This study sought to respond to the increased number of mature students in social work education and the understudied topic of their experiences. The research deployed semi- structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the benefits, challenges, and needs of mature students (N = 19) over the age of 30 in a Canadian Bachelor of Social Work…

Given the increasing value placed on research among social work practitioners, and that field education is primarily responsible for the integration of social work values, knowledge, and practice, it is essential that research skills be incorporated into BSW and MSW field practica. In 2020, a team of faculty co-investigators and students explored…

Social work pedagogy recognizes the educational value of experiential learning for the professional development of social workers, with a particularly rich experiential learning literature related to clinical work and field education. This study evaluates an experiential learning activity for large undergraduate courses in another area: social…

The Policy Field Unit (PFU) is an independently designed practicum placement for School of Social Work (SSW) students at a large, urban Midwestern university. The placement provides students an opportunity to engage with the policy process as macro social work practitioners in a variety of settings. Increasing social work students' efficacy in…

Opioid addiction is a widespread problem that social workers will undoubtedly face in practice. Curricular infusion is an approach that has gained recognition in social work education for integrating critical, contemporary topics into courses. This paper details a project that infused opioid addiction in baccalaureate of social work (BSW) courses,…

To prepare students for competent practice in increasingly technology-enabled settings, social work curricula must provide ample opportunities for developing digital literacy. Incorporating digital stories as course assignments offer educators one promising approach. Despite the fact that digital stories can provide a powerful teaching strategy…

Professional uncertainty is a feature of generalist social work practice, particularly for students completing their social work education or those new to the profession. This study saw graduating Bachelor of Social Work students (N = 34) engage in a 15-minute interview with a Standardized Client (SC) in an Objective Structured Clinical…

Unlike other disciplines, social work has made accreditation decisions about undergraduate and graduate programs independent of licensure examination pass rates of graduates. While education, regulation, and practice are heralded as the three pillars of social work, there have been few meaningful linkages between them. Despite recognition that…

In 2019, three Black social work instructors simultaneously taught a required anti-oppressive practice (AOP) course to a cohort of undergraduate social work students. Through collective autoethnography (CAE), we sought to deepen our understanding of our experience within the classroom and how our identity as Black women was negotiated within the…

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)…

Competency-based education has become a defining characteristic of higher social work education. This movement provides ample opportunity for students to have transformative learning experiences that will prepare them for professional practice. Yet, scholarly work on competency-based education runs the risk of overlooking the important…

Although pedagogical fundamentals of teaching with technology appear in the literature, the use of podcasting in the classroom is primarily documented outside of social work education. This study explored outcomes of an assignment in which students create podcasts meant for consumption by people besides the instructor. The authors theorized that…

Social work students are required to take research methods courses because research-informed practice and practice-informed research are essential to professional practice. However, these students are often reluctant to take a research course and can be difficult to engage in the classroom. We used a mixed methods survey-based design to evaluate…

Little is known about preparing BSW students to work with intimate partner violence (IPV). This study describes an experiential exercise designed to introduce them to working with survivors of IPV. Qualitative methods were used to explore BSW student descriptions of their experiences of and learning from the exercise. Analysis revealed students'…