Graduate School of Social Work University of Denver James Herbert Williams April 10 2010 Faculty Leaders Jean East Walter LaMendola Catherine Alter Julie Laser John Kayser Eugene Walls Michele Sienkiewicz ID: 197757
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Social Work Education and Technology: Challenges and Opportunities
Graduate School of Social Work
University of Denver
James Herbert Williams
April 10, 2010Slide2
Faculty Leaders
Jean East
Walter LaMendola
Catherine Alter
Julie Laser
John Kayser
Eugene Walls
Michele SienkiewiczSlide3
CSWE
Alternative Re-affirmation Project
A major CSWE request was to carry out a comparative study of F2F, blended, and on-line delivery of social work practice classes
The organizing theories for our effort were those dealing with teaching and learning.
The theories identify three important forms of presence, one of which is called
social presence
.Slide4
DU/GSSW Study
Investigated student perceptions of social presence, connectedness, and learning in F2F, On-line and Blended courses
Practice Courses
Multicultural Social Work Practice
Community I
Clinical I
Field Seminar
School Social WorkSlide5
How People LearnSlide6
Good Teaching PracticeSlide7
Community of Inquiry ModelSlide8
Social presence in learning communities
Social presence “defined as the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community of learners” (Rourke, Anderson, Garrison and Archer, 2001, p.2).
Social presence seen as a main component of community
Affective Communication to establish trust and respect
Open Communication
Cohesion and Collaboration Slide9
Social presence in the classroom
Students and teachers create social presence in social work education. Examples from good practice include
Opportunities of self disclosure
Spontaneity and humor
Creating awe
Expressing emotions
Forms of discussion
Research indicates that information and communication technologies support the development of social presenceSlide10
Social work distance education
Started as off-site programs often associated with meeting the needs of isolated communities
Now communication and information technologies are in common use regardless of distance
Schools of social work use ICT, reaching local constituencies, isolated communities, and, in fact, students around the world Slide11
Presence
presence
, not distance, has returned to the center stage as a defining consideration in effective educational delivery.
Presence is still the carrier of relationships, but with a much broader range.
Presence is no longer contained by the physicality of the instructor as memorialized by terms such as “sage on the stage” or “guide on the side.”Slide12
Three perspectives examined in DU Reaffirmation Project
Organizational Environment
Faculty Environment
Course delivery modalities, i.e.
Face to face
On-line
Hybrid (mixes of face to face and on-line)Slide13
Organizational Environment
Study One:
Leadership assessment of the organizational environment for social work education ICT and
e
-learning.
Question:
How
are ICT and
e
-learning tools perceived by leaders of schools of social work today and how is that assessment aligned with their mission and goals?
Purpose
:
To report on leadership perceptions about the use and alignment of forms of distance education in schools of social work using Alan Knowles’s (2007) framework for integration of
e
-learning in social work educationMethod/measures:
A survey of deans and directors of schools of social work was conducted on use of distance education technologies and plans in the future. Focus groups were facilitated and interviews of 15 deans were conducted at CSWE meeting in October,
2007.Slide14
Organizational environment findings/ Deans
Themes of transformation and faculty engagement considered most difficult.
Transformation difficult because it involved risk and required a new way of thinking.
Faculty engagement difficult because it required new learning and organizational mandates.
Overall, many of the deans expressed strong ambivalence Slide15
Faculty Environment
Study Two
: Faculty engagement through a Learning Community approach
Question:
How does the use of a blended learning approach with a Faculty Learning Community facilitate the development of a learning environment that integrates new learning technologies in social work education?
Purpose
: The research literature indicates that Faculty Learning Community processes used with faculty consistently and over time can lead to the successful adoption of new learning technologies
.
Method/measures
: Seven faculty and two staff participated in the study. The study used a blended collaborative learning process adapted from Vaughan(2004). The analysis included a case study, discourse analysis (Rourke, et al., 1999), and knowledge mapping tools (Horn, 2008; Kirshner, Shum & Carr, 2003). Slide16
Faculty development
Community of Inquiry theory informed 2 year process
Explored mix of presences (cognitive, teaching, social) in course development for effective social work learning
Faculty learning community was generated that fostered practical inquiry, course development, individual accomplishmentSlide17
Learning Environment
STUDY THREE
:
Social work practice courses in alternative course delivery formats
Questions:
What is it that occurs in excellent face-to-face instruction that is potentially missing in technology-based delivery of education?
How do teachers adjust their teaching approach and pedagogy to maximize cognitive presence given different technologies of course delivery?
How do students experience online classes in comparison to face-to-face instruction?
How do faculty experience online classes in comparison to face-to-face instruction?
Purpose
: This study directly examines the overall issue of interest to CSWE in regard to face-to-face versus computer-mediated learning.Slide18
Learning environment
Measures/methods:
Short
, Williams, and Christie (1976)
social presence scale,
Rovai
(2002
) classroom community scale, Richardson
and Swan (2003
) student assessment of learning environment measure, the Shea
, Pickett and
Pelz
(2003)
teaching presence measure, student course evaluations, faculty reports, and student focus groups.
Five courses
: overall N of 99 students with 19 in face to face, 27 in on-line, 53 in blended coursework. Slide19
Courses involved in study threeSlide20
Practice courses can be effectively taught in any format
social presence and teaching presence were major influences on course outcomes and student satisfaction, regardless of format of delivery
classroom community developed in all formats and was a significant contributor to reported learning Slide21
presence
, not
distance
It is critical for CSWE to assist members in their consideration of how these learning technologies may contribute to competencies.
The expanded capacity to creatively use forms of presence for teaching and learning is undoubtedly the most important contribution of convergent technologies to social work education thus far. Slide22
Community of Inquiry
Such a model is very useful to, and directly fits with the pedagogical goals of social work.
It assists social work education by focusing on concepts of human presence in teaching and learning
It assists social work practitioners by grounding convergent technologies in the “person in environment” framework. Slide23
National Leadership Needed
Social work needs to get involved with the Sloan Consortium which helps members to improve quality, scale, and breadth of their
Sloan-C supports the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction. Slide24
National Leadership needed
Social work needs to participate in the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)
MERLOT is a set of partner organizations that provides peer reviewed and selected higher education, online learning materials Slide25
National Leadership Needed
Strategies for faculty engagement need to be aggressively pursued by CSWE as an essential part of improved social work education.
more visibility needed for social work experts at CSWE and NADD sharing research findings and models for curriculum development.
Do not exclude new programs - share best practices, develop protocols, and establish criteria for excellence in social work e-learning. Slide26
Local leadership needed most
faculty must have access to the tools and support systems they need
faculty need leadership, dedicated time, and a supportive community that facilitates the transition to a new teaching and learning environment.
These efforts must be sustained over time to be successful Slide27
Local leadership
Increase their knowledge of the research on e-learning outcomes
Resolve competing priorities
provide institutional support and resources
Assist with a pedagogical alignment that is unique to a practice profession.
Knowles (2007) provides a comprehensive beginning model to assess social work organizational environments. Slide28
Research
need for ongoing research by social work educators to address the learning of practice skills and the development of a professional identity in an e-learning environment.
Existing evidence indicates that practice based professions can be effective in developing e-learning models of curriculum delivery Slide29
Primary issue: How social work will…
Address the emerging practice of intentionally blending learning technologies to best meet specific learning objectives.
Master the expansion of human presence afforded by communication technologies
Blend present and emerging models of content delivery to meet the needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s social workers.