How can we work collaboratively?

Let’s look at tools that allow you to work in a collaborative way.

Padlet is a free application that allows you to display information on any topic on an online board. There are several different layouts you can choose from. It is the same as sticking post-it notes on a wall.
It can be used at work, in the classroom or in many other different ways. The blog ‘30 creative ways to use Padlet for teachers and students‘ lists 30 different ways to use this app.

Slack and Discord are used to communicate between teams and have similar interfaces and functionalities. Communication is divided in ‘channels’ where people can send each other private messages, information and files. The main difference is their target audiences:

Slack was created for business and it is better for sharing files and managing conversations.

Discord was developed for gamers and it is better for voice and text chats.

Both Slack and Discord can be used for free, with some limitations.

Both applications have communities you can join at any time and interact with people from across the world. You can ask specific questions or share your expertise on something. You can find Slack or Discord channels for everything, from developing an app to discussing music. Have a look at ’The Full List of 400 Slack Communities’ where you can find a list of some of them.

Microsoft has a similar tool called Teams.

Google Docs is part of the Gsuite that we mentioned last week. It allows you to work with a group of people in real time. Documents can be created, shared, opened and edited by multiple users at the same time. The advantage is that it links directly to your Google email account, if you have one.

Dropbox is a cloud storage service. This means you can copy your files to the cloud, share them and access them later, even if you’re using a different device. Files can be edited by one or more people at the same time. The free version only allows a limited amount of storage to be used.

In some cases, your school or your employer might provide you with a preferred app to be used. For example, some universities are using Microsoft Teams and Blackboard for internal communication, to share files, and for video calls. However, there are so many other options available to you.

Google has created different applications, called G Suite, which allow you to create and work on the same document at the same time.

You can create your document directly in Google Docs, Google Sheets or Google slides and share it. You can also import documents you have created in Microsoft Office or OpenOffice equivalent.

Flock is an application similar to Slack and Discord which supports collaborative working through group and private channels. It can be integrated with Google Drive and Twitter. The free plan limits searches to 10,000 messages and has a 5GB storage limit.

Online project management tools

Wrike is a tool that allows you to see progress on a particular task. It integrates well with many other platforms, including Google, Dropbox, Salesforce, Adobe, and Github.

Monday.com allows you to plan, track, and collaborate on projects in a visually simple manner. Its drag-and-drop functionality is user-friendly and the support team works really well. It also integrates with Slack, Trello, Google Drive, Dropbox, and others, so you can use it as a central focal point for teams to work together.

How can you have meetings online?

There are so many tools of group communication out there.

FaceTime, WhatsApp, Wechat and Google Duo are great for small group calls, mainly with family and friends.

Google Hangouts might be the best option if you already have a Google account. It allows up to 10 people in a video call. Differently from Google Duo, it allows you to write messages in the chat function, share files and show your screen while calling. All of these features are also available in Skype.

Zoom, Adobe Connect, Cisco Webex, and GotoMeeting are similar conferencing tools that are quite popular. They all offer some trials or free packages with some limitations. 8×8 is, instead, a free video-conferencing service without time limits on your meetings. You might also want to explore Jitsi, which allows you to record or stream the meeting to a private YouTube channel.

Tools to create digital content

There are quite a lot of tools you can use to create digital content. Here are some of the most popular tools that you can use.

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet programme part of Microsoft Office. It can be used to create charts and analyses of data. Google Docs Spreadsheet is a free alternative.

GIMP is a free program for editing photos. The GIMP website contains a range of tutorials to help you become familiar with the tool. If you’re using your phone, there are many free applications you can download that will have similar functions. You might want to check the feedback or reviews (it may appear as a star rating and/or comments) from other users before you download.

Pinterest is an app for photo sharing, and it is a publishing service that allows users to ‘pin’ pictures they like and upload their own recommendations to their ‘pinboards’. It is often used to gain inspiration for creative designs.

Canva is a simple graphic design software. It can be used for creating posters, brochures, certificates, presentations, graphics and design for social media, and many other types of content. Here are some examples created using Canva which may inspire you.

