Principles and Application of the Cooperative Model in Continuing Education

This article sets forth a philosophy of cooperative planning for continuing education and lists eight major principles that guide its development A cooperative education planning venture between the Division of Continuing Education at the Boston University School of Social Work and Rhode Island groups spearheaded by social workers illustrates how the application of these principles culminated in the Rhode Island Consortium for Continuing Education in Social Welfare. Plans are currently underway to expand the concept to include other groups in order to build a state-wide model of continuing education in human service and community welfare.     

Business in Social Work Education: A Historically Black University’s Social Work Entrepreneurship Project

The destabilization of the current economy has sparked increased interest in entrepreneurship, especially for underrepresented minority social work students. The entrepreneurial thinking of these social work students entering social work programs at historically Black colleges and universities needs to be fostered in a learning environment. This article describes a historically Black university’s creative social entrepreneurship venture in response to the Social Work Congress’s 2010 imperative “Business of Social Work—Infuse models of sustainable business and management practice in social work education and practice.” The social entrepreneurship project uses the interprofessional collaborative educational model and attempts to provide meaningful and relevant education to social work students interested in social entrepreneurship through the collaborative efforts of the university’s School of Social Work and the School of Business and Management.     

Neighborhood Organization for Community Action,John B. Turner,Editor. New York,National Association of Social Workers, 1968. 220 Pages. $2.50 Paperback

A social welfare agency, owned and operated by the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington, is depicted as an innovative field placement setting. The model offers an alternative to traditional agency-based field practice. Additionally, the model is examined relative to one view of the stages of development of the social work profession.     

Preventive Medicine,Community Health and Social Services. J. B. Meredith Davies. Second Edition. London: Balliere Tindall, 1971. 331 pp. Paperbound. Published in the United States by the Williams and Wilkins Company,Baltimore. $7.75 Hardcover

Increasing attention is being given to social work practice related to death, dying, and survival. Effective practice in these areas requires not only knowledge of the problems associated with dying but also skill and sufficient comfort to extend appropriate help. The present article describes a module in the general social work practice sequence at the University of Hawaii School of Social Work that offers students an opportunity to develop both a skill and a knowledge base, as well as an exploration of their own personal experiences with—and reactions to—death.     

Plagiarism and the Web

TechNotes is a new occasional column in the Journal of Social Work Education designed to bring to readers’ attention new developments in technology of relevance to social work education. In this first column, Robert F. Vernon, associate professor, School of Social Work, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, Shirley Bigna, assistant director, Krannert Memorial Library, University of Indianapolis, and Marshall L. Smith, professor, Social Work Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, describe technology that can help educators to deal with plagiarism.     

Social Work Online Education: A Model for Getting Started and Staying Connected

Social work education has been greatly affected by ongoing technological advances in society at large and in the academy. Options for instructional delivery have been broadened tremendously. The University of Louisville is the first in Kentucky to put its master’s of social work degree fully online, with a first cohort admitted in 2012. The purpose of this article is to provide a model of program development for those social work programs that are considering whether or not to create an online program. The authors explain the process and considerations that went into exploring the online program that was eventually developed and offered by the Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work and conclude with implications for social work practice and education.     

Voter Registration

Abstract

Historically, social workers have used voter registration to politically empower their clients. This paper describes the agency-based voter registration project of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, including the project's implementation, and evaluation. Voter registration principles emerge from analyses of successful agency-based voter registration programs.     

From Philanthropy to Social Welfare,Philip Klein. San Francisco,Jossey-Bass Inc., 1968. 307 Pages. $8.50 Hardbound

Interdisciplinary collaboration of health care professionals is necessary if quality health care is to be assured. Social work's concern for the social functioning of human beings should be reflected in its organization of health-care services. To achieve this end, social work education should be structured to prepare students for collaborative activities. This paper describes the process and difficulties of planned change undertaken at the Wayne State University School of Social Work with other health-related schools, in the conception, design, and implementation of an interdisciplinary course and practicum for graduate social work and nursing students.     

