Teaching Clinical Social Work Skills Entirely Online: A Case Example

While numerous disciplines have eagerly embraced innovative educational technology, many social work educators have not been among early adopters. Social work's focus on the human connection and hands‐on practice skills can seem antithetical to technology‐mediated education. Nevertheless, social work programs are implementing distance learning and Internet‐mediated courses, and some schools are offering entire social work courses online. Leading the way in this regard is the Florida State University College of Social Work, which has developed and implemented the first CSWE‐accredited, entirely online Master of Social Work program. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, design, and implementation of one skills‐based clinical course in this program, with the goal of sharing information in a way that will further the discussion of the risks and benefits of online education as well as provide guidance for educators who may be interested in developing a skills‐based online course in the future.     

Online Teaching in Social Work Education: Understanding the Challenges

There is a rapidly growing industry of online learning and distance education programs at the Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Social Work levels both within Australia and globally. A number of best practices have emerged from the literature that warrant consideration when delivering social work programs in online learning and distance education modes. Given the significant advancements in technology that are likely to continue into the next decades, social work academic leaders and accrediting bodies must be prepared to address the changing landscape of higher education, including limited financial resources. Social work academics need to become aware and implement best practices in online learning and distance education e-teaching environments to ensure positive student outcomes, student retention, and student engagement to meet the flexibility needs of students in higher education settings. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the challenges and benefits of distance education and online learning for consideration when providing a social work program in these delivery models.

IMPLICATIONS

• Given the significant advancements in technology that are likely to continue into the next decades, social work academic leaders and accrediting bodies must be prepared to address the changing landscape of higher education.

• Social work academics need to become aware and implement best practices in the distance education and online teaching environment to ensure positive student outcomes, student retention, and student engagement to meet the flexibility needs of students in higher education settings.

     

Teaching Note—Using TED Talks in the Social Work Classroom: Encouraging Student Engagement and Discourse

Focusing on TED Talks (online videos) as a resource for social work educators, this teaching note shares our ideas regarding the use of the online videos as an avenue for reaching students and encouraging discussions in the social work classroom. The article first explores the TED platform and then discusses using TED as a teaching tool. Finally, we share our perspectives and student voices on selected videos that can be useful in social work education, including references to specific Council on Social Work Education competencies and practice behaviors. The videos bring world-renowned speakers into the classroom, providing social work educators with rich teaching opportunities limited only by their imagination.     

Mentoring Matters: An Innovative Approach to Infusing Mentorship in a Social Work Doctoral Program

Social work doctoral students must identify how to prioritize their time and how to gain the many qualifications required by the academic job market. Mentoring has long been recognized as an effective strategy for promoting academic success and degree completion in doctoral studies. This article describes three student-led initiatives in a social work doctoral program that sought to infuse mentorship throughout the program. The content of these innovative initiatives is discussed, as well as their implications for social work doctoral education.     

Applications to Social Work Programmes in England: Students as Consumers?

One of the most resounding impacts of the introduction of the new social work degree in England in 2003 has been an increase in the number of applications to social work courses. However, the processes used by applicants to reach decisions about where to study social work are little understood. This article reports data from six preparatory focus groups and four interviews (n = 38), 17 focus group interviews with first year students (n = 112) from nine social work programmes run in six universities, and 2,606 responses to three online surveys administered to first year students, which were collected as part of the national Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England funded by the Department of Health. They show that students use a range of sources to find out about social work education, with rising reliance on electronic media as an information resource. Although the majority cites convenience of location as the chief reason for selecting a particular university, academic reputation appears to be growing in importance. Observations from these data are discussed in the context of consumer behaviour in higher education and in social work education at a time when universities are developing marketing strategies to compete for students.     

The Social Work and Politics Initiative

Abstract

Social work is becoming a more politically oriented profession. In addition, social work education is including politics as a greater part of the curriculum. Still, much more can be done to increase the amount of political content in social work education. This paper describes a model for involving students in political social work without drastically altering current arrangements. The model consists of two parts: a class on politics and social work and field practica in state legislators' district offices. Following a discussion of the literature on education for political social work, we look closely at the Social Work and Politics Initiative. We also examine problems encountered with the program.     

EVALUATION OF THE FIRST WEB-BASED ADVANCED STANDING MSW PROGRAM

The first completely Web-based advanced standing master of social work program began in 2002, and 32 students had graduated by 2005. This article presents a preliminary evaluation comparing the first two online cohorts with a face-to-face (F2F) cohort of advanced-standing students. Results showed several demographic differences between groups (e.g., online students were older and had more work experience than F2F students). There were few differences on a variety of educational and satisfaction outcomes with the exception of field, where instructors rated online students lower on several sections of the field evaluation measure. The implications for social work education are discussed.     

