Student Self-Assessment as a Teaching Tool: A Pilot Study of the Sequential Criterion-Referenced Educational Evaluation System

Abstract

This report discusses the use of a student self-assessment system (Sequential Criterion-Referenced Educational Evaluation) in social work education. It reports a pilot study which examines the system's reliability and validity. The results support the utility of this repeated assessment in social work education.     

Student Acceptance of a Multicultural Education

Abstract

While the virtues of a multicultural education are debated in the general US populace, most social work educators and organizations have embraced such an approach. Subsequently, social work journals have offered numerous essays on multicultural teaching techniques. Yet, these same journals have rarely explored the multicultural attitudes of social work students. To fill this gap, this paper empirically explores the ways in which BSW students accept or reject some multicultural goals. To do so, close-ended surveys were distributed to 437 undergraduates. After describing their responses to the authors' multicultural index, the project explores the survey results via demographic, social-psychological, and educational variables. With the assistance of a multiple regression, this project suggests that student acceptance of multiculturalism is swayed by the matters of gender and their stances on White privilege and institutional racism. However, student perceptions do not seem static since students become more positive toward a multicultural education after they have initiated interracial exchanges and completed a social diversity class.     

Response to Student Participation and Student Involvement

Abstract

Government contracting out of responsibilities for the delivery of social services is an increasingly common phenomenon in these times of economic restraint. This paper argues that this practice, with its inherent technical and philosophical problems, negatively affects social service systems and social work practitioners. The resultant changes are described as having serious implications for social work educators, The argument is made that if educators are to remain relevant to the needs of service consumers, social work students, and welfare agencies, they must carefully reconsider aspects of curriculum planning and student placements as well as faculty involvement in research and advocacy.     

Patient Rights: An Advocate's Perspective

Abstract

The current growing concern about patients' rights and the delivery of student health care precipitates an environment of fear, distrust, and uneasiness within university health services. This paper addresses several selected clinical, ethical, and legal issues which have come into conflict during recent years. Our examination surveys ethical and legal principles of confidentiality, defines areas in which breaches are most likely to occur, and suggests ways of preventing breaches of confidence between students and health services.

While the fundamental ethical principle underlying confidentiality is the individual's right of privacy, many issues of confidentiality are extremely difficult to resolve. University health services have expanded the concept of health care to encompass all the conditions — medical, emotional, social, economic and environmental — which affect the health of students. As a result, health service administrators should be fully aware of the laws and associated legal complexities in their own state which affect confidentiality. Furthermore, student health physicians, and particularly mental health therapists must be sensitive to needs for protecting the privacy of students.

Legal principles of confidentiality discussed in this paper with respect to specific problem situations which might arise in a student health center include: 1) right to privacy; 2) privileged communications; 3) releasing information from the medical record; 4) releasing information to the student; and 5) treating minors without parental consent. Finally, in addition to the responsibilities which must be assumed by the health professional, certain student responsibilities in the selection and utilization of health professionals are recommended.     

Perception of Teacher Sexual Misconduct by Age of Student

ABSTRACT

This study explored whether student age influenced perceptions of teacher sexual misconduct. Participants (300 undergraduates) read scenarios depicting teacher sexual misconduct in which the student's age was varied (9, 12, 15), and then answered questions about their perceptions. Data were analyzed with 2 (respondent gender) × 2 (cross-gender dyads) × 3 (student age) MANOVAs. Experiences involving the youngest student were viewed as the most abusive, followed by the 12-year-old, and the 15-year-old. Gender differences were evident, with women viewing the experiences more negatively. Scenarios involving a male teacher/female student were viewed more negatively than a female teacher/male student dyad. These findings illustrate the importance of educating students and school personnel about teacher sexual misconduct.     

Increasing Opportunities for Co-production and Personalisation Through Social Work Student Placements in Disabled People's Organisations

Social work student practice placements in disabled people's organisations offer several advantages for individual students, their peers and tutors, and DPOs themselves, who can offer placements for students in supporting service users to give their views as well as delivering social care services. In this context professional skills and anti-discriminatory practice are fostered through learning directly from disabled people as experts without the constraints of local authority policies.

This paper draws on my experiences of such student placements at Wiltshire and Swindon Users' Network over a 15-year period, 1993–2008, in collaboration with different universities. The social work student on placement here experiences an alternative organisational culture which recognises service users' expertise over professionals. The student learns to value collective peer support and working with activists who view their experience through the framework of the social model of disability. This facilitates a two-way exchange as the student learns about user-led practice and the disabled activists appreciate the skills the student brings.

The advent of policies of personalisation, the Big Society and the decreased role of local authorities is challenging the traditional model of adult care social work within local authorities. The placement of social workers in local centres for independent living, in order to provide intensive one-to-one support in support planning for those in complex situations, is only likely to increase in future. This can be seen as a positive alternative which enables professionals to rediscover their professional values and practice and extends the opportunity for placements beyond DPOs concerned with user involvement only.     

