Over the past two decades, the number of online and distance social work programs has grown rapidly. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted interest in online options from both students and instructors. As programs grow, it is important to recognize the need for retention strategies, especially for students with marginalized identities. The…

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic upon social work programs have been profound and institutions have struggled to identify appropriate policies and interventions to address students' educational, health, and safety needs. This manuscript reports the results of a survey administered to BSW and MSW students at three different timepoints during the…

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic as a result of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, a severe acute respiratory syndrome. Public health authorities throughout Canada were emphasizing early detection, physical distancing, hand washing, sheltering in place through household and self-isolation, and the…

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on people's professional and personal lives is ongoing. The transition to remote teaching has particularly affected social work education due to its experiential methods incorporating a direct experience whereby students "learn by doing." This study examined the impact of the global pandemic and the…

This article focuses on group work principles to emphasize the importance of collaboration and community as an effective pedagogical approach to teaching in online higher education. Online communities can serve as support groups by bringing together people going through the shared experience of higher education and providing the opportunity for…

Online social work educators are responsible for fostering high quality academic growth experiences for their students. Feedback instructors provide to students aims to further this goal. The purpose of this study is to understand how social work instructors and students in an entirely online MSW program value instructional feedback. Open-ended…

Evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on higher education, specifically on social work education, is gradually emerging. While the empirical literature points to the effectiveness of delivering course content virtually, research on the impact of the abrupt, forced transition from in-person to distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed social work educators to study its impact on social work students. This quantitative study presents the findings of a survey of Master of Social Work students regarding their experiences during the abrupt transition from in-person to remote learning in March 2020. Examining the impact through a change curve lens,…

It has been postulated that field education is the signature pedagogy of social work education. Practicums are paramount in assisting social work students to develop the unique skills and competencies required for professional practice. Traditionally, field education in social work has occurred within the context of social service agencies…

In March 2020, a national emergency was declared due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with public health guidelines, social work programs rapidly responded by moving their courses online and modifying or ending field placements. The current study (N = 1,522) describes these responses from the perspective of BSW (n = 632) and MSW (n = 890)…

Similar to all academic disciplines, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in social work has grown exponentially in both scope and volume during recent decades. Until the COVID 19 crisis, main driving forces were the growing demand for higher education, constant evolving of innovative technologies, cost effectiveness, and…

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, a research-based seminal work, provides a structure for integrating a collaborative constructivist approach in course design, implementation, and evaluation. The CoI framework suggests that by fostering three essential elements -- social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence -- a community of…

There has been a rapid increase in the number of online MSW programs in the past decade without a commensurate body of literature on their administration. This article acquaints MSW program faculty and administrators with quality assurance rubrics, which are research-informed tools intended for use by distance education providers to develop,…

Over the past three decades, social work education gradually has begun to embrace distance education as a viable alternative (and supplement) to traditional face-to-face education. While some feel that social work's response has been slow, compared to sister professions, it has been explicit, extensive and sure. This paper looks at the current…

Faculty and students evaluate the curriculum design and delivery of a synchronous online PhD program in social work that prepares scholar-practitioners in social work research, education, and organizational practice. The designers envision a collaborative community of scholars and leaders nurtured by a cohort-based, sequenced curriculum, and…