Archive for the 'Youth Engagement' Category

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Social Network Sites Need ‘Help’ Button

Published on 18 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 1 Comment

In the UK headlines today major social networking sites have been criticised for not using the ‘CEOP Report’ button. This button is embedded into many websites and programs including MSN for young people to use to report any suspicious individuals or behaviour whilst using the internet. When this button was launched on Instant Messenger software, MSN in 2006, reports to CEOP increased by 113%. Every month the ‘CEOP Report’ button gets 10’000 hits, helping CEOP trace any harmful behaviour from bullying to paedophilia. The button links young people with a range of service from the local police through to Childline giving them the help and support they need and internet safety advice.  

 Nonetheless, Facebook and Myspace, are two of the most popular social networking sites that still do not have the button embedded despite the amount of young people that use them and the number of serious incidents that have occurred recently. Social networking site Bebo, has stood out and adopted the use of the button. This is a step forward for social networking, Jim Gamble from CEOP states that “Parents can be reassured because they know this environment is appropriately managed” but also “the predator, the person that goes on with harmful intent – whether it’s the bully or whether it’s the paedophile – they know when they see it that there is an active deterrent here.” Facebook and Myspace will now hopefully realise the benefit of embedding the button for the safety of their users and promotion of online safety. Last year Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service produced pin badges in the design of the CEOP ‘Report Abuse’ button for Safer Internet Day. This helped to promote the awareness of the button and to familiarise the public with what it looked like.

The button has since been revamped and has a new design; still using the same logo the text has changed from ‘Report Abuse’ to ‘CEOP Report’. With Safer Internet Day coming up in February we are currently looking in to what we can do this year to make a difference and make Merseyside safer online.

 

CEOP Button

New CEOP design on the left, the old design on the right.

Using Facebook in Youth Engagement

Published on 18 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

My current thought processes are around Facebook being a resource which should be embraced and used within our Youth Engagement Programmes. It is inevitable that a great deal of debate will arise about allowing the use of Facebook in the workplace, however by using Facebook to engage with the young people from each programme we are able to form stronger relationships with the community and tackle issues via a medium that the young people of today are accustomed to.  

I am proposing that a Facebook ‘Public Profile’ should be created to represent Merseyside Fire and Rescue Youth Engagement. This is not the same as a private personal profile which is gives an individual’s details to the extent that they choose. A ‘Public Profile’ is similar to a home page on a website. It states who the page is about; an organisation, a food product, a rock band, and any further information that they wish to display; contact details, aims and achievements, their service.   Wikipedia explains a Public Profile as;   

Individuals or companies can create “Public Profiles” (Formerly known as “Pages”) which allows users to “become a fan” of the individual, product, service, or concept. Public Profiles look and behave much like a user’s personal private profile, with some significant differences. Public Profiles are integrated with Facebook’s advertising system, allowing Public Profile owners to easily advertise to Facebook’s users. Owners can send updates to their fans, which shows up on their home page. They also have access to insights and analytics of their fan base   

By having a public profile rather than a standard Facebook individual profile, it allows the creators, moderators and staff to remain private if they want. Those who become a ‘fan’ of the page or follow it will only be able to see the names of those who contribute to the page; they will not have access to their profiles.  

This public profile will act the central hub for Youth Engagement. Anybody can view this page, it will give information on the various programmes that MFRS run and how to get more information, apply and who to contact.  For past and current students, we shall create Facebook groups. A group will be created for each programme that is run i.e. Prince’s Trust, EARLY, Beacon. Within these groups subsections can be made for each team i.e. Huyton, Old Swan and Derby Road. The groups will be private and only those invited to join will have access. By having specific groups for each programme young people can become a member of the group and have access to the photos / videos that are taken throughout the course. Important information, reminders and issues can be mailed out to all of the group members. Furthermore, discussion can be created within the group. Past students can continue using the group so that communication can be continued for further guidance, track progress and create accurate statistics. It would also create the opportunity for carers / parents to see young person’s progress and activities they have completed and the option to contact staff.   