Prezi is a tool you can use if you need to give a presentation to your colleagues or to the class. Prezi offers more possibilities than the more popular PowerPoint.
For an example of what Prezi can do, take a look at ‘How to create a great Prezi presentation: 5 tips to persuade your audience’.

Creately is a free tool used to create flowcharts from a range of thousands of templates. Here is an example of a template.

WordPress is a good site for building a website or a blog. You can choose from many different templates (some of them are free) according to the way you would like to communicate with others. Here are some examples from different industries.

Weebly is a free online tool for building a good quality website from the beginning. You don’t need coding skills and can get started quickly.

Wix is an alternative free online website-building tool.

You can also explore other FutureLearn courses like ‘Introduction to Web Development’ from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This will show you how to build a website using HTML, style it with CSS, and then make it interactive using JavaScript.

These are some of the many digital tools available to you when creating digital content. For more ideas, start looking online: you will be surprised by the number of options available!

What other tools have you used to create content that you would recommend to others?

Protecting your devices

Even if you are really careful with your privacy settings, you can still be the victim of cyber attacks that aim to steal your login or personal data, or damage your computer.

The most common risks are from malware like viruses, keyloggers and spyware.

Viruses

These are usually small programs that can cause harm to your computer. They can come from attachments in emails, they can be hidden in other ‘legitimate’ software, or they can be placed deliberately onto a computer.

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Keyloggers

These are a type of malware (damaging software) that record which applications you are using, and what you are typing. This information is then sent to the creator of the keylogger.

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Spyware

This type of software collects information on the users and settings on a computer so that it can take advantage of the users or system.

Which simple steps can you take to protect your devices?

• Install a well known antivirus like McAfee or Avast and regularly scan your device to detect and remove the risks.
• Turn on the password features and use a strong password (eg, a mix of upper/lowercase letters and numbers).
• Change your password regularly and don’t keep it in a place that is easy to find (eg, don’t save it on your phone or PC in a file named ‘Password’).
• Don’t use the same password for everything.
• With mobile devices, turn off Bluetooth unless you need it to be on.
• Don’t connect to any network you aren’t sure you can trust.
• Regularly back up your device, and keep the backup separate to it. You should keep a copy of your files and photos on an external hard drive or on the cloud (see step Tip of the week: collaborative tools for a suggestion of which collaborative spaces can be used for backup). All storage solutions have pros and cons, and you should look at these in more detail before you decide where and how to back up your data. Apple products have a ‘time machine’ to automate the backup of your files and operating system.
• For a mobile device, activate the location feature to track it if it is stolen.

It’s important to note that this applies to any device, not just a PC; your phone, tablet, smart TV, or any other device that can have software installed on it can be attacked.

Privacy settings

One basic way of protecting your data on social media is through your privacy settings. As the name suggests, these are settings that let you control how accessible your information and posts are.

Check your privacy settings

This is the first step to controlling access to your personal information.

• All social media have some privacy settings.
• These let you control who sees what you share on the platform. For example, you can set Facebook’s ‘Who can see my stuff? settings to ‘Friends’ or ‘Public’. Choosing ‘Friends’ indicates that only your Friends can see your posts and information, and choosing ‘Public’ allows everyone to see it. The same applies to Instagram and Twitter.
• It’s safer to only have Friends/Followers see what you share, unless you are using social media for your personal business and you want to reach large audiences.
• It’s also safer to hide information like your personal email address, phone number and other personal data from the general public (eg, in Facebook you can share which schools you went to, family members and personal interests).
• You can block particular profiles from communicating with you.

Learning the privacy settings of the social media platforms you use is very important to protecting your information. In general, you should make public as little information as possible. Let only the people you trust see more.

Which measures have you taken or are you planning to take to protect yourself online?

What should I agree to share?

Even if the point of using social media is to share things about your life, it is very important not to share too much.

Social media is a great place to make friends, but you should take care that people you meet can be trusted.