Recruitment and Retention of Latinos in Social Work Education: Building on Students’ Community Cultural Wealth

Spanish-speaking and culturally sensitive social workers are in high demand throughout the country to work with Latino clients. Latinos currently represent about 11% of active social workers, limiting the capacity of social work to effectively address the needs of the Latino population. Despite this shortage, little attention has been paid to the recruitment and retention of Latinos in social work. This article presents a case study that examines a BSW program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, at a bilingual, private college where 90% of students self-identify as Latinos. It details how the BSW program builds on the students’ community cultural wealth to ensure continued recruitment and retention of Latino students. Implications for social work education are discussed.     

Shared Expectations? Reforming the Social Work Qualifying Curriculum in England

This is the first of two articles presenting findings from a scoping review undertaken in 2011 to inform proposals for a review of the social work qualifying curriculum in England made by the Social Work Reform Board. The review used a mixture of published and unpublished resources to compare the issues raised by the reports of the Social Work Task Force with what was known from published research investigating the ways that the current Requirements for Social Work Training (Department of Health, London, 2002) operate. It found that the evidence base on which the key issues relating to the concerns about initial social work qualifying programmes rest was very variable. The absence of a substantial research evidence base in this area hinders the development of effective policymaking on social work education, but the current changes to social work education and to social work regulation offer a timely opportunity to expand what we know about different assessment systems and how best to regulate social work courses.     

Social Work Admissions and Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

ABSTRACT

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects students wth disabilities from discrimination by academic and professional programs in higher education. A student with a disability cannot be denied admission to an educational program because of his or her disability if the student is otherwise qualified. This means that a student with a disability who is qualified for an academic or professional educational program cannot be denied admission to a program based solely on the student&s disability. This educational requirement mandated by the ADA applies to all educational fields including social work education. The purpose of this study was to explore how social work programs are dealing with these requirements in their admission and academic accommodation procedures. Twelve social work programs located in the mid-western United States participated in the study. Representatives of each of these programs were given an in-depth interview focusing on their admissions process, academic accommodations, and general topics related to social work education and disabilities. All programs taking part in the research were accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The CSWE is the national accreditation body for social work education within the United States.     

Research Note—Program Evaluation: Enhancing Academic Quality and Program Integrity During Rapid Off-Campus Growth

By creating a program evaluation model that assesses multiple components from several perspectives, a social work division is able to determine the quality, effectiveness, and integrity of its offerings and support its mission to develop social work students for practice. This task is critical in supporting an off-campus program’s ability to navigate change and uncertainty in higher education. This research note discusses how a small, bachelor of social work program with a dual-delivery system (traditional and community-site) used the Council on Social Work Education reaccreditation process to adapt its program evaluation to ensure academic quality and program integrity during a period of rapid growth.     

Challenges and opportunities to eLearning in social work education: perspectives from Spain and the United States

ABSTRACT

eLearning has become an academic tool used to provide access to education for multiple segments of the population, which otherwise would have little to no access to it. While other academic disciplines integrated it into their curricula early in the digital revolution, in many countries, social work education is just beginning to address the opportunities and challenges web-based learning may bring to these programmes [Blackmon, 2013. Social work and online education with all deliberate speed. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 10(5), 509–521. doi:10.1080/15433714.2012.663672; Phelan, 2015. The use of eLearning in social work education. Social Work, 60(3), 257–264. doi:10.1093/sw/swv010]. This international collaborative research study seeks to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by social work educators teaching at universities who are already using some form of eLearning in the United States and in Spain. A quantitative, non-experimental research design was employed. Results show that there are similarities as well as differences in the ways the two subsamples perceive the challenges and opportunities of eLearning. Findings reveal that there are some significant differences between the way the two subsample respondents perceived challenges and opportunities to eLearning. Recommendations for online social work educators and administrators are provided regarding overcoming challenges and capitalizing on opportunities applicable to the US, Spain, and the larger European and global contexts. Recommendations for further research and practice are also included.     

A Snapshot on the Development of Social Work Education in China: A Delphi Study

Social work education in China has now been reinstated for almost two decades, after it was discontinued in the early 1950s. Due to various reasons, so far, there has not been a standardised social work curriculum in China. This article reports on the first empirical study finished in late 2001. Employing a Delphi technique, 47 social work scholars were invited to provide their opinions on the nature of social work in China, the requirements of social work graduates and the social work curriculum at the undergraduate level. The findings indicate that despite the influence of the Western model induced mainly by social work scholars in Hong Kong, social work education in China is moving towards an indigenised model within its unique social–political–cultural context. Respondents tended to adopt an expert model and the ‘helping people to help themselves’ principle. Social work is understood as being instrumental to enhancing the rapid economic changes by employing scientific knowledge and skills to resolve social and personal problems, stabilise society, and enhance social participation. To nurture its graduates with the competence to fulfil these social assignments, a broad‐base of social science knowledge, generic social work skills, special personal qualities and political sensitivity is included in the curriculum.     

Principles of Survey Analysis

Abstract

The National Association of Social Workers developed a methodology for conducting systematic content analysis of social work jobs and the curriculum of a social work program. Although the methodology was created so employers could respond to the declassification phenomenon, potentially it is quite valuable as a curriculum development tool in social work education. A social work program in New Zealand illustrates the usefulness of this approach in curriculum development.     