“Meet them where they live!”

Published on 17 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 1 Comment

Whilst researching I encountered an excellent blog about ‘Emerging Technology in Education’ written by K. Walsh. One entry in particular that caught my eye was ‘5 Reasons Why Educators Need To Embrace Internet Technologies’. This entry is an excellent resource to show those who are unsure about the use of Emerging Technologies and may not understand why we are trying to incorporate them into our programmes.

The five reasons are:

  1. Professional Development
  2. The Power To Engage
  3. Students Use Them Already
  4. It’s Not Going Away (It Will Only Grow)
  5. Businesses Want to Hire Workers Who Understand The Internet

 For a breakdown of each reason click here  

Bright Spark Campaign

Published on 16 November 2009 in Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Bright Spark Campaign

The Bright Spark Campaign is run by the Fire Support network in association with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, aimed at 16-25 years olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and have never volunteered before but are looking to get involved in the Merseyside Area.

The initiative is a four week program working alongside top energy-saving companies. By helping to install energy-saving light bulbs and making relevant referrals, volunteers will make an impact on the futures of the community. Each day incorporates some element of fun or an incentive to maintain effort and interest from team building activities to creating a team song.

At the end of the four weeks all volunteers will take away a reference and accredited training certificate which will be of help when seeking future employment or training. Participants can choose to continue volunteering and gain a fully funded NVQ Level 2 in customer service.

This is an excellent opportunity for young people, however at the moment there is not enough online promotion about the campaign. I spoke to Wendy to organizes the Bright Spark recruitment who said that an online resource would be an excellent way to promote the campaign and also allow those interested to apply online.

Meeting with Huyton Prince’s Trust Team

Published on 13 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

After meeting with Alan and talking about how we can introduce innovative ideas into Youth Engagement I was eager to meet up with the Prince’s Trust Huyton Team; Richie Evered, the team leader, and Jade Cotter, the assistant team leader. The Team Programme is for those aged 16-25 who are unemployed. It is free of cost and does not affect Jobseeker’s Allowance. It is ideal for those whose lack of confidence or qualifications are holding them back. Movie Maker

Ed and I went to meet Richie and Jade whilst their current Team of young people were there. This was so we could not only talk to the staff but also ask the young people what facilities they have now and what technology they use out of the programme.  

We discussed the idea of using the Samsung devices with Richie and Jade who thought that it would excellent to have visual and moving footage of the team instead of still photographs. They felt that this would add a personalised touch to the presentation and would demonstrate the development of the young people from start to finish in a more effective way than the use of photographs.  They also thought it would be extremely useful to have video or audio to complement the evidence that is required for the written Prince’s Trust log books, especially for those with difficulties reading and writing.  The programme includes an action-packed residential week where the Team do activities such as rock climbing, gauge walking, caving and canoeing. Richie and Jade mentioned that the Samsung device may not be suitable for these activities. However it is on this week that the team really get to know each other and a great deal of progress in made in terms of team work, character building, group bonding and personal development as an individual. It would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity to get footage of these activities and the team working together. It was suggested that something like a head camera would be ideal for this week. This would enable the leaders to film all the action and forgot about having to switch a camera off and on and would free up both hands for the more challenging activities. It would also capture natural footage as the team would forget that they were being filmed. 

The enthusiasm and forward thinking attitude that we received from Richie and Jade was extremely encouraging and we are really looking forward to working with them on this project.  

Meeting Alan Ellis from Knowsley City Learning Centre

Published on 11 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, People, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Following my induction with Youth Engagement, Ed, Emma and I met up with Alan Ellis, the Principal Learning Technologies Officer from Knowsley City Learning Centre. Alan was involved with the project when it first started in 2007, so it was interesting to hear what he has been doing and tell him about where we are now up to.After discussing the ideas that have been formulated from my visits to the various teams, Alan introduced us to the new handheld devices that the Learning Centre has purchased;

the Samsung Q1 Ultra!   

These devices combine all the features you would find on a PC, multimedia device and PDA, not only this but it is compact and lightweight and has a 7” wide touch, colour screen! Although the capabilities are endless we focused on using them to create video and audio. The device has a built in front and rear cameras so is capable of ‘point and shoot’ filming. Once footage has been captured it is them possible to use Windows ‘Movie Maker’ to sequence a film with audio and export it as a video file.  Having various internet connection options these files can then be uploaded, emailed, blogged or simply sent to a PC.  Having these capabilities would enable young people and staff to create video diaries, starting from the day they start on a programme to the day they finish. This would not only track progress and be used to evidence activities and achievements but could also be used in the final presentation to show visually how each person has changed over the course of the programme in terms of personal development.  Alan can offer us a number of these devices on loan within Knowsley so it was agreed that Huyton Prince’s Trust Team would be an ideal place to start.

Emerging Technologies

Published on 11 November 2009 in Emerging Technology and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Emerging Technologies

Prince’s Trust

Published on 11 November 2009 in Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

I spend an afternoon talking to Jade, the assistant team leader, from Huyton Prince’s Trust team. We talked about what technology they are using within their program now and what technology could be used and introduced to improve the development of the young people that they work.Princes Trust LogoThe main ideas that we discussed included:

  • Improved computer facilities
  • Option of video / audio diaries to for evidence of activity
  • Young people having the facility to take their own photos using phones whilst on placement to upload via Bluetooth when they finish
  • Having a personal online space to store video / audio / photos
  • Having a public online space to communicate, promote, update and keep in touch with young people

Having gathered these ideas I will now take on the challenge of of implementing these ideas. 

Beacon Course and Emerging Technology

Published on 4 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

At the end of each session each Beacon student has a log book which they have to fill in stating details such as their favorite part of the day, what they learnt, how they feel and so on. The member of staff for that day also fills out a section for each week detailing how they felt the student did. These log books are in paper format and are reproduced each time a new group starts. When speaking to the staff about the feasibility of transferring the log books to digital format they all stated that they prefer paper format due to the short attention spans of the young people that attend the course and the lack of computing facilities.

The team leader Chris, has trialled SMS messaging in the past and found that it worked extremely well, especially to remind parents about the passout parade details at the end of the course and to remind students about any particular equipment or spare clothes they will need for the session. However due the high demand of his time he found it hard to keep up the service and continue using it. It is something however that he would like to reintroduce. If this became a scheduled part of each member of staff’s day I believe that it could be managed successfully.

When asked about an online facility which would allow students, past, present and future, to share experiences, they agreed it would be useful but would be weary of the security issues. It was agreed that Facebook is an excellent way to promote issues and create discussions as well as keep in touch with students due to its popularity, but the filtering and monitoring of content would have to be investigated fully.

Visiting the Beacon Team

Published on 4 November 2009 in Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

I recently spent the day with the Beacon Course Team based at Derby Road in Bootle. The Beacon course involves one day a week for 12 weeks and is designed to help young people understand fire safety, prevent arson, provide positive role models and help develop confidence, resilience, and self-esteem. The group that I joined consisted of twelve young people from a school in West Derby who were in their sixth week of the course.

The session included a fireworks safety talk, attacks of firefighters talk and a foam induction drill. The firework safety and attacks on firefighters talk both consisted of a PowerPoint presentation combined with video clips. The member of staff, Tony, taking the session used the PowerPoint slides as reference points to have a discussion and then the video clips to supplement the discussion.
As well as these classroom based activities, Tony did a team-building exercise with the group outside. Simple ball games refreshed the team, got them working together and helped to keep their enthusiasm up.
The highlight of the day was the foam induction drill. This consisted of everyone, including myself, getting into Firefighters uniform and going out to the Fire Appliances to learn about and use the different types of hose attachments to create foam. Each member of the group had the opportunity to use the hose and each attachment making the foam vary in thickness. Once everyone had a go there was a large pool of foam which didn’t go unnoticed by the group and before long everybody was covered in foam!
The variety of activities and the constant enthusiasm and dedication from the staff shows why this course is such a success.

Kate doing foam drill