Skills for Care has joined Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network (DCN) as part of a pilot initiative to help improve the digital skills of the adult social care workforce.
Membership of the Network by Skills for Care, the workforce development body for adult social care in England, will enable employers to maximise the confidence and competence of their staff in using digital technology.
Employees from a number of adult social care providers across England will benefit from the DCN’s training, resources and support as well as have access to new courses specific to social care and a dedicated peer-to-peer forum.
The pilot to explore the feasibility of having a Digital Champions Network in adult social care will run until the end of August after which the findings will be shared on the Skills for Care website at http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Skills/Digital-working
Diane Buddery, Project Manager, Skills for Care said: “We know that employers prefer peer-to-peer learning rather than standalone courses and that they would like to have someone in their organisation who can provide training and help when staff need it. In direct response to this we have joined forces with Digital Unite to develop a network of Digital Champions who can provide digital support to their colleagues and service users. We are excited about the potential of this pilot and having the opportunity to make the Digital Champion programme more widely available across adult social care.”
Kathy Valdes, Managing Director of Digital Unite said: “Our Digital Champions Network is a flexible tool that can be tailored to any audience. The broadening of its membership clearly reflects how the Digital Champion model is a key solution to getting people online and that receiving help with training and managing these volunteers is becoming increasingly essential for many different types of organisations. We are much looking forward to working with Skills for Care on their initiative and making their Digital Champion vision a reality.”
The Digital Champions Network is a structured online platform that provides Digital Champion training and a support community for people who go through that training. It has over 20 members and 800 Digital Champions. The courses are linked to the national Open Badge scheme for professional verification and access to 44 downloadable resources and 400 online guides provides the essential teaching toolkit. Critically all of the Digital Champion activity on the ground can be tracked and evaluated.