I work as a supervisor in the housing service unit for mentally handicapped in North Savo wellbeing services county. Working with the customers is a home-like activity, where the resident has comprehensive well-being and a meaningful everyday life.
Digital tools what I use in my work include the patient record system LifeCare, Microsoft Office, Signal and Titania.
MICROSOFT OFFICE
I use parts of the Microsoft Office package in my work. I use Outlook e-mail to handle work matters and to communicate with the work community. When sending e-mails, it should be noted that messages containing sensitive information should be sent protected. Teams is used for remote meetings. Trainings are often carried out via Teams. A couple of my clients keep in touch with their close relative weekly through teams. I also use Word, Excel and PowerPoint a lot in my work.
SIGNAL
We use the Signal instant messaging service to communicate, for example, with customers’ relatives and assistants. In Signal, it is possible to send messages to one person or as a group message. It is convenient when you can send the same message to several people at the same time and the recipients can also see each other’s replies. For example, we offer work shifts for substitutes by sending a message to the substitute group. Data security must also be considered when using instant messaging services.
TITANIA
Titania is shifting planning software. In Titania, the work community autonomously plans shift lists. Employees have two weeks to plan their own shifts. After that, the list makers start planning the list. The list makers arrange the manning of the shifts and balance the working hours. I am the second author of the shift list in my own work community.
I chose to review five new digital tools that I could use in my work: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Todoist and LinkedIn.
FACEBOOK
Facebook is a social media channel. People can share pictures and stories about their own lives on Facebook. Many service homes like the one where I work have their own Facebook channel where they share pictures and stories about the activities. By updating stories on social media, the activities of the service home can be brought to people’s attention, and the clients’ relatives can follow what is being done during the days. Social media is also a good place for recruiting.
INSTAGRAM
Instagram is also a social media channel for sharing pictures and videos. It would also be possible to share information about the service home’s daily activities through pictures on Instagram.
PINTEREST
Pinterest is a bulletin board-like service developed for managing links and images. There are many different sources of inspiration on Pinterest. When developing daily activities for customers, you need a lot of different ideas for planning the activities. Pinterest would offer a lot of inspiration for what you could do with the residents as a daily activity.
TODOIST
Todoist could be useful in handling running issues in the work unit. You can list things that need to be taken care of in the application. Today, there are many notes on the walls of my workplace reminding us of things to do. Todoist would collect jobs in one place.
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn enables networking with others doing the same job. Through networking, you could get new ways of doing work and new perspectives
THE PROS AND CONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
In my work, we need to be careful with the use of social media. Customers’ privacy must be protected. Every piece of information posted on social media must be evaluated to see if it could cause any harm to the customer. Customers and their guardians must have permission to publish their photos.
Social media is a good way to make your work visible. For example, social media updates about my own work also bring visibility to intellectual disability work and it can also remove prejudices towards the work.
SUCCESFUL UDE OF DIGITAL APPLICATIONS
Digital applications must be easy to use so that people know how to use them without problems. Successful use requires sufficient familiarity with the application and its purposes. The application must benefit the user, otherwise the user will stop using it. Logging into the app should be easy enough.
SELF-EVALUVATION
My work involves close work, so many digital tools that facilitate remote work are not suitable for my work. Many of the presented digital tools were already unfamiliar to me, and their versatility surprised me.
This course has been interesting and educational. Things have been looked at from several different perspectives and at the same time my own perspectives have expanded. Completing the course in English has added a challenge to the course, because I don’t think I’m very good at writing in English.