From vocational to knowledge-based education - an account of Swedish social work education

This article outlines the historical trajectory of Swedish social work education. Important stages and developmental changes in educational programs are described. As well overall structure of Swedish social work education and training is presented. A number of important issues not only specific to Swedish circumstances but also pertinent to social work education around the world are described and their role is analysed. More specifically, the author focuses on issues of social work as a research discipline, identity of the social work discipline, cleavage and relationship between social work research and social work practice. Social work education, social work practice and social work research are seen in a holistic perspective. The author describes and argues that Swedish social work education has gone from being a non-academic vocational training program to a knowledge-based package of academic discipline.     

Student Voices Speak Quality Assurance: Continual Improvement in Online Social Work Education

As social work education expands instruction through the rise of distance education, educators seek new ways to improve quality in online courses. Quality assurance standards and student feedback offer valuable insights to ensure satisfying and effective online learning experiences. An examination of these two assessment approaches concurrently in the context of a 4-year study of student perspectives in MSW Human Behavior and the Social Environment foundation courses illustrates how systematic feedback from students can complement existing quality assurance standards. Of particular importance is the unmistakable strength of student voices about their learning from diverse perspectives in an online collaborative leaning setting that can and should be incorporated into standardized quality assessment guidelines for social work programs.     

In Memoriam

This article discusses the origin of social work education in Africa as an export of colonial powers. Social work or social work education has not been the product of a progressive social metamorphosis but rather that of foreign methodologies imposed on African societies. Consequently, the essence of social work education lacks relevance in terms of its philosophical, value and ideological base. Thus students who graduate from such a system of education tend to remain, to some extent, unfamiliar with indigenous knowledge systems and lack adequate knowledge in working with the people. The paper further argues that, while the origin of social work education is well known, its future direction, development and focus on the continent remain unknown, at worst haphazard, ad hoc and undirected with serious implications for the mission and vision of the profession. Social work in Africa has been without a platform to foster discourse on its nature, character and direction. Transformation of social work education from being Euro-centric to being Afro-centric has to be spearheaded by an organization that can provide a forum for dialogue, leadership and a contextual framework. The article therefore examines the need for such a forum and briefly discusses past efforts in this direction in an attempt to provide a direction for transformation.     

The Effect of Social Work Education and Self-Esteem on Students' Social Discrimination of People with Disabilities

Social work education on disability content has become more important due to political changes in the last two decades. The United States protected people with disabilities from discrimination in community and employment settings with the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. These changes have empowered people with disabilities to become more independent; however, social workers primarily fulfill roles as case managers, and often make decisions for people with disabilities. This is not consistent with the empowerment perspective embedded in the disability movement. Most social work schools have minimal courses covering disability content. Previous research and the Self-Esteem Hypothesis indicate that social work education, social proximity to people with disabilities, self-esteem and other demographic characteristics are associated with social discrimination, or attitudes, toward people with disabilities. Social work students (n = 73) participated in a survey in the last semester of their program to assess how these characteristics were associated with their attitudes towards people with disabilities. A multiple linear regression revealed that social work education preparedness to work with people with disabilities, an MSW education, self-esteem, and having a friend with a disability were significantly associated with students' social discrimination towards people with disabilities.     

Human rights at the heart of the social work curriculum

ABSTRACT

Social work policy and practice all over the world continue to face the impact of the neoliberal agenda. Similarly, social work education has been subject to the economic and political changes, with an increasing emphasis on a discourse of ‘evidence-based practice’. However, it is the core of social work programs in higher education to initiate students in the fundamental values of social work, as they are recognized in the global definition of social work. In order to prepare future social workers for their assignment, human rights should be given an explicit place in the social work curricula at Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences.

For human rights to gain more attention in social work programs in higher education, a Manifesto was written by lecturers’ social work in the Netherlands and Flanders, with a 5-point program to include human rights in the social work curricula. In this article, we elaborate on the five objectives that are presented in the Manifesto. Throughout the paper, we introduce small ‘case examples’ of how human rights can be integrated in education. These experiences show the importance of developing a particular social work perspective on human rights that is found in the idea of ‘human rights from below.’     

Stumbling towards oblivion or discovering new horizons? Observations on the relationship between social work education and practice

What should social work education be training students for? What should the relationship be between social work education and practice? The first half of this article cautions that social work education, as currently constituted, may 'unfit' people. Principally, this is because social work practice, as envisaged by employer interests, has not been subject to the same critical scrutiny as social work education and has come to dominate perceptions of the training task. The dangers that follow from this position are outlined. The second half of the article proceeds to explore the contribution that practice teachers and tutors can make to enable practitioners to remain confident, credible, critical and creative in this practice environment. The article concludes with some observations on the future as envisaged in the proposals to modernise social services and to create a General Social Care Council.