Teaching approaches are needed that can normalize students' process of exploring emotions related to their learning and support the internalization of the professional social work values (i.e. human rights and social justice). Within the literature on social work education, the importance of affective processes to support the students' learning of…

This paper discusses a doctoral level epistemology course in social work, the course design and the arts-based methods used to help students conceptualize and transform their ideas around epistemology, research, and practice. The paper also includes students' first hand accounts of their art-making experiences in the class, their learning process…

Most social work students receive only limited instruction about disabilities in their general coursework despite a growing need for trained social workers in this area. In this paper, we argue that coursework dedicated to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) needs to be implemented as an essential component of a…

This article provides a prospective model syllabus for graduate-level social work courses exploring the interactions between social work and race--both historical and present, both productive and problematic--and makes an argument for this subject matter's relevance for a course to be implemented in the graduate-level curriculum of social work…

This article discusses the course design and strategies for a graduate-level Spanish social work practice course developed by faculty at a southern California MSW program. The primary focus of the course is to develop and improve clinical and professional vocabulary and, in the process, increase cultural knowledge and understanding. An overview of…

Increasing MSW students' information competencies was achieved through a 2-year project in which online video tutorials, in-class exercises, and course assignments were created and integrated into two required foundation courses. Tutorials demonstrated basic and advanced search techniques, online databases, and online course-specific research…

Critical thought is a necessary element for proficient practice in social work at both the micro and macro levels. For this reason, social work educators must seek to integrate critical thought in BSW and MSW curricula. This article provides a method for achieving this integration in the social welfare policy course. The method includes the four…

Designing an effective research learning experience for undergraduate social work students is challenging. Similarly, although content on elderly adults is a natural fit in many parts of the undergraduate curriculum, doing so in a research course can be a difficult challenge. Described in this article is an undergraduate research course that has…

The article describes a community organizing course that was as dynamic as community organizing itself. By employing a combination of teaching approaches, community organizing philosophy, and pedagogical and andragogical techniques for student training, the course challenged students to discover their beliefs and the role of the community and the…

Doctoral student training has become focused in recent years on acquiring subject-area knowledge and research skills, rather than on teaching. This shift often leaves aspiring junior faculty feeling unprepared to address the demanding pedagogical requirements of the professoriate. In the area of social work, few programs contain a structured,…

In October 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work entered the online education environment with the launch of the first national web-based MSW program. After an initial enrollment of 80 students, in just 3 years this state-of-the-art MSW, offered in a technology-advanced synchronous and asynchronous format, has generated…

In this article, the authors propose a comprehensive integration model (CIM) based on learning transfer principles that promote integration by systematically and multidimensionally linking coursework with field education. This model improves the integration of classroom and field instruction by specifying how content in each course and in the…

Our country's increasing social diversity, the richness and complexity of cultures, diversity of self-defined individual identities, and complexity of cross-cultural interactions make effective diversity teaching a challenging but critical need. In addition, for services to be provided in culturally competent manner educators must prepare social…

This paper advances the knowledge base of social work education by employing a critical social work framework to inform teaching strategies that 1) raise critical consciousness, 2) uncover privileged positions that inform research, and 3) conceptualize social work practice that disrupts privilege and oppression. The premise of a need for such…

Describes teaching an undergraduate social work course on work with multicultural populations; uses a particular pedagogical approach which structures learning-teaching as a holistic process, viewing both intellectual and emotional sources of knowledge. Integrates the intellectual and emotional with a variety of educational devices including…