Developing Brokered Community Transportation for Seniors and People With Disabilities

Communities are exploring ways to increase transportation coordination to improve access for seniors. One such effort is a brokered transportation system in which one agency serves as the central point of contact for ride information or actually arranging transportation for clients of multiple programs by use of a combination of transportation services. A team of social work faculty and students from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Social Work Outreach Center, a center that provides service learning opportunities to students, collaborated with a local coalition to investigate the specific transportation needs of the region's senior citizens. A total of 641 people participated in the survey. Results indicate that the study population experiences problems reliably meeting daily living needs due to inconsistent or unavailable private and public transportation options. Study findings also indicate the promising potential of brokered transportation systems, particularly for isolated seniors in rural and suburban areas with relatively limited public and private transportation options.     

Spirit of Aging Rising

Summary

To enrich an urban generalist MSW program serving a diverse aging community, an innovative approach was initiated. A team of students, faculty and a field instructor collaborated in creating and evaluating 3 sets of cross-cutting thematic modules. An overview of the thematic modules (addressing elder abuse, family caregiving, and mental health), integrated across multiple curriculum areas (Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Macro/Policy, Practice and Research), is presented along with results of a faculty focus group evaluating the process of coordinating module content for one full week of class per foundation area (one topic per quarter).     

Designing Service–Learning to Empower Students and Community: Jackson Elementary Builds a Nature Study Center

We propose an approach to service–learning in which projects are designed so as to empower undergraduate students and community members. When student service scholars take away control from citizens, they can undermine citizens' perceptions of competency; when faculty reduce students' choice and responsibility, they can undermine students' efficacy and desire to learn. We propose four guidelines for optimizing student and citizen experiences: (1) service should serve both the community and the students; (2) service should empower; (3) service should be contextual; and (4) service projects should endure. We elaborate this philosophy and illustrate it with a project in which nine university students and 30 fifth–graders built a science and nature study center for a K–6 elementary school.     

北京市属高校大学生学习活动质量实证研究

大学生学习活动质量是指大学生在大学学习生活中,对旨在获取知识经验和促进自身发展的各种学习活动的参与和努力程度,具体包括与图书馆、 计算机及信息技术、 课程学习、 生师相处经验等相关的学习活动.通过对北京市属高校大学生的抽样调查发现:大学生学习活动质量的个体差异较大,且在不同学习活动类型上也有所差异,在与课程学习、 计算机及信息技术相关学习活动中的质量较高,在与图书馆、 生师相处经验相关学习活动中的质量较低;大学生学习活动质量在年级、 生源地、 是否独生子女维度上有显著差异,在性别上无显著差异,在各变量内部,低年级、 农村生源和非独生子女学生的学习活动质量相对较低.鉴于此,当前北京市属高校的教育综合改革应以营造支持性的校园文化环境为导向,在强化校园硬件资源建设的同时,注重学校教育制度建设以及学生良好校园人际关系的构建,促进大学生学习活动质量的提升.     

The Interdisciplinary Geriatric/Gerontological Team in the Academic Setting

Geriatric health care requires the services of an interdisciplinary health care team to assess, treat and order the social service needs of the older person, and this concept needs to be included in geriatric social work education. But while the necessity of interdisciplinary team care is recognized, little focus has been placed on the actual process of developing a functional team. The issues that arise-disparate terminologies, organizational and administrative differentials, turf-and the steps needed for a team to become viable are described, using an interdisciplinary team based in academia as a case model. The academic interdisciplinary team may easily become a forum for 'hot air' rather than a catalyst for good practice. This danger is reviewed with reference to stages in the interdisciplinary team development-- goal development group affiliation; team awareness; and goal evaluation. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the impact of the interdisciplinary team on faculty, students and the academic setting.     

Geriatric enrichment: guaranteeing a place for aging in the curriculum

Two years ago, the School of Social Work embarked upon a new and challenging initiative to create sustainable structural changes that enrich gerontological learning experiences for all our BSW and MSW students, faculty, fieldwork instructors and community practitioners. We envisioned that participation in this initiative would enable us to expand and embed geriatric content in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, to increase our geriatric fieldwork placement opportunities, to evaluate and enhance our teaching and learning resources on aging, and to develop two new aging specific courses. Having reached our third year of operation, we find ourselves reflecting on what have been our successes, what could we have done differently, and where do we go in the future. This article will describe our process of developing a model of curriculum change that will guarantee a place for aging in both our undergraduate and graduate curricula.     

Spirit of aging rising: cross-cutting thematic modules to enrich foundation graduate social work courses

To enrich an urban generalist MSW program serving a diverse aging community, an innovative approach was initiated. A team of students, faculty and a field instructor collaborated in creating and evaluating 3 sets of cross-cutting thematic modules. An overview of the thematic modules (addressing elder abuse, family caregiving, and mental health), integrated across multiple curriculum areas (Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Macro/Policy, Practice and Research), is presented along with results of a faculty focus group evaluating the process of coordinating module content for one full week of class per foundation area (one topic per quarter).     