Understanding And Misunderstanding In Cross-Cultural Practice: Further Conversations With Suwanrang

Understanding is an essential clinical practice skill, one which draws upon cognitive and affective, conscious and unconscious abilities. This paper explores the challenges posed by cross-cultural understanding. Using concepts from anthropology and data from anthropological field work and clinical practice, it examines cultural differences in the experience and communication of affect. Clinical examples from Northern Thailand are used to illustrate the ways these subtle and complex differences in clients’ affective worlds challenge our capacity to understand those who are culturally different. Implications for cross-cultural social work practice are addressed.Catherine Nye received her MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her PhD in psychology from The Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago. She is currently Associate Professor at Smith College School for Social Work.     

INTEGRATING EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE AND SOCIAL WORK FIELD EDUCATION

The social work academic community is currently considering and critiquing the idea of evidence-based practice (EBP). Given the vital part that practicum education plays in the social work profession, understanding the views of field instructors on this subject is essential. The George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University surveyed 283 field instructors within 180 agencies and found that the majority (87%, N=235) viewed it as a useful practice idea. However, most of the indicators employed to assess use of scientific evidence in social work practice revealed that it occurs too infrequently. A lack of time was reported as the greatest obstacle.     

Three-dimensional virtual reality: Applications to the 12 grand challenges of social work

Abstract

The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) identified 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work to unify the profession with focused research, practice and policy applications for the most pressing social issues. Virtual Reality (VR), specifically three-dimensional immersive computer-generated environments, has a history of research and applications to address social and behavioral problems. VR is becoming more readily available, as the technology is becoming more common in mainstream platforms such as mobile technology. While social work interventions are often tailored for vulnerable populations that may not have access to VR computing, it appears that virtual reality is gaining accessibility with these advances. Within the framework of the 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work, researchers from three social work virtual reality laboratories in the United States, Texas State University, the University of Houston, and the University of Alabama, review applications previously tested and currently in development to focus future research and intervention in social work practice.     

Must Schools of Social Work be Freestanding? Yes!

Abstract

Point/Counterpoint is a regular feature of the Journal of Social Work Education. Its purpose is to provide a vehicle for the expression of contrasting views on controversial topics in social work education. Our goal is to illuminate important debates and explore the diverse perspectives that are shaping social work education.

In each issue of the Journal, social work educators are invited to comment on a topic about which they have differing viewpoints. Each commentator is given an opportunity to make a brief rebuttal. In this issue, Barbara Shank (Chair, Department of Social Work, University of St. Thomas and the College of St. Catherine), Irving Piliavin (Director, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Marsha Seltzer (Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison) address the question: Must schools of social work be freestanding?     

Support Systems for Educationally Disadvantaged Students and Assuring Practitioner Competence

This paper addresses itself to an assessment of a number of student support systems developed and utilized in a three-year training effort with more than 104 Native American social work students at the School of Social Work, University of Utah. While a number of social support systems utilized in the program are mentioned, special consideration is given to those in recruitment, communication, modeling, counseling, follow-up, student involvement, and discriminating education. The article could have relevance for the social work training of any disadvantaged student.     

Why social work should care: Television violence and children

There is an abundance of research on the influence of television violence on children. The convergence of research demonstrates an association between heavy viewing of violence and aggressive behavior. Despite thirty years of research, regulatory policy has failed to decrease violence on children's television. Children exposed to high rates of violence on television may be at greater risk of developing school and social problems. This paper highlights both research and theory which explains the relationship of television violence to children. It further makes the case that television violence should be an important and legitimate concern for social work.Ms. Lazar is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine and a Doctoral student at Simmons School of Social Work.     

