What’s possible in teaching Social Work education online

Many weeks ago I participated in an online learning institute, and I left there with several new ideas about teaching online. I also thought more about what is actually possible in teaching Social Work education online and this post is meant to pull together some resources in hopes of starting a conversation with many of you. The fact is, I believe that we can teach many aspects of social work online using an array of technologies. Whether it’s from Second Life to Blackboard, or Twitter to Skype. I am going to start by highlighting several social work courses and what tools could be used to teach those courses online. In fact, there are a number of Schools of Social Work around the United States that use many of these tools. The number one thing to remember, however, is that you should always think about your course, the content, and what you want your students to get out of it before you decide on which technologies to use.

The courses below are just some that are taught in BSW programs around the country. Each one will likely be taught a bit differently based upon the respective school. The list, therefore, is not meant to be representative. Rather it’s just to get you thinking about some of the possibilities that are out there.

Introduction to Social Work: Provides an overview of the social work profession including knowledge of the nature of social work, the fields of social work practice, target populations, and an overview of social work methods. Being that this is more of a general course, I thought I would provide some of the more general technologies that can be used here and in many other courses, often in concert with the technologies listed below. Learning management systems such as Blackboard are often the staple of online courses. Others may use Wikis or GoogleSites to be the central learning point or portal for the online course. The point is, it is important to have a central hub for your course, much like you would have a classroom as your central hub on the ground face-to-face. Additional tools that can be used here include Skype or some other form of video conferencing software to bring in outside presenters or meet with students for office hours. I should also note, that having videos, and not just lectures, but videos that demonstrate your uniqueness as a teacher to help engage the students in the course will also produce successful outcomes. This speaks somewhat to social presence online, but I will save that for another post.

Social Work Practice: Introduces students to the nature and work of the social work profession. There are many variations of this course which is also split into different courses based upon content ranging from micro to macro practice. The micro content of this course makes it somewhat controversial when moving into a digital environment because some would argue that it can be hard to assess students learning during role plays online. I’m not trying to argue one way or the other, rather just trying to highlight was possible. Several online schools use video conferencing technology to perform the traditional role play scenario. Technology such as Elluminate or AdobeConnect Pro are just some of the tools schools are using. A relatively new variation on this is using Second Life or Avatars. The USC school of social work has developed an impressive program to help students learn to work with clients who suffer from PTSD.

Nancy J. Smyth also wrote about using virtual worlds to help with PTSD on her blog, which you can read here.

For those who may not have the capabilities to develop such a program, the use of technologies like Second Life and some creative thinking can also help. Second Life is a virtual community where users can develop their own Avatars and identities in an online digital environment. Individuals have used second life in counseling practice and some schools hold online courses in Second Life as well. To be honest, I don’t know a lot about Second Life, but it sounds kind of intriguing. If you want to know more about using Games in therapy, a good resource is Mike Langlois and his blog Gamer Therapist.

Okay, I digress a bit so back to social work practice. Moving along to the macro part of social work practice and one area that seems fairly easy to use technology is advocacy. Implementing the use of Blogs and other social media like Twitter or YouTube can help students to understand how organizations and activists are using social media to advance their cause. Utilizing case examples or posting stories about how Twitter was used in Egypt and other places can really help students learn the power of advocacy. This also reaches into the realm of Policy as many in Congress actively use and monitor social media channels. Access to top ranking officials and the impacting Policy on varying levels has never been so easy.

Social Work Research: Provides an overview of the research process, including problem formulation, sampling, design, measurement, data collection, data analysis and dissemination of findings. The use of a learning management system like Blackboard, as mentioned above, or others will also aid in an online social work research course. However, I understand that not many social work students are interested in research. I know, shocking right, but it’s somewhat true. To make this course more exciting, try using some online tools to help demonstrate how to collect and analyze data. Google Forms or Poll Everywhere provide ways to create and share surveys. Once data has been collected, a Google spreadsheet can even perform some very basic statistical analysis. Using Poll Everywhere, survey respondents can either submit their responses via Twitter, text message, or on the web. If you use this in class, face-to-face, it is actually pretty exciting to see the poll update in real time. My students got pretty excited when I did this in class.

Field Instruction: I generally do not believe that a student can engage in their field practicum online. However, there are several technological tools that can help facilitate or supplement the student’s learning. Skype, Blackboard for ePortfolios and Seminar, and from an administrative perspective, I have seen several technological tools that help to manage field. One of the tools was develop at the VCU School of Social Work, and contains a matching component within the system to help make the work of placing students much easier. More information on the SInC: Student Intern Connect can be found here.

