iPolicy: Evaluating iPads in social welfare

May 21, 2014 Leave a comment

In the Spring of 2013 I authored a couple blog posts on my social welfare policy course that was designated an iPad course. You can find the posts here and here as well as a post about an iPad specific assignment.

I also took the opportunity to conduct a small study on the experience and now you can see the full write up in the Journal of Technology in Human Services. The first 50 people to follow this link can download a free copy of the article “iPolicy: Exploring and Evaluating the use of iPads in a Social Welfare Policy Course.” The iPad was/is a great tool and I am still teaching an iPad required course, although the course is focused on social media, digital activism, and eCitizenship. The exciting thing about this class is that I teach it both online and face-to-face. This summer I am developing an iBook for the course in the Fall and so far using iBooks Author has been relatively easy and even Fun. Yes I dare say fun. I will try to come back to this journal to share my iBook and the experiences I have with this technology throughout the summer but I have a few things to finish up first. I hope you have great plans for the summer and be sure to stop back by this blog again in the future or sign up for email alerts. You can also follow me on Twitter 😀

Filed under Futures & Foresight, iPad, Technology Tagged with , ,

#SWpolicy410 & Twitter Chats in Social Work Education

January 29, 2014 Leave a comment

Last night President Obama gave his 2014 State of the Union Address. Because I am teaching social welfare policy, I wanted my students to watch and engage with this event outside of the classroom. I have written on this blog before about the use of technology and social media in the classroom, and specifically about Twitter (Twittering and Documentaries) and how we can use it to develop skills. I see Twitter as a very powerful tool to engage students outside of the classroom, and a tool which requires incredible critical thinking skills. Yes, I said critical thinking skills. But it also helps students develop digital literacy and other competencies that are useful in social work practice today and the future. Twitter is space where individuals can interact and share information. Disseminating information in less 140 characters of text may seem mundane but it actually requires one to organize their thoughts and articulate them in a meaningful way. This requires higher level thinking and may frustrate some, so be patient and remember to learn about Twitter and how to use it properly. There are some great resources to get started, such as Dr. Laurel Iverson-Hitchcock or Dean Nancy Smyth and others.

This post is meant to demonstrate how I used Twitter to engage my policy students in the State of the Union Address. I already require students to obtain a Twitter account as part of another assignment in class, so it was a natural fit to encourage them to Live Tweet during the Address. Live Tweeting is essentially sending out messages via Twitter during a live event, such as the State of the Union. I already discussed proper use of Twitter in the classroom, but I gave students some ideas on what to Tweet during the Address. Generally, I wanted to see their reactions or questions to what the President discussed. One main objective of this activity was to help students identify and begin to obtain an interest in policy and issues that impact the profession and our clients. I also made sure that students included the course hashtag (#swpolicy410) in their tweets so that I could archive the event later. I had about 13 students engage in the Live Tweet and I was amazed at the results. Below is a Storify story of the event.

http://storify.com/JimmySW/sotu-swpolicy410Edit URL
One of the greatest benefits I see in doing an activity like this is that my students have the opportunity to interact with others from around the country and the world. For example, several of my followers started to engage into our Live Twitter Chat/Event by ReTweeting mine and students’ tweets. I think this gives students an opportunity to later connect with these individuals (like @MikeLICSW) and organizations (like @CRISPontheHill) for a variety of purposes. I hope that as we discuss this in class, students will feel comfortable reaching to these individuals/organizations to help with research and policy advocacy. This activity helps students build skills and become competent social workers.  I am not trying to imply that every social work course incorporate Twitter. That would be ludicrous. Assignments and activities should correspond to learning goals and objectives. Live Tweeting and Twitter Chats represent just one innovative way to engage students and help them learn and get excited about social work and social welfare policy. If you have any questions about Live Tweeting or simply want to leave a comment. Feel free to do so, and you can always follow me on Twitter.

Filed under Education, Futures & Foresight Tagged with , , ,

New Media Literacy Score

April 2, 2013 9 Comments

If you follow me on Twitter then you know that I have already sent out a link about this study I am conducting. However, I also wanted to share this brief blog post as it relates to my sampling strategy for this study. You may recall a post several months back about Participatory Culture and Web 2.0 for Social Work Education. This study is the next phase of my work so I hope you will join in.  Here is some more information with the link below.

You are invited to participate in a survey entitled, Assessing New Media Literacies in Social Work Education. The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between media literacy and digital participation among social work educators and students. Specifically, this study will increase understanding regarding the use of information and communication technologies such as social media, while testing the validity and reliability of a newly developed assessment tool for self-reported media literacy levels.

Your participation is very important and the survey should not take more than 15 minutes of your time.  You are being asked to complete an online questionnaire asking about basic demographics, digital participation, civic engagement, and new media literacies. You will be presented with a series of statements about media use, which will help determine your media literacy skills. At the completion of the survey, you will receive a score indicating your level of new media literacy.

Your participation is in this survey is completely voluntary and your consent will be assumed by your participation. You are free to decide not to participate in this study or to withdraw at any time without any adverse effects or penalties. Your decision about whether to be in the study or not is completely voluntary, and confidential. This study is not collecting any personal or identifiable information and risks to participants is minimal. The alternative to this study is simply to not participate. If you have any questions about the survey, feel free to contact the investigator at the contact information provided below.

To access the survey and find out your New Media Literacy Score, clink the link.

UPDATE: The survey has closed and you can read more about this work on my blog. Be sure to check out this link here.

Thank you again for participating in this study.

Jimmy.

Filed under Futures & Foresight, Technology Tagged with ,

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