There are people who look for ways to use your data for their advantage – and the more personal the data, the worse the consequences could be. Of course, finding a balance isn’t easy. It depends on the person, what they do, what they use and how they use it.

It’s exactly the same as interacting with people in real life: you share more with the people you trust and less with the people you don’t know or trust.

As a general rule, it’s safest to treat people on the internet as complete strangers: they are not people you can completely trust immediately. With this in mind, remember to keep your personal information confidential.

What things would you feel comfortable telling a stranger in the street?

Being safe on social media

When you use social media, you are sharing bits of information about yourself, and this is part of your digital identity. However, you can still control what you are sharing and how.

Remember that everyone can access the internet

• If there is something personal you are not comfortable sharing with people that you don’t know, don’t share it on social media. Would you like someone that you have never met before to see or know that information about you? Probably not.
• Imagine your posts as news in a national newspaper. Many people will have access to them. How would you like that information to be communicated? Think about the images you will share, and the words you will use. Make sure they are appropriate.
• Think about what you are posting and how. What you say reflects on the company you work for, or the school or university you go to. If you share embarrassing or offensive posts on the official social media page of the company you work for, it is very likely that you will face some consequences!

Take a moment to think before posting…

It is very easy to publish something you want to say without thinking and then to regret it immediately afterwards or the next day. You might have experienced a similar situation while having an argument with someone and felt sorry about what you said or the way you said it.

Just like in face-to-face situations, your comments on the internet and social media are not easy to delete after you have made them. Someone might have taken a screenshot of them, and they can also create an online debate very quickly. If lots of people are already talking about what you said, deleting your post will not solve the problem.

If you are feeling really angry, try to calm down before you post. Do something else for a little while and come back to it. You might find that there are better words to express your feelings, or you might decide not to reply at all. In the moment, it might seem really difficult to step away, but you will thank yourself later.

Do you have any advice that you have found helpful for staying safe on social media?

Protecting against spam and phishing

Most of our email accounts filter some of them for us by directing them into the ‘junk’ folder in Outlook. This is also known as ‘spam’ in Gmail.

Spam and phishing are – unfortunately – quite popular. They create an illusion. They are normally designed to make you think that there is nothing strange about an email, link, download, phone call, or website you are navigating. We have all received at least one example of spam!

Below are two examples of ‘suspicious’ emails:

• A general email asking for a reply: here you can see that the sender email address at the top of the image is different from the one at the bottom. They are usually not different, if the sender has good intentions. The sender also uses a generic greeting – ‘Dear friend’ – which means that the email has been probably sent to many people the sender doesn’t know.

• Email with a file to be downloaded: here the file might be malware that can steal your security details or personal data once you have downloaded it to your device. Again, another clue that something is wrong is the different sender email addresses and the file name, unless you have participated in a competition.

How can you protect yourself against spam and phishing?

Here are some tips:

• Check the address in a suspicious email – Before clicking on a particular link in an email, make sure you know the address. You can set your Outlook to show the full email address of the sender, or you can position your mouse over the name (without selecting it) to see a pop-up with more information. If you notice a couple of letters that are different, it is almost certainly a phishing attempt. For example, the name of the sender is ‘John Smith’ from the ‘NetworkCompany’ and the email is JohnSmith@netrokcompany.com’.
• Check the message in a suspicious email – There are usually some clues in the main text of a fake email: for example, the punctuation is missing, the formatting on a bank email seems strange (or absent), or a message from a friend doesn’t seem like the way they usually talk.
• Double-check a suspicious email or a text message with the company’s website – A company will never ask you to change your passwords, or any other personal data, via an email or text link. This is because it is a big security risk. If you are not sure, check on the company’s official website or contact them directly. If the message really is something important, you will find the information there as well.
• Trust your feelings – Cyber attackers don’t care about you or your situation: they only want your personal information. If something feels strange, it is probably strange. Trust yourself!
• If you are not sure, don’t click on the link – If you have any reason to think a particular link doesn’t look right, don’t click on it. However urgent the email may seem, it’s not worth risking your data for.