Okay, so there is just a smattering of the technologies that are out there and how they can be used. I will continue to post new ideas on technology in social work education, both online and face-to-face, as they come to me. Yet, I am really interested in hearing what you have to say. What tools have you used? What success stories or challenges do you have to share? Comments and questions are always welcome.

Developing a Philosophy of Teaching

Some of you know that I have been engaged in an online learning institute this week, which is why I have not been blogging very much. I know I had said I hope to share many of my insights from this institute, but frankly I just haven’t had time to sit and write them down. It’s finally finished and now I am thinking about many things when it comes to learning in an online environment. Most of all I have actually been thinking about my own Philosophy of Teaching.

What does that mean?

I believe a Philosophy of teaching is a statement on your beliefs about how teaching should be done. It resembles your own values and beliefs about what it means to learn, what knowledge is, and why it is important.

What is it?
I am still working on my own philosophy of teaching statement but it is essentially based in student-centered learning. This is the idea that learning and knowledge really begin with where the student is. It can be incredibly difficult to test a student on a given set of skills that they have never been taught or had the chance to fully develop. Starting where the student is also means understanding what capabilities they may have and how those capabilities can be leveraged for their own benefit.

Where does it stem from?
This is inherently personal for every individual in my opinion, and mine mostly stems from my work as a mental health counselor. Part of my theoretical approach was based in the work of Carl Rogers and his client-centered approach. For more information on that click here. It also stems from my own experiences in teaching, but mostly in learning from many years sitting behind a desk as a student. Let’s face it, we have all had many teachers that we would like to emulate and many others we would rather just forget about.

Now as I begin to focus on teaching online, I am caught up in a series of discussions and my own thoughts about what this philosophy of teaching means in a digital environment. I think that much of my budding philosophy will easily transcend both environments, but I also know that just because something works in one area does not mean that it will work in another. I plan to come back to this post in the future as I more fully develop the concepts and ability to articulate my philosophy in a way that people can understand. I would definitely appreciate any input on the matter, so feel free to leave a comment.

The Myths of Online Learning

This past week I spent everyday immersed in an online learning institute, and I have come away from it with some great ideas for my own teaching and a new appreciation for what it means to be a teacher. I am however, still concerned about the myths of online learning and how many people disregard this area as an acceptable and even effective medium for obtaining quality education. The myths continue to abound online and in many other places, see this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education for more. I understand the trepidation among many of the naysayers because ultimately it has to do with fear or change from the status quo.

Empirical evidence is beginning to emerge that supports online learning in the literature and from personal experiences. I know there is also just as much support saying the opposite as there will always be. I guess the one thing that still boggles my mind is the notion that face to face classrooms are seen as better than online learning classrooms. I think the problem when people say that certain courses can’t be taught online is basically that they just don’t understand what technology is available to teach those courses online. The other thing is thinking about course development and design. Many of these individuals don’t know how to design a course for the online environment, partly because they don’t know about the technology that exits. There is so much in the way of Web 2.0 tools and resources available at institutions of higher education that make it much easier to teach online.

The more I sit and write about this the more I think this post is not about the myths of online learning, clearly because I haven’t hardly discussed any, but it’s about the individual belief of what’s possible. It’s also about the core values one has about teaching and those values being so rigid that they are unwilling to recognize that certain courses can be taught effectively online. Now don’t get me wrong, I still want my surgeon to have learned heart surgery in the classroom rather than completely online. But, many students don’t really learn their most effective skills in the classroom anyways. In social work, because again that’s where I am coming from, the signature pedagogy is Field education. Students don’t learn or master their social work skills in a few classroom sessions by role-playing them out with one another. Certainly they do get something from it, but ultimately their best experience and learning comes from being in a quality internship.

Okay, one last caveat for me 😀 What I am really hoping to get at here is the notion of how online learning is viewed. I feel that pretty much it is looked down upon, and there are many reasons for that. Yet, I also feel that when teachers/faculty hope to teach online, that there is this resistance and somewhat negative attitude from others who believe that it can’t or shouldn’t be done. Why is this happening? Why can’t others just allow the innovation and creativity to emerge without the hidden hostility, or maybe it’s not so hidden…

I don’t know, I mean I don’t only what to teach online because I fully enjoy interacting with students in the classroom. However, I know that I can also interact with them in an online class very similarly. How or what would that look like. Well that could be a completely different post so I will have to come back to that to say what’s possible in teaching social work education online. Wow what a great title!!!