Using collaboration to maximize outcomes for a John A. Hartford Foundation geriatric enrichment project

Two institutions representing two BSW and one MSW program and a geriatric education center collaborated in a John A. Hartford geriatric enrichment project. Sharing the risks and benefits of a collaborative model, 75 percent of faculty participated in mini faculty fellowships, and bi-monthly dinner meetings with colleagues from each of the three programs, and actively engaged in the curricula revisions. Faculty report pervasive geriatric enrichment in each program's foundation content areas, and increases in students placed in geriatric enriched field practicum settings, from pre-project levels of 8.1 percent to a high of 24 percent. The features of the collaborative project include: respecting each program's autonomy while actively sharing ideas, resources and partnering with community's aging experts; and strengthening mutually reciprocal relationships among faculty and the gerontologic practice community. This model of shared risks and benefits also provides opportunities for innovation, diverse thinking, and shared decision making.     

Campus–Community Partnerships: The Terms of Engagement

The emergence of service–learning in higher education and the renewed emphasis on community involvement presents colleges and universities with opportunities to develop campus–community partnerships for the common good. These partnerships can leverage both campus and community resources to address critical issues in local communities. Campus–community partnerships are a series of interpersonal relationships between (a) campus administrators, faculty, staff, and students and (b) community leaders, agency personnel, and members of communities. The phases of relationships (i.e., initiation, development, maintenance, dissolution) and the dynamics of relationships (i.e., exchanges, equity, distribution of power) are explored to provide service–learning instructors and campus personnel with a clearer understanding of how to develop healthy campus–community partnerships.     

Using Collaboration to Maximize Outcomes for a John A. Hartford Foundation Geriatric Enrichment Project

Summary

Two institutions representing two BSW and one MSW program and a geriatric education center collaborated in a John A. Hartford geriatric enrichment project. Sharing the risks and benefits of a collaborative model, 75 percent of faculty participated in mini faculty fellowships, and bimonthly dinner meetings with colleagues from each of the three programs, and actively engaged in the curricula revisions. Faculty report pervasive geriatric enrichment in each program's foundation content areas, and increases in students placed in geriatric enriched field practicum settings, from pre-project levels of 8.1 percent to a high of 24 percent. The features of the collaborative project include: respecting each program's autonomy while actively sharing ideas, resources and partnering with community's aging experts; and strengthening mutually reciprocal relationships among faculty and the gérontologie practice community. This model of shared risks and benefits also provides opportunities for innovation, diverse thinking, and shared decision making.     

Metamorphosis of a Gerontological Social Work Scholar

ABSTRACT

My participation in the Pre-Dissertation Fellows Program (PDFP) was a defining moment in the development of my career. This commentary focuses on how my participation helped me transition from mentee to mentor and from PhD student to faculty member and scholar in gerontological social work and end-of-life care. While many students have limited mentorship from gerontological faculty in their own program, the PDFP offers a bridge to gerontological scholars and peer support across the US. Beyond that, opportunities are readily available for participation with the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGESW) and for collaboration across this network. Like myself, many awardees move into faculty positions and their accomplishments are varied and impressive. It is difficult to fully separate these from the connections, mentorship, and support received from the AGESW network and through participation in this program.     

The Use of Field Trips in Teaching Social Group Work

The field trip, as organized by the students and faculty of an undergraduate social work program, is suggested as a vehicle for teaching group work skills. Other learning opportunities offered by field trips are also discussed. In addition, recommendations are made as to how these experiences can be organized in order to enhance the learning of social group work in the academic setting.     

Implementing a Gero-Infused Curriculum in Advanced-Level MSW Courses in Health,Mental Health and Substance Abuse: An Evaluation

This article presents evaluation results from a curricular innovation aimed at increasing the capacity of social work graduates to serve older adults in health, mental health, and substance abuse settings. Working as a team, faculty developed, incorporated, and evaluated gerontology-infused syllabi and teaching modules in multiple sections of the 3 courses, with 2 sections serving as a comparison group. Results indicated that students exposed to the gero-infused curriculum increased their age-related knowledge and self-competence from pre- to posttest, and achieved a greater increase in knowledge than did the comparison group. Implications of the findings to social work education are discussed.     

Aging services or services to the aging?focus of a university-community curriculum development partnership to increase awareness of aging issues in social work practice

This paper describes a partnership between social work faculty and community practitioners to develop gerontological curricula to increase awareness of aging issues among social work students. We describe steps taken to identify learning needs of students by examining gaps in the core curriculum and surveying community-based agencies that serve older persons who face a variety of problems. We also describe a unique field education assignment designed to increase awareness of how well community service agencies meet the needs of older clients and provide quantitative and qualitative data on students' overall learning experiences. The project highlights the role of community partners in developing relevant curricula for future social work practitioners.     

