Guest post – DigiLearn: Here, There and Everywhere: The Arrival of the Digital Professionalism ‘Interactive’ Mapping Tool for Social Work Students, Practitioners and Academics 

Author: Amanda Taylor-Beswick – Senior Lecturer (School of Social Work, Care and Community) 

This short blog outlines an update to the Digital Professionalism Mapping Tool for Social Work, previously discussed here, here and here. 

Those who have already read the blogs and publication (highlighted above) will know that I developed the Digital Professionalism Mapping Tool (based on the work of David White) to enable social work students, practitioners and educators to review their technology usage and presence online; as related to the professional standards and ethics of the profession. The tool has been received positively across the profession, and indeed by other professional groupings as they think about what Turner describes as the ‘brave new world’ (2015). Regardless of the enthusiasm expressed about its usefulness, I have never been quite satisfied with how it is accessed. I have always been niggled by the fact that it was predominantly a paper-based activity that ironically reviews presence and activity online. And whilst that has been ‘ok’, I wanted to offer a more accessible alternative.  Something that I had never got around to sorting out until now. 

I was recently introduced to Laura Ridings, a new appointment to the University of Central Lancashire, located within the TELT team. Laura is a graphic designer and a former teacher, turned e-learning developer. A wonderful combination of creativity, pedagogy and technological skill; and the most pragmatic ‘nerd’ (her word not mine) that I have ever met. Within hours of me sharing my ‘wants’ she had produced a more realistic version of my ‘needs’; in other words taken the Digital Professionalism Mapping Tool online and turned it into an interactive tool. 

I am sharing the updated version of the tool here … in the hope that it will remain useful as social work education and practice continue to navigate the issues and possibilities of the digital shift. 

As you can now use the tool here, there and everywhere please let us know what you think in the comments box below or on Twitter @amltaylor66 and @LRidingsUCLan