Digital footprint: what is it and why is it important?

What is your ‘digital footprint’?

Your ‘digital footprint’ is the information you share online about yourself. The majority of people use social media to share information (links, video, images or just thoughts) and talk with friends, family, colleagues or anyone else.

You can check your digital footprint by searching for your name on Google or a different search engine. Have you ever tried? Have you found any surprises? Don’t share your results here, but if you see anything unexpected or that makes you feel unsafe, you should review the privacy settings of any platform you are using.

Creating and maintaining a positive digital footprint could help you when applying for a job, or at a school or university. It is about having a positive reputation in the digital world.

How do you leave your ‘digital footprint’?

You can leave a digital footprint in many ways. Posting a picture, a video or a comment with text on social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or LinkedIn), or on a blog or website contributes to your footprint.

You can also leave information about yourself with the data created through your activities on the web. Information such as your IP addresses, and what you are watching or buying is used by advertisers to target you with customised adverts. For example, if you search for a particular book on Amazon, you will receive a suggestion on other books you might like. Similarly, you might see an advert on Facebook related to something you have bought or searched for on a different website.

Think about the quantity and type of information available about you. What kind of information might be important to have visible and what would be better to keep private?

Managing a personal digital identity

You might think it would be easier and safer to have no digital identity, but what would the consequences of that be?

Your online identity is important because it can influence the way others see you and employers tend to use online platforms to verify the identity of their employees. The sections below suggest ways in which you can develop and check your online digital identity.

Advice and guidance

Use these helpful links on how to present yourself in the online environment:

• Robert Siciliano’s blog-post on Self-checking Your Online Identity encourages us to manage our online identity.
• Safer internet: Professional reputation offers useful tips and resources for teachers that are useful to everyone.
• Managing your Online Identity collects information on how to create a safe and positive online identity.

Apps and tools for a digital identity

Here are links to some of the apps and digital tools that are commonly used in addition to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and which can contribute to your online identity.

Digital badges are digital objects, formed by an image and its metadata. They record the skill or achievement that has been demonstrated in order to earn the badge. Learners can download their badge and use it in their CV or on an online profile. You can find more on learning credentials by reading New credentials by Deakin University in their MOOC, ‘Becoming Career Smart’.

OneFile is an e-portfolio tool that records and manages work-based training. You can book a demo to find out how it might apply in your context.

Trello can be used as a personal to-do list, or a collaborative online project management tool for sharing and planning how you work together with others.

GSuite is a group of computer programs from Google that helps you manage a range of work tasks, such as email, calendar, networking, documents, spreadsheets, forms, etc.

Creating a digital identity

It is now time to start planning and creating your digital identity!

The first step will be to identify what tools you would like to use. They might include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn. Which social media would represent you best and why? Start to plan your online presence using one of these platforms. If you are unsure about their differences, you can read more about them on this page or search the web.

Then, you can start creating a short autobiography (100 words maximum) to present yourself. This is your personal information, but be careful not to include details like your address or telephone number.

You can use your answers to the three questions below as a good starting point:

1. What are you passionate about?
2. What are you good at?
3. What does your community need? How do you think you can make a contribution to the area you are passionate about?

Share your ideas

You can present your answers and ideas to your fellow learners and ask for feedback in the discussion area below. When sharing your autobiography, try to explain how you plan to use it.

It’s a good idea to use more friendly or more formal language according to the context: for example, a friendly tone for Facebook, but a more formal tone for LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social network focusing on employment, where you can post information about your work, your interests, your CV, and the skills you have to offer. You can search for and post jobs available and invite others to your network so you can explore each other’s work. ResearchGate and Academia are aimed more at researchers.

Twitter can be used for both personal and professional life. It can be used to engage in issues and conversations that you care about.

Facebook is often used as a personal social media to communicate with family and friends.

Instagram is a personal social media that can also be used professionally, especially in jobs connected to tourism, fashion or wellness.