Web-Based Education in the Human Services: Use of Web-Based Video Clips in Counselling Skills Training

SUMMARY

This use of web-based video clips for counsellor skills training is used in the Campus Alberta Applied Psychology Counselling Initiative which provides Master's-level counsellor education at a distance. The core counselling skills course is delivered through the Web using digital video clips of counselling skills demonstrations, chat room skills practice and weekly discussion forums. A follow-up face-to-face Summer Institute allows learners to receive live feedback on their skill development. Course content is grounded in the construct of the working alliance (Bordin, 1979). Course activities use Bloom's taxonomies of learning objectives. Program evaluation suggests that learners are meeting competencies as they move from this course to practicum placements.     

Implementing Web-Based Learning: Evaluation Results from a Mental Health Course

SUMMARY

This paper reports on the evaluation results of a web-enhanced mental health course. The instructional design of the course was based on the principles of constructivist and collaborative learning environments. Students strongly supported the use of web-based learning in this course and found that the online environment enhanced their learning. The benefits and disadvantages of web-based learning and the implications for future course development are discussed. Issues in implementing web-based learning in social work education are also identified.     

Engaging Students in a Virtual Classroom: The Use of Bulletin Boards in Teaching and Learning for Chinese Learners

ABSTRACT

Chinese learners, being influenced by Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC), exhibit unique perceptions and behaviors in a web-based learning environment, such as passivity in expressing opinions and uncertainty about their learning without a teacher's assurance. Findings in this paper reflect such influences in a web-based social policy course for Chinese students which made extensive use of bulletin board discussion. In addition, their involvement in it is associated with how they feel about teachers' concern about their learning and whether expectations and assignments are clear. The paper recommends ways to improve web-based teaching and to facilitate Chinese learners in this new learning environment.     

Facilitating Online Learning Communities: A Comparison of Two Discussion Facilitation Techniques

ABSTRACT

The advent of the twenty-first century has brought a proliferation of web-based courses in higher education. While prior studies have examined the comparability of online and traditional courses, a better understanding of effective pedagogical strategies to enhance online learning is needed. This study compared two distinct approaches to facilitating discussions in relation to participation rates, interaction patterns, depth of cognitive processing, and learning outcomes in two sections of an online course. Significant differences were found between sections (N = 41) in the frequency and types of interaction among students as well as in learning outcomes.     

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

SUMMARY

This paper presents a literature review of social work programs' distance education evaluation studies with an emphasis on the strengths distance education programs offer to students relative to standard programs. The authors discuss quality issues in relation to teaching and learning in distance education programs with a panel of distance learners who will discuss their experiences.     

The learning camera: A personalized learning model for online pedagogy in human services education

Abstract

This article describes the development of a personalized learning approach to human services online education that utilizes a “learning camera” as a metaphorical tool for undergraduate students’ development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for successful transition to professional practice. By highlighting students’ ongoing development as knowledge builders and constructivist learners, the online curriculum is enacted within each student’s area of interest and in their home communities. This “learning camera” model of online pedagogy for human services education is intended to serve as a resource for other institutions interested in praxis-oriented approaches to personalized online teaching and learning.     

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.     

Cybercounseling Online: The Development of a University-Based Training Program for E-mail Counseling

ABSTRACT

The development of a university-based cybercounseling certificate program through the continuing education department of a graduate faculty of social work is described. This web-based program consists of two levels: introductory and advanced, and offers experienced face-to-face counselors training in an asynchronous, e-mail form of cybercounseling. Ethical issues such as cross-jurisdictional concerns, client appropriateness, and counselor insurance are discussed. A system developed to provide online e-mail security through web-based access and encryption is highlighted. Several techniques for e-mail counseling such as presence, and spacing and pacing are discussed and illustrated. Demographics of learners and feedback from graduates are presented and lessons learned are discussed.     

A Child Welfare Course for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students: Pedagogical and Technical Challenges

SUMMARY

This chapter describes the development of a Web-based undergraduate child welfare course for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners. Rather than simply incorporate an Aboriginal perspective into Eurocentric pedagogies and course structures, the authors disrupt the dominance of Western ways of knowing in education by designing the course to situate Western knowledge as a way of knowing rather than the way of knowing and the frame from which all other perspectives are understood. In this research the authors describe the differences between Aboriginal and European thought and reveal how Web-based courses can be designed in ways that do not perpetuate Eurocentrism.     