Social work education in Zimbabwe: Strengths and weaknesses,issues and challenges

Social work education in Zimbabwe began with the establishment of the School of Social Work in 1964. Prior to this, the country relied on social workers trained in Britain, South Africa and Zambia . The initial focus of social work education was on training cadres who would work with groups of unemployed youths and women in urban areas. Thus, the programmes were introduced to address urban social ills. The major strengths of colonial social work education were that it provided the foundation for professional social work practice and it responded effectively to the practice needs of social work agencies. There were, however, some weaknesses such as dependence on Western literature and expatriate teachers and an orientation towards curative social work instead of developmental social work. Since the attainment of independence, the School of Social Work has endeavoured to make social work education more responsive to the development needs of the country. Great strides have also been made in developing indigenous teaching materials. The challenge facing social work education in Zimbabwe is to make it relevant and appropriate, particularly in terms of preparing social workers to address structural problems in society.     

Ultra-orthodox women in Israel: A pilot project in social work education

The Hebrew University School of Social Work initiated a 2-year BSW program for ultra-orthodox women with a prior BA degree from a recognized university. This program adhered to the curriculum of the school and courses were taught by university faculty and field instructors. To encourage enrollment and show sensitivity to the needs of this population, classes were held on the campus of an ultra-orthodox women's seminary. The culture of social work consists of professional beliefs, values and behaviors. This program enabled an interface of students entrenched in the ultra-orthodox world, as encoded in the halacha (Jewish law representing beliefs and values, and dictating behaviors), with that of the social work profession. We were confronted with the challenge of integrating these two cultures. The main objective was to make the knowledge and skills of social work available to these women. Because of the two different systems, there are inherent conflicts which are bound to arise. An ongoing educational challenge was to resolve these conflicts. Minda Garr, lecturer at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, is the academic coordinator of the program described, and Goldie Marans of the Baerwald School of Social Work, is the field coordinator of this program.     

Teaching Note—Incorporating Social Innovation Content Into Macro Social Work Education

The practice of social innovation offers promising approaches for addressing social issues. Although many social innovation strategies are congruent with macro social work theory and practice, some of the insights and tactics that have emerged in the social innovation field have the potential to strengthen current macro practice. Based on our experiences with the social innovation program at the Boston College School of Social Work, we focus on 5 aspects of the social innovation cycle and suggest social innovation content that can be incorporated into macro social work curriculum.     

Preparing social work students for policy practice: an Australian example

This paper presents an innovative approach to the teaching of policy skills across the two years of an Australian Social Work degree programme. It argues that placing policy back into practice and teaching the skills involved provides social work practitioners with a better capacity to effect change. Australian Catholic University, School of Social Work is located in Australia's capital city. The policy units have a clear framework within which to understand policy development and provide students with real hands‐on policy experience combining an experiential based learning approach with traditional teaching methods. The second year subject is structured around a number of policy workshops. Each workshop deals with a current policy problem and examines a different stage of policy development. It has as a consultant to the process a social worker who works as a policy practitioner providing a role model of practice in a policy area. Feedback from students has been extremely positive reporting increased confidence in policy skills and a recognition of the importance of these skills in social work. This teaching experience reinforces the need to focus on the educational considerations in teaching a subject where conceptual, theoretical and skill components are equally important if policy practice is to effect change.     

50?Years and the Future of Agency-Based Clinical Social Work Practice: Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue is a celebration of the Silver School of Social Work??s 50th Anniversary in 2010?C2011. The articles in this issue celebrate the School??s distinct reputation for excellence in clinical social work. They also celebrate the school??s current mission, which includes knowledge development for social work practice, with an emphasis on urban problems, poverty and social justice, and agency-based practice. The majority of the submissions focus on contemporary and future social work practice. This paper concludes with a discussion of several issues that confront the future of clinical social work practice including workforce trends, technology, and the scientific basis for practice, wealth disparity and race as contemporary American issues that affect clinical social work, the globalization of social work and mental health services, and education for tomorrow??s clinical practice.