Personas Lida

Giulia studied computer science at the university of Milan more than ten years ago. Since then she’s been studying topics within her field through short courses and online courses, mostly using udemy.com.

She is starting a postgraduate degree in Big Data in August. This course will be completely taught in English unlike the undergraduate degree which was mostly in Italian. Giulia has a good knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary related to her job. She struggles to speak and understand spoken language. To prepare for her upcoming degree Giulia enrolled in two access courses at the University of Turin to study Python and English. She also planned a two-week study trip to Bristol in the summer.

James has a degree in social work. He has a level 3 safeguarding, mental health, and first aid training. He has worked in social work for five years, first in Aberdeenshire then in Glasgow. He got his CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) while at university, thinking he would travel and teach. He mostly works with vulnerable and underprivileged young adults, making sure they have the skills, or access to resources necessary. He also works as an English teacher and community tutor with refugees.

Giulia is self-employed and normally works from home, with regular visits to customers. She could do her job completely remotely, but most customers insist on her coming in (not during the pandemic). She often works in the middle of the night to take advantage of the service window on most servers. Giulia takes care of some big clients as well as a number of smaller companies in the area. She recently expanded and hired two part-time employees to help her.

James' regular job requires him to travel all around Glasgow to meet clients. His responsibilities range from helping a client fill out an application form, finding a job or training, to dealing with personal issues. He also works with educators and training facilities in order to connect his clients to the services they need. Two days a week he teaches English classes to refugees and organises community events with Refuweegee.

Giulia has excellent technical skills and can do most tasks with learning online. She can be sometimes limited by her English, especially in the first stages of using new equipment or software.

James has a good grasp of technology, having grown up using it. He has a powerful laptop he normally uses for playing games and a stable internet connection. He’s not familiar with any elearning techniques or ways to deliver support online. He's a bit lost, not knowing where to start.

Since graduating university, Giulia has kept up with the development in computer science theoretically, but she specialised when it comes to study and practical work. She’s an expert in server maintenance and has some experience of working with databases.

James is a very capable support worker, who takes care of many young adults from the greater Glasgow area. He’s always focused on young adults, trying to give them a better chance in the real world. Although he works alone, he often collaborates with other support workers outside of office hours.

Giulia hopes to improve her knowledge in Big Data in order to move into the market. She hopes she can start working in Big Data and pass her existing clients onto her employees.

He needs to find ways to help his clients during the pandemic. Trying to avoid public transport, James has to walk or cycle everywhere. While in-person visits are possible for some, many of his clients are left without support.

He wants to give his clients access to a safe space they feel confident using even in the future when they don't have to.

He also hopes he can continue working with refugees and teaching English during the lockdown.

Prepare for her upcoming courses and get the most out of the time available to her. All her access courses have been moved online and her degree might also start online only. She was offered online classes in place of her course in Bristol, but she decided to get a refund instead.

Short-term: James wants to ensure as many clients as possible have access to the help they need. He’s hoping he can find some low-tech effective solutions to deliver care and community support while in lockdown. He also wants to support his colleagues who may not be as tech-savvy as he is.

Long-term: James hopes he will be able to go back to normal face-to-face visits soon. He would like to see his clients have more access to online education in the future and get the support with it they need.

Additionally, he is thinking about using his CELTA to teach online, to get some money on the side.

Giulia’s access courses have now been completely moved online due to the pandemic. While the teachers are trying, many people on the English course are not well-equipped to study online which interferes with the lessons. Giulia feels rather frustrated and demotivated and she worries her English won’t be good enough by August.

Her workload has increased considerably, dealing with companies moving off-site. This is interfering with her time to prepare for her degree.

Her parents and her brother with family all live near Milan, in one of the areas most affected by Covid-19 which has put a strain on Giulia’s mental health.

Some clients don’t have enough experience working with technology beyond a mobile phone. Many don’t have access to anything else, and most rely on publicly accessible computers in libraries etc. This also means video calling and video conferencing is not always a viable option.

Additionally, some are unwilling to discuss and deal with their issues online. Many use excuses to get out of appointments or simply don’t show up.

Finally James is not set up to work from home. He doesn't even have a work desk because his room is quite small. He will either have to work from the living room, with his flatmate regularly present, or on his bed.

She’s well-equipped to study online. She is very motivated to succeed so she’s looking for solutions outside of the courses she’s enrolled in.

He’s keen to find solutions for his current situation and implement them quickly. Thanks to his technical knowledge he can help his colleagues make the transition to working online.