Student Reflections on Vulnerability and Self-awareness in a Social Work Skills Course

Self-awareness is generally considered core to effective social work education and professional practice. This paper examines student reflections on personal vulnerability and self-awareness in social, educational, and professional contexts. Ethics approval and student consent was obtained to analyse entries from the online learning component of a second year interpersonal skills course. The week 7 workshop, which focused on the concept of self-awareness, was contextualised and triggered by an online viewing of a relevant TED talk on the power of vulnerability. Qualitative analysis of student entries from this week revealed three core themes: (a) a provocative stimulus, which emphasised the usefulness and challenging nature of the TED talk in the context of workshop learning; (b) vulnerability, scarcity, and blame, which highlighted student identification with stimuli material and their emerging self-awareness; and (c) the importance of self-awareness and connection, which illuminated the students’ beginning applications of theory to practice.

IMPLICATIONS

• Interpersonal skills courses can be well supported by a diverse range of online and classroom stimuli.

• The intentional scaffolding of self-reflective activities can support early skills development and promote self-awareness.

• The analysis of student reflections can contribute to effective and responsive curriculum design.

     

Student Advising in Social Work Education

Abstract

It is likely that social workers' involvement with rehabilitation services for the handicapped will increase. An understanding of the philosophical foundation of such services may be especially relevant now as social work education appears to renew its commitment to the study of ethics and values in society.     

Navigating Ethical Challenges in Social Media: Social Work Student and Practitioner Perspectives

ABSTRACT

The portable, accessible nature of technology affords social workers opportunities to venture outside traditional service contexts by engaging in the virtual realm. This qualitative article uses two small-scale exploratory case studies to investigate the concept of ethical challenges in online peer networking and blogging by a social work student and social work practitioner. The article seeks to address the opportunities for and complexities of navigating technology and social media, while also emphasising the need for social workers to acquire a range of skills and competencies, and use well-established frameworks to engage in ethical online practice.     

Impediments to Health Care for the Foreign Student

Abstract

Today's college students occupy a “window” between older adults, whose need for hepatitis B vaccination is minimal, and younger people who receive the vaccine as part of their childhood immunization series. However, because of the high-risk activities that are often part of student behavior, college students are among the individuals who are at the highest risk for this disease; 75% of all reported hepatitis B cases occur in persons between the ages of 15 and 39 years. It is therefore imperative that college health professionals take seriously their responsibility to educate students about issues related to hepatitis B and make available programs that enable the students to receive immunizations. This article briefly describes a successful hepatitis B education and immunization program at an institution that has no mandatory prematriculation immunization requirements.     

Student Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Psychotropic Drugs

Abstract

Expanding social work roles in medication management and psychoeducation, especially in mental health, clearly require that students possess an enlarged knowledge base and a set of enlightened attitudes regarding psychotropic medications and their use. This article reports the results of a survey that investigated the knowledge of and attitudes toward psychotropic medications among a population of social work students. If the survey results were scored like a school exam, then the average student surveyed scored a “C !.” The article also suggests that both personal and professional experiences in the mental health field apparently influence knowledge of and attitudes toward psychotropic drugs. It is recommended that social work course content be expanded to include relevant information on psychotropic drugs.     

Parenting Styles: The Impact on Student Achievement

ABSTRACT

Parenting style and its impact on student achievement in a multidimensional society continues to pose significant challenges to clinicians, researchers, educators, and parents alike. This literature review summarizes the research surrounding five domains: (1) parental control; (2) gender and parenting style; (3) parental education; (4) perceptual differences between parents and their children; and (5) ethnicity and diversity. Behavioral control and psychological control were found to be two inherent features of parental style that have a direct affect on student achievement. Adolescents' perceived level of independence when interacting with their parents also seemed to have a direct relationship on their academic achievement. Research concerning children's progress in mathematics as related to parenting style and gender stereotype was also uncovered. Evidence was found to support the notion that parental education can have an indirect impact on children's academic achievement in various cultures. Implications for future research are identified including the need for applied research in learning communities factoring in variables for family structure, expectations, ethnicity, communication, and involvement.     

An Integrative Framework for Developing Comprehensive Examinations to Measure Student Social Work Competencies

ABSTRACT

Social work and other professions are endeavoring to promote student proficiency with respect to core competencies of the discipline, and the attainment of these competencies must be demonstrated objectively in some way. This article provides an illustrative guide for social work educators seeking to develop comprehensive examinations to assess students’ acquisition of professional competencies, particularly at the master’s level and across generalist and specialization levels of practice. An integrative framework is presented, highlighting 5 central stages of examination development: planning, creating and implementing, evaluating, revising, and perpetuating. These stages are illustrated with a case example, followed by key conclusions, methodological considerations, and other implications for moving forward on efforts to effectively develop examinations to measure student social work competencies.     

