From Carer to CarerPlus: enhancing digital competences in the care worker sector to improve the quality of life of older persons. Steven Warburton describes how the CarerPlus project has addressed the challenges surrounding the development of a training programme for enhancing the digital skills of care workers so that the quality of life of older persons can be enhanced.

1. FROM CARER TO CARERPLUS:
THE TRANSLATION OF A DIGITAL COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK INTO A
BLENDED MOBILE LEARNING PROGRAMME FOR THE DOMICILIARY
CARE SECTOR
Warburton, S., University of Surrey, UK, Hatzipanagos, S. and Valenta, L.

2. Eurostat projections for EU Member States highlights the marked increase in the share of
the population in the older age ranges, from 65 to 79 years, and the over-80s.
Background: An aging demographic across in Europe

3. “As science allows us to live longer and we choose to have fewer
children, we will increasingly rely on the more affordable labor of
foreigners.“
Pressures are economic and social.
On healthcare systems and the social service
support structures.
-> Large shift in the dependency ratio.
-> Increased government spending on health
care and pensions.
-> Shortage of workers
-> Longer work hours and higher taxes.

4. Social participation and depressive
symptoms in old age:
A decrease in social interactions and social
participation, elements of active ageing, is a
leading risk factor of depressive symptoms in
old age.
(Abu-Rayya 2006, Sirven & Debrand 2008, Chiao et al.
2011, Baetz et al. 2012, Lou et al. 2012, Taylor et al. 2012).
Impact on quality of life:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21929197

5. Research indicates that modern ICTs and AAL (ambient assisted living)
technologies can support ageing in the community and at home, with the
result of radically improving quality of life.
The CARICT project analysed fifty two ICT-based initiatives for
caregivers in Europe and concluded that ICT-based services
empower both care recipients and carers and improve their
quality of life.
Digital Agenda for Europe: Pillar VI - Action 57: Prioritize digital literacy and competences
for the European Social Fund (2014-2020). 30% of Europeans have never used the
internet. These people – mostly elderly, unemployed or on low incomes – lack the skills, confidence
and means to use digital media and are thus unable to participate in today's society.
The important role of ICTs and digital literacy:

6. Develop the digital competences of
the carer who acts as a key mediator
between the opportunities afforded
by ICTs and the enhancement of
quality of life and older persons in
home care contexts.
CarerPlus: the approach:

7. Project aim:
To equip European care workers (CW) with a set of digital competences to support
older people (+65) in their use of ICTs and AAL (Ambient Assisted Living)
technologies.
A twofold impact:
(i) Enhance professional status of CW and allow them to be more active in
society, enhancing and diversifying their opportunities for mobility,
employability and personal and professional development.
(ii) Impact positively on the quality of life, autonomy and safety of those in
their care, promoting ‘active ageing’.

8. A set of knowledge, skills, attitudes that are required when using ICT and
digital media to perform tasks; solve problems; communicate; manage
information; collaborate; create and share content; and build knowledge
effectively, efficiently, appropriately, critically, creatively, autonomously,
flexibly, ethically, reflectively for work, leisure, participation, learning,
socialising, consuming, and empowerment.
(Ferrari, A., 2012)
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Digital competence: a definition

9. Challenge
1. Define digital
competences - relevant
to the care worker sector
(and by extension care
recipient)
2. Design a method
for developing,
consolidating and
enhancing
(identified) digital
competences
Certification
Impact
assessment
Sustainability
Define a set of digital competences relevant to the domain
of the care worker sector and then translate this into a
meaningful programme of activity with a view to
certification, sustainability and impact assessment.

10. Four research phases to investigate: the relevance of digital
competences in the care sector, and the digital knowledge and skills
likely to emerge within future care worker activities.
(i) a literature analysis;
(ii) expert focus groups;
(iii) semi-structured individual interviews with experts;
(iv) questionnaire delivered to care workers and care givers.
Methodology reported in Valenta et al. (2013).
1. A digital competence framework

11. CarerPlus digital competence framework
General digital competence dimensions are based on DIGCOMP (Ferrari, 2013)

12. A
• Curriculum
development
• Narrative:
learning journey
• Learning
outcomes
• Mapping
competences
• Constructive
alignment
• Chunking and
linking content
2. A blended learning programme – using feed
forward and feedback design
Carerplus
Carer +
Atomistic view
Holistic view
CarerPlus Programme
Feedback
Feedforward

13. Overview of the four methodological phases in the
development of the CarerPlus digital competence framework
and the blended learning programme

14. CarerPlus: programme structure after the final
validation workshop

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Core themes
Foundational: development of baseline skills to build confidence
and awareness of ICTs and understand their potential application to
home care settings as well as achieve personal and professional
development.
Managing Social Care with ICTs: professional development
activity of the participants to enhance their competences in the
areas of planning, reporting, information seeking, communicating
and networking and building their professional profile.
Providing Social Care with ICTs: (i) active aging and independent
living (ii) promoting social inclusion and bonding and (iii) using ICTs
for cognitive and physical rehabilitation.
For CarerPlus programme

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Guiding Principles
• All learning should be driven by authentic activity (Ormrod,
2004)
• Basic knowledge skills and attitudes should be revisited in
more depth in a ‘spiral curriculum’ (Bruner, 1960) approach;
• Peer support and learning should be encouraged by providing
opportunities to share experience;
• Programme must be designed to engage and motivate
participants, and ensure good progression and retention rates.
Underpinning CarerPlus programme design

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Delivery – mobile focus
VLE scaffold and Community of Practice – based on mobile internet
devices that include the Google Nexus and iPad tablets.
Virtuous circle of activity between Moodle VLE and ELGG
social network with ePortfolio capabilities
F-2-F
Trainer/mentor support

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Principles of design: building on Bruner’s
spiral curriculum model
Care workers are developed
as ‘designers’.
Care recipients are not
guinea pigs but ‘co-
participants’.
We therefore promote mini-
design cycles based on
micro-project approach
written up as structured
reports.
Changing roles and
empowerment in a spiral
curriculum:

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Activity led design
Activity-led design: achieved using activity mapping and storyboarding to
ensure alignment between the learning outcomes and the evidence of
success.

20. Micro-certification - badging
1. Increase motivation by rewarding positive behaviour e.g community
building. Reward achievement of course activities.
2. Reward those who engage in the more challenging aspects of the
activities provided and push their practice beyond the central learning
design journey.
3. Drive learner determined pathways e.g. badges are used to map out a
‘train the trainers’ pathway through the programme (+ve for
sustainability).
4. As a compliment to the more formal certification pathways that will be
developed during the project.
The badging strategy was driven by the following key aims:

21. Help us to help you.
A profiling tool is used to
test prior learning and
experience in key areas.
Short questionnaires and a
quiz that are broken into
five sections:
1. About you;
2. Internet use;
3. Computer and Internet
self assessment;
4. ICT quiz;
5. Readiness to learn. The action matrix – used in relation to the
results from the profiling tool – indicating
areas of action required.

22. Conclusions
• [Digital] competence frameworks can be unwieldy in terms of size
and structure;
• For longevity we need to build in sustainability such as bringing in
participants as mentors within the programme;
• There is a tension between holistic (the person we are trying to
‘create’) and atomistic qualities (of the competence framework) that
require feed-forward and feed-back design;
• There is a need to both guide and scaffold participants in adapting
the course to their context;
• Co-design and participatory design are powerful concepts that
potentially lead to increased empowerment and autonomy for the
participants;
• Badges provide motivation and flexibility and can be used to map out
and record personalised pathways.