Taking opportunities as they arise

Recently I ran a new CPD workshop "The Connected Therapists: Introduction to Social Media & Professional Learning Networks" for our local branch of the BABCP where my wife, Tamsin, is Secretary. It was a fantastic opportunity to introduce new concepts to a group of mental health professionals with mixed skills and experience of using digital technologies in a work context.

Whilst the session focused on using social media for professional networking (see the presentation below), one of the most interesting discussions stimulated by the workshop was on the potential role of video calls in extending the reach of talking therapies to people and communities that otherwise may struggle to access services both at home and around the world. Views differed as to the potential merits and dangers of this approach, but the consensus was that it would be interesting to consider in future.



The upshot of this discussion was an email I received yesterday from Cai, a colleague of a BABCP member who attended the workshop, asking if DigiSkills Cymru could give assistance to another mental health charity. They want to offer an alternative and accessible ways for sufferers to meet and be supported by peers and professionals; in particular they're working on the idea of running a support group for some of their clients using web conferencing technologies.

Now that's a result in my book - a workshop producing a change in how a service is delivered and the learning being cascaded to people who couldn't attend the session themselves - so I gladly offered to help.

The immediate result of this is that I've produced a short, step-by-step guide to using Google Hangouts to hold group discussions. Once up and running, a Google Hangout group call is, for me, a much nicer web conference service than many of the paid-for services. Being browser-based, it doesn't require a full software download and doesn't require sign-up beyond a google, gmail or YouTube account.

However, it can be a little bit of a struggle to get started Hangouts, largely due to network restrictions when accessing it from work (especially related to the required browser plug-in) and it's pretty demanding on your broadband network.  One of the tips I put in the guide was to use the "switch off camera" button

So, here's the first draft of the DigiSkills Cymru Guide to Google Hangouts.

I hope this short guide will evolve into a full Best Practice Guideline that could be useful to a range of audiences, including trade union learning projects and public service professionals. Looking at my inbox this morning, I've already received another message from Cai with some more really ambitious ideas about how they might use Hangouts. As always with this blog, watch this space....