Backing Australia's Future: Teaching and Learning in Social Work

Abstract

It is universally expected that universities will strive for quality in teaching and learning. Over the past 25 years, massive changes to higher education have impacted on these institutions. We now have a mass higher education system, a knowledge-based economy, increased technology, and the internationalization of education accompanied by increased student enrolments and political expectations of enhanced graduate outcome measures. These changes pose challenges to developing, updating, and improving the quality of teaching and learning. This new policy environment confronts social work educators as they determine how best to deliver quality professional education. The present paper discusses the concepts underpinning the Australian government's paper Our Universities: Backing Australia's Future as a background to exploring the tensions arising in current professional expectations and criteria for social work programs as they make the transition from old to new paradigms in classroom teaching and field education.     

‘Sitting on the Mourning Bench’: Mental Health Workers and an Elderly Client

Abstract

The present article documents the experience of a first year social work student on fieldwork placement in an Aged Persons Mental Health Service. The student was part of a team providing service to a long-term client of the service when he was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The student's compassionate response to the client raises questions about grief and professionalism, which she explored through a journal and in discussion with her supervisor and other team members working with the client. As part of their reflective practice, the student, her supervisor and the client's mental health workers formed a collective to document their experience and present a staff education session. This article is the outcome of these processes and explores important grief issues in Aged Psychiatry and demonstrates the valuable contribution made by a student to the work of the team in the rich learning environment of a fieldwork placement in aged psychiatry. It is published with the kind permission of the client's next of kin.     

Use of and Interest in Smoking Cessation Strategies Among Daily and Nondaily College Student Smokers

Abstract

Objective: To examine use of and interest in cessation strategies among nondaily and daily college student smokers. Participants: 800 undergraduate student smokers aged 18 to 25. Methods: The authors examined nondaily versus daily smoking in relation to use of and interest in cessation strategies using an online survey. Results: Nondaily (65.8%) versus daily smokers (34.3%) were more likely to have made a quit attempt (p = .01) but less likely to have used any assistance (p < .001). Nondaily smokers were less interested in pharmacotherapy and traditional behavioral interventions; however, there was no difference in interest in technology-based interventions among nondaily versus daily smokers. Controlling for covariates, there were no significant differences in interest in traditional or technology-based behavioral interventions. Higher motivation, lower confidence, and depressive symptomatology were related to interest in each intervention. Smoking for social reasons was related to interest in technology-based interventions. Conclusions: Different intervention strategies may be appropriate for nondaily and daily smokers.     

HMOs and the Future of Student Mental Health Services

Abstract

The health maintenance organization (HMO) is likely to have a prominent position under national health insurance, which will have a strong systematizing effect on the nation's health services. Over the past two years the University of Massachusetts mental health services have provided benefits at both the university and a private medical group practice. Experience has shown that a university which already provides broad services to a large student population can extend itself to the university community including its faculty and staff. Several advantages of this development, as well as some significant problems, are discussed. As the HMO grew and quality services were established, it became feasible for the private medical group to develop its own mental health component. Based on this and other experiences in mental health delivery systems, certain conclusions are drawn about the ways universities can develop HMOs and some recommendations are made for national mental health planning.     

Exploring the Climate for Overweight and Obese Students in a Student Health Setting

Attitudes and beliefs of health care providers, in conjunction with a nonthreatening physical environment, are important components in establishing a constructive and supportive climate for care of overweight and obese students. Objective: The authors explored providers' attitudes about obesity and assessed the physical environment in a student health clinic to identify areas that may be detrimental to the care of overweight and obese students. Participants: Eighteen direct care providers participated in the project. Methods: The authors conducted focus groups with direct care providers and assessed their experiences and perceived challenges in working with overweight and obese students. The authors also conducted a walk-through assessment of the physical environment. Results: Direct care providers expressed discomfort in deciding how and when to discuss weight with students. The authors found that elements of the physical environment could present barriers to care for overweight and obese students. Conclusions: The authors make recommendations for improving the health care climate for overweight and obese students.     

Student Perspectives of Online Discussions: Strengths and Weaknesses

SUMMARY

Limited research exists that examines student perceptions of online discussions in fully online classes. This is a report of initial investigation into undergraduate distance education majors' perspectives of the pedagogical value of online discussions. Over a two semester period (Spring and Fall, 2003), students taking the same online course delivered using Web Course Tools (WebCT) were surveyed regarding opinions of online discussions. The students surveyed were undergraduate students enrolled in a fully online degree program at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Although limitations exist due to small sample size and a non-standardized data collection instrument, findings from this exploratory study offer insight into undergraduate distance education student opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of online discussions as a pedagogical tool.