What do you think, since I know many social workers are now stumbling upon this site, I welcome your opinion whether you believe or don’t believe in online social work education. The only thing I would say when commenting is to keep it civil, keep it clean, and be respectful. Thank you for your input.

Creating Knowledge-Able Students

A recent post by Nancy Smyth on Life skills for the digital age really got me thinking about technology and education. Although her post was partly on technology and one’s own life, as soon as I read it I couldn’t help but think about some of my students and mine own experiences in social work education. If you haven’t read Nancy’s post, go read it and leave a comment, it’s a great post. Bare with me for the rest of this post as I have thought about it for a week now and finally decide to just let it go. Thanks in advance for reading 🙂

In regards to learning new digital skills I agree it is critically important to remember to Disconnect. I personally have found it refreshing to take walks and enjoy nature as a way of generating inspiration and overcoming bloggers block. Nancy also points to Mindfulness and how it is important to observe and learn about how choices and habits affect individuals. In the digital realm I think that Social Presence Theory offers some insight here. Social Presence Theory was develop long ago, but it is very relevant in today’s computer mediated world. Social presence is the amount of awareness involved in an interaction, where face-to-face interaction has the most social presence. Because of the variety of technology available today, social presence online has dramatically increased. However, I think that Mindfulness still comes into play here because we need to be cognizant of our presence online. To often people take the anonymity that comes along from sitting behind their keyboard as a medium for hurtful comments, see YouTube if you don’t believe me 🙂 I also believe you could look at the effects of Cyber Bullying the impact it has on individuals. The point here is that as technology advances, our interaction online also advances and we need to be aware of what we Tweet, Upload, or post.

The question posted by Nancy was ultimately begins to address what skills we need to teach our Children. This is a very valid question, especially since I think about the implications of watching YouTube videos with my daughter and the effect the Internet is going to have on her life. I never had any discussions about Internet appropriateness from my parents, grant it they didn’t really understand the whole Internet other than telling me not to look at any Adult websites. Programs, policies, and the like are being developed everyday that focus on some of these issues so I am going to move onto something that’s closer to me and where I initially thought this post was going before I got side tracked by the Theory side of things 🙂

Technology in social work education. That is what I wanted to blog about since reading Nancy’s post, and I decided to finally finish this post today since after visiting with some of my Field Students and having a bit of a conversation on this topic it is at the forefront of my mind. The views expressed here are of my own (incase I haven’t included this elsewhere). My experience with technology is social work education is not unlike what my students have been telling me today. Basically that they are not getting some basic and necessary skills that will make them an effective practitioner. Their gripe was that they have not had any courses on using Excel for example, and that many have to learn it on their own. I understand that in some ways other courses will offer this type of learning but I wonder if social work education could offer it in a way that will help students to see the relevance of knowing technology? I know for instance that many nonprofit organizations would greatly benefit from knowledge on how to use Excel, and other technologies, to advance their mission. I also think that social work educators could incorporate more technology into their curriculum in a way that address some of these basic needs. Now what about social technologies: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc? How can we used these tools to advance social work education? For me it begins with what Dr. Wesch from Kansas State University calls creating Knowledge-Able students.

Dr. Wesch uses social media technologies in a way that encourages collaboration and motivates students to learn. His methods are rather attractive and I must say I struggle to do half of what he demonstrates in the video below. If you have some time it’s definitely worth watching. In the video, Dr. Wesch challenges some of the basic assumptions of learning by utilizing social media in the classroom and encouraging participation online. I don’t want to re-hash the entire video as I am sure that if you watch it, you will take away your own insights that are meaningful for you.

The biggest thing that I take away from this is that collaboration is more possible now than it was before, or perhaps I should say it is easier now than it was before. The other thing that is exciting is seeing students become motivated to learn and share in a way that enhances the overall experience. Participation and dialogue is what makes learning fun, at least it does for me, and it seems that more and more students are craving this type of learning. I wont say that this is easy, but I think that it can be worth it. I will blog more about my experience as I am trying to implement more of this style into my summer course. Wish me Luck 🙂

Okay, well this is getting a bit long, but to wrap it up I think that identifying and learning digital life skills will be extremely important and likely to be done earlier in one’s education. However, I also think that in social work education it is ripe for implementation into the curriculum. Instead of simply dismissing the notion by saying it can’t/shouldn’t be done, I think that we should ask our students about it or even how to do it. That’s my plan for the first day of summer school anyways. By utilizing technology in this way I think it creates opportunities for discussion around mindfulness and social presence online as well as offline. I think that through these experiences we can do just as Dr. Wesch states, “Create knowledge-Able students.
Let me know what you think and leave a comment.