Implementation of a responsible conduct of research education program at Duke University School of Medicine

Academic medical centers rarely require all of their research faculty and staff to participate in educational programs on the responsible conduct of research (RCR). There is also little published evidence of RCR programs addressing high-profile, internal cases of misconduct as a way of promoting deliberation and learning. In the wake of major research misconduct, Duke University School of Medicine (DUSoM) expanded its RCR education activities to include all DUSoM faculty and staff engaged in research. The program included formal deliberation of the Translational Omics misconduct case, which occurred at Duke. Over 5,000 DUSoM faculty and staff participated in the first phase of this new program, with a 100% completion rate. The article reports on the program’s development, challenges and successes, and future directions. This experience at Duke University illustrates that, although challenging and resource intensive, engagement with RCR activities can be integrated into programs for all research faculty and staff. Formal, participatory deliberation of recent cases of internal misconduct can add a novel dimension of reflection and openness to RCR educational activities.     

Turning Doctoral Students into Faculty in Gerontological Social Work: The AGESW Experience

ABSTRACT

Developing faculty interested in aging may help social work meet the needs of our growing aging population. However, doctoral students need a variety of supports to complete PhDs and become gerontological social work faculty. This study explored one program’s role in supporting the development of social work doctoral students to faculty in gerontology. An e-mail invitation was sent to all former participants (2010–2016 cohorts) of the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGESW) Pre-Dissertation Fellows Program (PDFP). The 38-question online survey consisted of Likert-type scales, multiple answers, and one open-ended question per section about the program’s impacts on their academic career development in teaching, research, mentoring, and support. Forty-five respondents, representing all six cohorts, completed the survey. More than half reported that the PDFP contributed to their ability to publish their research (64.4%, n = 29), grow their professional network (86.7%, n = 39, and teach (55.5%, n = 25). Doctoral programs provided different experiences than the PDFP, including mentoring, methodological training, professional development, networking, and peer support. Results suggest the PDFP provides content recipients value that supplements instruction received in their institutions. The program’s ability to connect students to each other and to national leaders enhances their career development and socialization into academic roles.     

Students’ perception of technology-assisted learning in undergraduate medical education – A survey

The use of technology assisted learning (TAL) has widely increased over the last decade. TAL has become a significant part of many universities’ curriculum delivery or at least a necessity for both teachers and learners to aid in the learning process. A learner's attitude toward, and acceptance of, training methods are important precursors to the success of any educational method, which in turn may be determined by factors such as individual learning style, type of technological tool available, learner's general perception about using technological assistance, technological complexity for use, etc. Although previous studies have focused on the influence and effectiveness of technology in aiding the teaching–learning process, it is also important to study these factors. Therefore, this study was conducted with the objectives to identify undergraduate medical and health science students’ preference for use of various TAL tools, their perception about the effectiveness of technology in aiding the learning process, and to investigate the influence of learning style on students’ perception of TAL. This cross-sectional study was conducted as a survey. The survey questions were directed toward identifying students’ learning style, and their perception of TAL. Student volunteers were provided with two self-administered questionnaires, the index of learning style (ILS) questionnaire (test–retest correlation coefficient 0.7–0.9) and a pre-tested questionnaire to measure perception of TAL. Majority of students have a strong component of visual learning style, and therefore preferred interactive animations and videos to aid in their learning. They also demonstrated increased acceptance of TAL as measured in terms of their attitude, and perceived knowledge gain. Nevertheless, students’ perception of TAL and their learning style existed independent of each other.     

Two Faculty Groups’ Process in Delivering a Joint MSW Program: Evaluating the Outcome

ABSTRACT

In 1995, two state universities’ Schools of Social Work, 30 miles apart, agreed to implement a joint master's of social work program. In 2011, the Council on Social Work Education reaccredited the program. This qualitative study describes the stages of development of the group of faculty members based on Tuckman's perspective. Through surveys, interviews, and focus-group reports, a combination of convenience and purposive subsamples with a total of 22 participants provided data on the program strengths and limitations, as well as the new trends identified in the field of social work. The findings of this exploratory design study include program strengths such as availability of personal and technical resources, adequate faculty communication processes, and their willingness to change and embrace innovations. The program limitations include the diversity of faculty members and their different subcultures, the large number of students, and the recurrent disruptions of the distance-learning technology system. The inclusion of new trends in the field of social work is required to effectively educate students to meet their future clients’ expectations. Due to its qualitative methodology using nonprobability sampling strategies and a small sample size, the generalizability of this study is limited.