have about digital, management only cares about volume. More. More. More. New. New. New. Innovative. Innovative. Innovative. It is so incredibly rare to find a manager who will invest time and money in helping people find stuff more easily. And, once a customer has found something, helping them understand it more easily. …

See the article here: https://medium.com/@altspaces/digital-content-needs-accountability-governance-and-multidisciplinarity-48212ba03e2a

Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice

From four United States social work bodies that partnered with  the National Association of Social Workers to develop the standards –  NA S W, A S W B, C S W E , & C S WA.  Note that the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) includes Canadian regulatory bodies.

photo from: “Much research on information and communication technology and society” byRichard Smith is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Technology Standards in Social Work Practice (2017)

… The following standards
are divided into four main sections and address
social workers’ use of electronic technology to
(1) provide information to the public; (2) design
and deliver services; (3) gather, manage, store,
and access information about clients; and (4)
educate and supervise social workers. These
standards are designed to guide social workers’
use of technology; enhance social workers’
awareness of their ethical responsibilities when
using technology; and inform social workers,
employers, and the public about practice standards
pertaining to social workers’ use of technology. …

See the document: at the USA’s, National Association of Social Workers website:

https://www.socialworkers.org/includes/newIncludes/homepage/PRA-BRO-33617.TechStandards_FINAL_POSTING.pdf

It looks quite extensive, it would be useful to see how other countries are approaching use of Information Communication Technology as the relevance of the www, to a community’s context’s, human interactions, only grows each day. 

“respect, accomplishment, achievement” – for action, learning, knowledge sharing with ICT

A re-post from Stephen Downes’ enewsletter, http://www.downes.ca/ , sorry, I can’t find his reference, from the reference.  I found listening to this talk useful as the panel is discussing use of ICT amongst – thinking, our individual character, and I dare say, the sociological context.

 

 

Presentation itself is from: https://oeb.global/programme

 

Organizing social action via the Internet vs. the need to actually TALK

I have to get off the internet, to read this article by Nadine Moawad ! 

It’s the end of an era for online activism. We have
lost our safe, small, intimate spaces of digital
publishing to corporate giants, state-run troll
armies, and idiotic online commentary. In this
piece, I will offer 8 points of advice to feminists
and queers organizing in digital spaces.

https://itforchange.net/e-vaw/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Opinion-piece-1.pdf

Posting imitates Art

Thanks to Saturday Night Live.