Researching the links between social-emotional learning and intercultural education: strategies for enacting a culturally relevant teaching

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the links between social-emotional learning (SEL) and intercultural education. The work calls for pedagogical attention to the role of emotions in intercultural education and analyses the role of SEL within the umbrella of intercultural education. It claims that both SEL and intercultural education offer a framework for rethinking and changing curricula, school climates and relationships providing the foundation for quality of education for all. Therefore, this connection is not only critical but also inevitable and desirable. It asserts that SEL in intercultural landscapes is a human right that all students are entitled to, and argues that ignoring this right amounts to a social injustice. Some pedagogical considerations and strategies for enacting a culturally relevant implementation of SEL in intercultural settings will be provided. The purpose of the paper is to inform the debate on the role of emotional aspects in intercultural education, and how to configure culturally responsive teachers.     

Use of standardized client simulations in an interprofessional teaching concept for social work and medical students: first results of a pilot study

ABSTRACT

Teaching concepts with standardized clients/patients (SC) had been successfully implemented in the education of health professionals. Benefits were also demonstrated for social work education. Based on former experiences with simulated clients in medical education, we developed an innovative teaching concept for social work and medical students. We focused on the training of consultations with clients suffering from a serious illness like cancer—with different learning goals for medical students (e.g. breaking bad news) and social work students (e.g. psychosocial exploration and counseling). Both groups should gain knowledge about the other professions tasks and learn to handle clients’ emotional reactions. In addition to role-plays with simulated clients in small groups, the concept includes an interprofessional lecture by physicians, psychologists, social workers, and lawyers as well as a visit on the palliative care ward (for social work students only) and a research colloquium. A formative evaluation shows high satisfaction with the teaching concept. The students underline the realistic setting, interprofessional contact, authentic talks and direct feedback. The SC method and its interprofessional application proved to be a practicable and motivating way to enhance conversational skills.     

Teaching without being taught how: social work practice faculty voices

ABSTRACT

Social work practice faculty have an important role in socializing MSW students to the field and practice of social work. This study, based on interviews with 15 faculty teaching an advanced clinical practice course in the United States, examines how faculty conceptualize teaching and learning. Faculty were asked about the theories or frameworks that guided their teaching, their own journeys to teaching and the resources that support their teaching. The study found that participants drew largely on their own experiences as student learners and social work practitioners and did not have much formal training in teaching and student learning. Furthermore, while half of the participants were able to identify a learning theory that guided their teaching, the other half were not. Finally, while participants articulated the need for support regarding their own teaching, many of the schools did not have formal faculty development opportunities. The paper ends with recommendations for supporting current and new faculty regarding teaching and student learning.     

Introduction

ABSTRACT

The paper considers the levels of coherence and dissonance between the education and training needs of social work practitioners working in a virtual environment and the focus of the requirements and learning and teaching approaches currently in use on social work programmes within education settings in England. The paper argues a gap exists in the way information and communication skills are currently conceptualised to support the education and training of social workers. It appears that e-learning is often considered in relation to its functional advantages and that similarly ICT skills are considered in terms of computer program literacy. The much wider question of the development of competence for virtual practice and how e-learning may support this development require much greater consideration and application.     

Service-Learning in Parenting Education

Abstract

The field of family studies is particularly suited to service-learning, but one area that has not received much attention in this regard is that of parenting education. This article highlights a series of parenting education workshops that were incorporated into a parent-child relationships course, utilizing a developmental assets framework. Student reflections and parent evaluations are used to consider the extent to which the service-learning activity enabled students to apply course content to real-world experiences, view themselves as emerging professionals, and have a positive impact on the community. Implications for continuing or replicating similar service learning experiences are included.     

