Expert Forth Valley College staff used their knowledge to help train the caring staff at Strathcarron Hospice recently.
Jim Davidson and Kenneth Todd from FVC’s Learning and Digital Skills Academy made a connection with Strathcarron Hospice through the College’s Giving Back Initiative – where staff give up their time to local worthy causes as part of Staff Development - and carried out a training needs analysis on Teams, Office 365 and Moodle. After this they were able to support the charity with existing training material and some online workshops for staff who will now be able to deliver the IT skills and train their own colleagues.
Jim said: “Currently Ken and I have already run two office 365 support sessions on Teams and have created Rise courses for their training on Teams, Forms and Sway. We have another couple planned for Office 365 and Rise courses and my colleague Ken is also going to do some Moodle support sessions.
“Our plan is to help them create an Office 365 training course on their own Moodle site, which they can use to train staff themselves after our sessions finish. We have also asked Strathcarron to create a wish list, so we can see if we can match up any student placements or courses.
“Strathcarron Hospice is a charity close to my heart as a few of my close friends have passed there recently and it is an honour to be able to help them in any way that I can.”
Helen Young, Head of Learning and Quality at FVC, added: “I am delighted that Jim, Ken and the wider Learning and Digital Skills Academy are able to support Strathcarron Hospice with their digital skills. We have been working with Strathcarron Hospice for a couple of years and they are the charity that the entire team wanted to support through our Giving Back day last year. There are more great opportunities to come for our team, students and staff at the hospice as we continue to work together this coming academic session.”
Mari Alcorn, IT/IM Manager from Strathcarron Hospice, said: "At the hospice we have a small IT team and have recently expanded the department so that we can provide more training and support. The staff started using Office 365 in a rush during the height of the pandemic when they were adapting to a completely new way of working.
“Going forward, we are delighted to have access to the knowledge and resources of Forth Valley College.
“We are excited at the opportunity to expand the knowledge in our department and to learn new digital teaching skills from the College's experts, which we, in turn, can use to help our amazing colleagues in the Hospice. We are delighted at the prospect of developing our collaborative relationship with the College and of course having the wishes from our wish list come true! Many thanks to everyone involved at the College."