Social Work Virtual Pal

What is Social Work Virtual Pal (#SWVirtualPal)?

Social Work Virtual Pal is a global and virtual community of practice for the social work profession, that digitizes the practice of having a pen pal for professional learning and networking.  This community focuses on connection and collaboration among social workers to offer the profession an opportunity to harness its collective knowledge for the greater good. 

Social Work Virtual Pal aims to meet the following goals: 

  1. Support a virtual and global community of practice for social work students, educators, scholars, and practitioners.
  2. Facilitate connection and collaboration between social workers to enhance knowledge, values, and skills for the profession. 
  3. Encourage and shape the communication and global discourse for the benefit of the social work profession and client systems with whom they work.

How #SWVirtualPal got started?

Amanda (UK) and Laurel (USA)  are the first Social Work Virtual Pals.  They first met on Twitter and then started talking via Skype.  Because of our passion for digital and social technology, we designed Social Work Virtual Pal (#SWVirtualPal) to promote and support the connection of social workers through computer-mediated engagement.  We believe this community fills a need in global social work education and practice, that aims to link social work students, educators, and practitioners from vast distances and across multiple time zones that in turn break down geographical boundaries without having to leave their own location and using minimal resources.

Dr. Amanda Taylor-Beswick was formerly a social work practitioner in Northern Ireland’s integrated Health and Social Care system. After 13 years as a social work academic in England, Amanda returned to Ireland (OCT 2019) to take up her new role – as a social work academic in the School of Social Sciences, Education, and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast. Amanda is interested in the development of creative teaching methodologies and engaging students in a dynamic, meaningful, and informative manner, as they embark upon their learning and future careers. Her research focuses on digitalization and how this phenomenon is shaping the social world and therefore social need. Amanda’s research revealed what is needed in social work education for social work students to be prepared for practice in a digital world. She is known for work that offers methods of developing ‘Digital Professionalism’ in social work education for practice and is the founder of the ‘Book Groups in Social Work Education, which can be found on Twitter: @SWBookGroup. Amanda has a number of teaching awards and was named in the Jisc Top 50 HE Influencers on Social Media, as one of the top three women in Tech – UK GOV award, and more recently as one of the UK’s ED TECH 50. Amanda is keen to connect students, academics, and practitioners around the globe through the SWVirtualPal method.

Dr. Laurel Iverson Hitchcock is a licensed social worker in the United States and teaches social work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL in the USA. Her current research projects include an examination of simulation in social work education; the effectiveness of technology-infused assignments in social work courses; and the role of technology in social work education. In 2012, Laurel received the SAGE/Council on Social Work Education Award for Innovative Teaching for her work incorporating social media into social work pedagogy. She blogs at Teaching and Learning in Social Work.

How to find & connect with your Social Work Virtual Pal?

For help finding a #SWvirtualpal:

  • Follow @SWVirtualpal on Twitter and see who else is following. 
  • Subscribe to our Twitter list of people using the #SWVirtualPal hashtag at: https://twitter.com/SWVirtualPal/lists/swvirtualpals.  See who is on the list and reach out to someone.
  • Ask to be added to our #SWVirtualPal Twitter list by tweeting @SWVirtualpal.  We will add your name to this list and someone may reach out to you. 
  • Do a hashtag search and see who else is tweeting with #SWvirtualpal.  Review who is using the hashtag and see if they might be a good fit for your #SWvirtualpal.

Here are some general tips for connecting with a colleague on the other side of the world:

  1. Reach out to several students and/or professionals.  It may take some time before you find a good fit with a #SWVirtualPal.
  2. Let the person know about #SWVirtualPal and why you are reaching out to them.
  3. Share general information about your professional interests, courses, or work.
  4. Ask questions about your #SWVirtualPal’s professional background and interests.
  5. Check-in periodically with your #SWVirtualPal. 
  6. While we use the hashtag on Twitter, you could use it on other social media platforms that support tagging.

Blog Posts about Social Work Virtual Pal:

How to contact us: