Review of Teaching & Learning in Social Work for 2019

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Dec 26, 2019

It is that time of year again –  the annual review of the Teaching & Learning in Social Work Blog.  This will be my fourth year reflecting on the work of this blog; the first end of the year post was in 2016.  This year, I am thinking more about my motivation for starting and maintaining this blog for the past seven years.  As I think back on why I started Teaching & Learning in Social Work, I’d have to say I wanted to be a more confident writer.  Academic writing is not easy.  This blog helped me to find my academic voice while allowing me to experiment with writing.  I try to be personable in the posts I write, using plain language and concise phrasing.  While I can say I am more comfortable with my professional writing, the greatest benefit to this blog is having space to share my work and the work of others in a very non-traditional space.  Publishing is a peer-reviewed journal is currency for academics, and it is a narrow, rigid, and polished way to share one’s work.  By writing blog posts about my work early in the process, I can share with a wider audience including students, social work practitioners and professionals from other fields. I can also as publish work that may never find a home as a journal article, but is still of value to others.  For example, I write frequently about my assignments and classroom activities on this blog.  I also post information about my conference presentations here so others can easily reference the materials. Overall, I can say with confidence that writing and publishing Teaching & Learning in Social Work has truly be beneficial and motivating for my academic writing.

For 2019, I had three goals for improving the blog: 

Digital Advocacy in the Social Work Classroom: Students speaking out online

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Aug 7, 2019

Editor’s Note:  Julia Kleinschmit is a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Iowa, and Breanne Benson is a currently MSW student in the School of Social Work at The University of Iowa.  In this blog post, Julia writes about an assignment that uses social media to promote advocacy skills and professionalism among social work students.  Breanne offers her experience with the assignment as a student and reflects on how she grew her skills as a future social worker.  Julia can be found on LinkedIn, and Breanne is on Instagram at _bmbenson.

Addressing Technology in Changing Social Work Environment

The Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior requires social workers to use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes. Many have focused on the need for confidentiality in electronic communication and social media boundary management. These are important issues, but at the University of Iowa’s School of Social Work, Megan Gilster, Stephen Cummings, and I believed we could also teach MSW students to use their online identities and social media as powerful tools for effective advocacy.