We Share Stuff – Understanding Social Media is an accredited course developed to give anyone basic understanding and confidence in using social media for personal or work purposes. It assumes no prior knowledge and learners select the appropriate tools for their interests — the concepts of search, commenting, building networks and content creation are then taught in real-world situations.

The course has been developed by We Share Stuff and placed on the OCN framework, where Level One is comparable to NVQ1, Foundation GNVQ and GCSE grades D-G. It is based on 30 learning hours, that are taught in small groups with learners setting the agenda and the depth of tuition by their interests.

Understanding Social Media teaches how social media is becoming increasingly important as a way of communication; not just between friends, but colleagues, employers, companies and even government. Not being able to communicate using social media tools, or not understanding how others use them can be a severe disadvantage in the workplace. Employers across all industries are starting to recognise the growing impact of social media and the need for employees to understand both the pitfalls and benefits that it can offer. Proper understanding of the types of and motivation for social media communication and how to find relevant online conversation, is becoming a basic skill. Knowing how to respond and how to create media is an important part of being Digitally Included.
On completion of the course:

• NEETs, or other young people, will have confidence in creating accounts on social media services, understand the difference between social and professional use and begin to create relevant content for themselves. The course can teach the possibilities of using social media to find work or training.
• Working people will begin to understand the possibility of using social technology for collaboration, marketing or customer service. They would have developed the confidence and skills to engage on a professional level with colleagues and customers. They will be able to start to make decisions about when and how to use social media.
• Those working on training others will be able to use social media content and techniques in the delivery of courses (much like We Share Stuff do, on our other OCN accredited training courses).

The course comprises three units:

• Social Media Find and Connect – choosing the appropriate social networking tools and taking the first steps into building networks.
• Engaging with Social Media – consuming and responding to social media, understanding motivation and responding appropriately
• Creating Social Media Content and Networks-  creating content: be that audio, text or video) and where best to place in on the social web. Understanding copyright and publicising.

We Share Stuff  is an accredited Open College Network provider.

NOCN Qualifications for Progression are a new and different type of qualification. The qualifications contain units of assessment with a credit value attached. These can be accumulated towards an Award, Certificate or Diploma. We use them to develop life and learning skills as an integral part of any course, with the ability to offer a range of vocational tasters that can be combined to create a size and level of qualification that suits the needs of different target groups. Courses can be built from a wide variety of accredited units, from Media Literacy to Job Search.

We Share Stuff can offer course delivery, of existing or bespoke courses. We are also able to train in the delivery of our Understanding Social Media course, let’s talk to see how it could benefit you.