Implementing Service Learning Labs across a Social Work Curriculum

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Sep 29, 2015

Today, D. Scott Batey and I are presenting at the 16th Annual Conference of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium at Penn State about our work with service learning labs in the social work curriculum at UAB.  In this workshop, we will describe how we developed and implemented the service learning labs to date, discussing lessons learned from our planning process.  We hope to provide a model that participants can apply to their own institutions, and will share the next steps for our project, including implementation and assessment of the service labs.  Additionally, there will be time for participants to brainstorm with the presenters and each other. The learning objectives for this session include:

1. Understand strategies to plan & engage multiple partners in developing a community-based service learning project to support student & community outcomes.

2. Demonstrate how educators can duplicate the planning process for curriculum-based service learning projects at their institutions.

3. Appreciate the role of professional collaboration in the planning and development of service learning projects across a curriculum.

You can access a copy of the slides for the workshop PPT Slides for ESC Presentation.

Finally, here is the abstract for our presentation, titled Implementing Service Learning Labs Across a Social Work Curriculum:

Service learning has become an important component of higher education.  In addition to building community investment among a new generation of emerging adults, service learning increases community capacity to meet the many and varied local challenges.  These activities are closely aligned with the professional values of social work and social work education, and graduates of one undergraduate social work program have consistently voiced a desire for more practice opportunities.  To respond to these issues, we began a strategic planning process for integrating service learning into the professional curriculum.

Using Social Media to teach and assess Macro/Policy-based Social Work Competencies – #BPD2015 Conference

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Mar 6, 2015

Today, I am presenting with Dr. Jimmy Young at the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Director’s Annual 2015 Conference (3/6/15) about our social media assignment designed for social work students to learn about and try their hand at macro- and policy-practice skills.  In this workshop, we will describe how we developed, implemented and assessed this assignment which incorporates a documentary movie with a live Twitter chat.  We will discuss things we learned along the way and offer tips on how other educators can incorporate a similar assignment into their courses.  The learning objectives for this session include:

1. Understand how the social media platform Twitter can be incorporated into assignments for social work policy courses at the BSW-level.

2. Demonstrate how social work educators can assess attainment of competency among BSW students using a social media assignment paired with a Rubric for evaluation of the assignment’s learning outcomes.

3. Appreciate the role of professional collaboration in the development, implementation and assessment of social media-based assignments.

We have previously written about this assignment on our blogs:

 Special #MacroSW Chat October 28th at 8pm CST from JimmySW’s Blog

Follow-up to 10/28 #MacroSW Twitter Chat from Teaching Social Work Blog:

Here is a link to the Prezi that we will show during the presentation.

Our next live Twitter chat for this assignment will be on March 12, 2015 9 PM EST/8 PM CST and we invite you all to join us. The chat is sponsored by #MacroSW.  Click here for more details.

Podcasting with Social Work Students – #BPD2015 Conference

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Mar 5, 2015

I am presenting at the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Director’s Annual 2015 Conference today (3/5/15) about podcasting with social work students, focusing on practical implications for course-based assignments.  In this workshop, I will describe how I developed a podcast assignment for BSW students and will offer tips on how other educators can incorporate a similar assignment into their courses.  The learning objectives for this session include:

1.Understanding how podcasting can be incorporated into assignments for social work courses at the BSW-level;

2. Describing how social work educators can assess attainment of competency among BSW students using a social media assignment; and

3. Appreciating the role of professional collaboration in the development, implementation and assessment using podcasting.

This presentation is based on a series of blog posts I wrote last year about podcasting in social work education:

1. Podcasting for Social Work Students, Part 1 – Describing the Assignment (1/16/14)

2. Podcasting for Social Work Students, Part 2 – Why use podcasting in the classroom (1/31/14)

3. Podcasting for Social Work Students, Part 3 – Advice for designing the assignment from Jonathan Singer (2/14/14)

Here is a link to the Prezi that I will show during the presentation (http://tiny.cc/PodcastPrezi_BPD2015).

Workshop for Alabama Conference on Social Work – 2/27/15

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Feb 27, 2015

It is almost the end of February and I find myself in Orange Beach, Alabama presenting at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Alabama Conference on Social Work.  The purpose of this post is to provide supplemental information for my presentation.  The title  is Professional and Ethical Use of Social Media in Social Work Practice, and the presentation will focus on the need for social workers to be aware of and adept at using social media in two important ways.  First, social media can be valuable tools for professional development and continuing education.  Platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and professional websites provide valuable information and resources for practice and opportunities to network and collaborate with other practitioners.  To effectively engage with social media for professional development, social workers need to know how to create digital identities; consume, assess and produce online content; collaborate with others; and educate and motivate other professionals to use social media.  Second, social workers need to understand how to effectively engage client systems with social media.  This includes a range of knowledge and skills from maintaining ethical professional boundaries to educating clients on how to find credible online resources to advocating for those who do not have access to the internet in low-income or rural communities.

By the end of the presentations, participants will be able to:

1. Explain why social workers need to understand social media and digital literacy

2. Discuss the knowledge, skills and values associated with professional use of social media

3. Reflect on own use social media in a professional context

Here is a link to the Prezi presentation that I will show during the workshop and here is a link to a resource handout for the participants.

How to cite this post:

Hitchcock, L. I . (2015, February 27).Workshop for Alabama Conference on Social Work – 2/27/15[Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://laureliversonhitchcock.org/2015/02/27/workshop-acsw-2015/.

AL/MS 2014 Social Work Education Conference

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Oct 10, 2014

This October day finds me in Tuskegee, AL presenting at the 2014 Alabama-Mississippi Social Work Education Conference. The purpose of this post is to provide supplemental information for today’s presentation. My session will focus on how social work educators can incorporate social media into their pedagogy.

Here is a link to the Prezi that I will show during the presentation.

AL Fall Child Welfare Conference 2014: Professional & Ethical Use of Social Media in Social Work Practice

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Aug 28, 2014

Today I am presenting today at the Thirteenth Annual Fall Social Work Conference sponsored by the University of Alabama’s School of Social Work and the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources in Birmingham, AL.  The purpose of this post is to provide supplemental information for today’s presentation. My session will focus on the need for social workers to be aware of and adept at using social media for professional practice, focusing on knowledge, and values.  The learning objectives for the participants include:

1.Explain why social workers need to understand social media and digital literacy
2.Discuss the knowledge, skills and values associated with professional use of social media
3.Reflect on own use social media in a professional context