Over the past two decades, the number of online and distance social work programs has grown rapidly. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted interest in online options from both students and instructors. As programs grow, it is important to recognize the need for retention strategies, especially for students with marginalized identities. The…

Most of the studies exploring social work education's impact on working with older adults (OA) examine intentions among students. This study goes beyond expressed intention and focuses upon the actual post-graduation career choices of 20 cohorts (1996-2016) of BSW graduates of an OA concentration at an Israeli school of social work. The 203 study…

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…

While much is written about the professionalization of practitioners with bachelor's degrees in social work, there is a void in the literature with regard to the role of those with undergraduate minors in social work. The few articles on social work minor programs are dated, yet the number of such programs is increasing, but with little…

The long-recognized disconnect between research and practice is reflected by social work students who often report significant apprehension about their research classes, likely at least in part because of a poor understanding of the research-practice interface and an unfamiliarity with larger professional social change initiatives like the Grand…

Over the past three decades, social work education gradually has begun to embrace distance education as a viable alternative (and supplement) to traditional face-to-face education. While some feel that social work's response has been slow, compared to sister professions, it has been explicit, extensive and sure. This paper looks at the current…

While direct client experience is the optimal environment for social work students to learn interviewing skills, vicarious learning, or learning through observing peers or an instructor in a simulated client encounter, also affords students the opportunity for personal growth and reflection. To explore students' experiences of vicarious learning…

Immersion learning is one form of experiential education and has great utility in social work education. However, there is limited research on student learning outcomes from immersion learning courses in social work education. This ethnographic research describes an immersion learning course offered to BSW students (N = 9) and the learning…

Developing critical consciousness is key to social workers becoming competent practitioners, but due to its multifaceted nature, finding a single classroom strategy to effectively engage all students in this process is challenging. Problem-posing education is a method that encourages students to examine the sociopolitical, historical, and cultural…

In response to needs identified by the Institute of Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers, this article describes an experiential assignment to increase BSW students' skills in end-of-life care. In this assignment, students discussed end-of-life wishes with another, completed an advance directive, and processed their experience.…

In response to the well documented divisiveness throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, faculty members at one university developed a "teach-in" to help students identify and respond to the resulting difficult communications in positive ways. This was accomplished through planned activities implementing micro/macro theories and…

This paper presents pilot study results with 59 students enrolled in online Bachelor of Social Work courses that used VoiceThread (VT), an asynchronous communication platform. This study explored benefits and limitations associated with using VT to complete assignments, learn course content, and engage classmates. Students completed an online…

This study explored whether the experience of completing a Bachelor of Social Work degree with embedded diversity education has an effect on a student's cultural humility, specifically looking at the variables of cultural awareness and commitment to lifelong learning. Students were administered the Diversity & Oppression Scale at the beginning…

For this study of social work degree programs, data were drawn from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) website, the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GASE) website, and the websites of 841 U.S. social work programs, including the 763 programs accredited (or in candidacy for accreditation) by CSWE when these data were…

American Indians and Alaska Natives are underrepresented as social work students, social work educators, and within the profession in general. In addition, many historical and socioeconomic factors have contributed to disproportionality in higher education attainment between these students and those within other ethnic groups. Compounding the…