Teaching Social Work Research: A Comparison of Web-Based and In-Class Lecture Methods

ABSTRACT

Like many other disciplines, Social Work education programs are increasingly including on-line classes in course offerings. Despite the rapid and widespread proliferation of web-based courses there is little data in the social work literature to inform educators about this teaching methodology. Using a quasi-experimental design this study examines the performance of 73 MSW students on objective measures of learning in a social work research course. Findings reveal that performance of students in lecture only and lecture with Blackboard supplement sections of the course was significantly better than performance of students in the on-line course.     

The Virtual Community: Computer Conferencing for Teaching and Learning Social Work Practice

SUMMARY

This author describes the use of a web-based conferencing program to augment classroom learning in generalist social work practice courses in a BSW program. This “virtual classroom” allows students to have more or less continual access to the instructor and to each other, greatly expanding opportunities for teaching, learning, and communication.     

Intercultural educational alternatives based on sustainability from Mexico: beyond school and cultural belonging

Abstract

This article proposes the articulation of intercultural education and sustainability, linking the recognition of cultural diversity to socio-environmental concerns. This implies transcending formal education and classrooms; moving towards educational modalities that could impact people of different ages, and levels of scholastic achievement, with different needs and demands. We suggest that education is a key to transform structural conditions that have perpetuated inequality, and then to the self-empowerment of indigenous peoples, but that previous models, political basis and forms have not been pertinent, nor do they respond entirely to explicit demands of indigenous peoples. Intercultural education should go beyond simply adding cultural elements to the curriculum. Learning and sharing about ways to connect knowledges and know-how from cultural, social, economic and political distant sources, and ways to visualise and propose autochthonous relevant methods to transform their regions and make these visions of social justice real, are amongst the elements that we consider central to intercultural education. In order to demonstrate this, we analyse an experience of non-formal, collaborative, intercultural education with fisherwomen and youths, making up a learning community and emphasising a dialogue of knowledge for the conservation of their territory.     

The Steps of Sexuality—A Developmental,Emotion-Focused,Child-Centered Model of Sexual Development and Sexuality Education from Birth to Adulthood

Abstract

Objective: To review research on emotional, cognitive, and behavioral levels of sexual development in children and adolescents, and, based on that, to propose a model of sexual development from infancy to early adulthood, the Steps of Sexuality. Methods: Literature review. Results: We present a model of sexual development from infancy to early adulthood, the Steps of Sexuality. Conclusion: We posit that to promote “a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality,” sexuality education needs to focus on emotional needs and positive dimensions/aspects of sexuality.     

Mobilizing intercultural education for equity and social justice. Time to react against the intolerable: A proposal from Spain

Abstract

Education is suffering from the consequences of strengthening neoliberal policies, which impose an education model that serves the interests of the hegemonic economic system. The market rationale is being implemented in schools, moving the interests from equity to efficiency, from equal opportunities to performance. Starting from setting out a panoramic view of the way in which the intercultural focus in Spain has been used, with an approach to the different educational spheres in which we have carried out our work and research –educational policies, teacher education, school practice and education outside the school – we discuss the paradoxes and ambiguities that remove the transformative capacity of intercultural education and propose the reformulation of interculturality as an ethical and political project to subvert inequality by mobilizing to collectively create and enable images of education that contribute to a sustained way of building an equitable and fair society. Assuming our role as academics, we design a specific collective proposal on who mobilizes, with whom, as well as the attributes of the processes to be generated are discussed as well.     

An Evaluative Review of Outcome Research on Universal Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Programs for Higher Education Students

Abstract

Objective: This review is the first large-scale attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of universal promotion and prevention programs for higher education students on a range of adjustment outcomes. Participants/Methods: The current review examined 83 controlled interventions involving college, graduate, and professional students, with a focus on 3 main outcomes: social and emotional skills, self-perceptions, and emotional distress. Results/Conclusions: Skill-oriented programs that included supervised practice demonstrated the strongest benefits, thus showing promise as a successful mental health promotion and preventive intervention. In comparing different intervention strategies, mindfulness training and cognitive-behavioral techniques appear to be the most effective. Furthermore, interventions conducted as a class appear to be effective, suggesting the potential for exposing higher education students to skill training through routine curricula offerings. This review offers recommendations for improving the experimental rigor of future research, and implications for enhancing campus services to optimize student success in psychosocial—and thus ultimately academic—domains.