UnaMesa Academy
Academy Planning- Academy Proposal
- Barefoot College
- Facilitators
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- Technology
- Target Audience
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- Lessons Learned
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UnaMesa
Pilot Projects
Technologies
- SharedRecords
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FAQProtected
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What is UnaMesa and why are you offering this training? The UnaMesa Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to collaborating with social benefit organizations on free technology for secure record sharing, distance learning, and disease monitoring. The Academy is a project of UnaMesa Assocation and is an effort to build communities of learning, identify best practices, and support the creation of a public technology trust from which many more social sector organizations can benefit. What type of training will you provide and what can I/we expect to walk away with from the training? The focus of the training will be on helping you serve clients better and ensure compliance by improving data collection, storage, and sharing. We will help you to clearly identify what your record storage and sharing needs are, document best practices, and work with you to develop a simple, secure, and free solution to address those needs. The training will involve a small group of similar organizations with related interests, all working together collaboratively to understand their challenges and identify solutions. Each Academy participant should walk away from the training with a simple solution and a video that shows them and others how to apply their custom solution. In addition, you will receive ongoing technical support from UnaMesa associates and the larger UnaMesa community. What tools or platforms will be taught in the Academy? UnaMesa has developed its own simple technologies for securely storing and sharing records – such as paper forms that need to be organized and made easily available both online and offline. We also work on mobile technologies for distance learning and disease monitoring. Click here to learn more about our technologies and related services. Our goal for the Academy is to learn about the particular needs of participants and to apply appropriate technologies (including outside ones) toward meeting those needs. We don’t claim to have all the answers, and are not here to push our own technology solutions. Instead we want to work with you to custom design a solution that makes sense for your organization and can be put to use as soon as possible. How much does the Academy cost? The Academy is free of charge to all approved participants. The “cost” of admission is a commitment to completing the program in full, to working closely with other Academy participants, and to sharing best practices with others. How can your training and tools address my very specific needs? If your organization needs a free, simple and secure way to move data-entry and storage online - making information easily accessible to staff, clients, and partners – then this training should prove useful. We also think that learning together with other organizations that have similar needs will be helpful by allowing you to compare and contrast challenges and jointly identify solutions. We can’t promise that we will solve all of your data and record sharing challenges, but we will work with you to identify and address your critical needs. How is UnaMesa benefiting from my participation in the Academy? UnaMesa benefits from developing an understanding of how work processes can be improved upon for social benefit organizations and their clients. UnaMesa is also interested in nurturing a vibrant community of practice, with the Academy being an important first step in that direction. Is this training just for a particular sector or type of nonprofit organization? Not at present. While most of our work to date has been applied in the healthcare and education sectors, our goal is to put our expertise to use wherever it can be applied and will have the greatest impact. Is this for processes that are paper, digital, or both? Both, and as needed. What are your expectations of me and my organization relative to the Academy? Organizations participating in the Academy are expected to commit at least one individual to the full training program. Participants are not required to purchase any equipment or software for the training, but are encouraged to bring laptops, notebooks, and any appropriate tools of the trade – including documents, forms, and technology tools that are part of the work flow to be addressed. Have other organizations done this training and what have the results been? The first round of Academy training is tentatively scheduled to kick off in October, 2008. What other organizations & individuals will be participating in the training? TBD. How many days/hours does the training require? As many as 40 hours, but trainings may be spread out over several weeks to accommodate the schedules of participants. Where does it take place? The first Academy training will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Who are the instructors? The instructors will be a combination of facilitators, technical instructors, and UnaMesa Associates - combining backgrounds in direct services, technology training and design. How credible are (and who recognizes) the tools you will be teaching? Who owns them and how much will they cost me and my organization? The technologies used in the Academy have mostly been developed by UnaMesa or by UnaMesa partners, and are primarily free, open source tools. Some of these tools are used widely and others are still in development. All UnaMesa tools are free to Academy participants. Who is the ideal person from my organization to attend this training? Is it a tech person, a case manager, or someone else? No technology experience is required for participation in the Academy, but participants must have familiarity with the work flow processes and challenges of the organization they represent. Case managers, program managers, technical staff, and senior staff are all welcome. Ideally, Academy participants will be in a position within their respective organization to share and implement what they have learned at the Academy. How secure are the tools we will be using... for example, do they meet HIPPA requirements? The UnaMesa approach is significantly safer than most other mainstream security approaches, such as those used by electronic medical records or other centralized systems. How soon can I implement the tools and technologies I learn in my organization? As soon as you are prepared to use them – most likely at the conclusion of the Academy training. What kind of tech support is available down the road if I need it? UnaMesa will provide limited technical support (if requested) after the conclusion of the Academy training. As part of an ongoing effort to nurture a thriving community of practice, we also encourage technical support from other Academy participants and UnaMesa partners. Where can I get more information on the Academy training and UnaMesa? For more information on the Academy, go to http://academy.unamesa.org. For more information on the UnaMesa Association go to http://unamesa.org/ Who should I contact if I have questions? Heather Zenone at heather@unamesa.org. |
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