This article reports on a professional development initiative organized by two junior university social work teachers. Along with three experienced colleagues, the two teachers experimented with a professional co-development group. The purpose of this group modality, which has much in common with peer supervision, is to reflect on professional…

Social work students, regardless of their multiple social identities in oppressed and oppressor groups, are called upon to take action against social injustice. This conceptual article introduces the Ally Model of social justice and its alignment with social work values and goals and recommends it to social work educators as a pedagogical tool to…

Teaching for diversity and social justice is the teaching of complex abstract ideas about privilege and oppression, such as the social construction of social groups and identity. An effective way to teach this material is with experiential learning, but this approach requires much more than exercises and activities. Courses must be consciously…

Although various methods have been used to teach about poverty in the social work classroom (e.g., quantitative, historical, and qualitative), the use of geographic visualization and geographic information systems (GIS) has become a relatively new method. In our analysis of food access on the East Side of Buffalo, New York, we demonstrate the…

The exponential growth and sophistication of new information and computer technology (ICT) have greatly influenced human interactions and provided new metaphors for understanding the world. The acceptance and integration of ICT into social work field education are examined here using the technological acceptance model. This article also explores…

This paper describes the preliminary data and analysis of how students in an online MSW program perceive their experiences, interactions, and responses to learning structure, material, and technology in the Web environment. The student perceptions, which have been used to refine the online program, highlight how important it is to students to feel…

Utilizing the conceptual framework of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer for critical inquiry, this paper outlines the importance of the community of inquiry (COI) model and how it may inform online social work education. Integrating the COI model, we discuss how online learning in the classroom with a hybrid approach has been used to facilitate…

Digital technology has transformed social work education. Today's students can take individual courses and earn an entire degree without ever meeting their faculty members in person. Technological innovations such as videoconferencing, live online chat, asynchronous podcasts, and webinars enable social work educators to reach students whose…

Social work students increasingly are served by distance education, which necessitates the use of creative and innovative online teaching methods. An instructor embarking upon online teaching should consider interpersonal and technical issues, be familiar with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, and understand other legal…

This paper describes a three-campus collaborative, distributed learning program that delivers social work education to remote rural and desert communities in California via distance learning modalities. This "Pathway Program" provides accredited social work education for a career ladder beginning with advising and developing an academic…

Social work programs increasingly are engaged in deploying distance education models, yet questions remain about how to teach direct practice skills within this context. As field agency changes have limited practice opportunities for social work students, methods for helping interns develop direct practice skills in diverse field practicum…

Video conferencing has much potential to enrich international social work education. In this educational initiative, video conferencing was used to deliver a joint foundation social work practice class to students attending an MSW degree program both in the United States and in Ireland. Student feedback indicated that they gained an appreciation…

In July 2010, the faculties of Law, Business and Economics, and Medicine at Monash University, Australia commenced placing law, finance, and social work students in a multidisciplinary clinic at a community legal service operated by the University. Students from the three disciplines began seeing legal service clients at the same time as a team.…

Social work education programs rely heavily on adjunct instructors, as do most academic institutions. This article adds to existing literature on adjuncts by focusing on the unique issues in social work education, using social work values and ethics as a focus. The benefits and detriments for adjuncts, programs, and students in schools of social…

This article discusses the experiences and challenges of a graduate teaching assistant in using a grading rubric in a social welfare policy course. Using a grading rubric as a debate-proof strategy against the grade entitlement of students is expatiated. In addition, the benefits of using grading rubrics to achieve CSWE/EPAS competency…