Self-care is an essential social work practice skill that should be taught in social work courses. This teaching note describes the evaluation of an assignment for BSW students (N=48) designed to teach self-care skills. The purpose of this project was to 1) understand students' conceptualization of self-care and 2) determine if this assignment…

Via an asynchronous online discussion forum, 186 college students narrated a life history, as one of their grandparents, making "I" statements. The aim of this mixed method study was to further examine the intersectionality of race and gender revealed in these narratives. Thematic analyses were conducted to identify themes related to…

Engaging in diversity and difference in practice is an essential skill for all social workers. The Council on Social Work Education emphasizes the importance of the development of these skills in social work education. The aim of this research was to influence best practice teaching standards and outcome measures for this competency. Self-study…

The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare has defined 12 challenges for the social work profession, one of which is Close the Health Gap, addressing health inequities in the United States. The Close the Health Gap challenge is appropriate for the profession from historical, theoretical, ethical, and professional perspectives.…

Diversity and social justice are essential in the field of social work; therefore, it is essential for social work educators to identify effective methods for teaching diversity courses. This study used a mixed-methods evaluation to assess student perceptions and the impact of innovations on teaching methods and assignments for an undergraduate…

Social justice is a hallmark of social work practice. The call to end oppression and discrimination are voiced in the Grand Challenge, Achieve Equal Opportunity and Justice, the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics preamble, and the Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. However, none of…

This article explores the use of an interview assignment using photovoice to help students gain a deeper understanding about their reactions to others' grief and loss processes with the goal of facilitating their effective work with those who are grieving. Photovoice is a participatory research method and tool using images to explore narratives.…

Transformative learning approaches in social work education emphasize the importance of bringing together experience, critical reflection, and dialogue to promote individual and social change. An experiential learning assignment, Social Work Week, was designed to sharpen undergraduate students' group practice skills and introduce them to the range…

BSW students appear to be under increasing levels of stress. In response to concerns about students' well-being, we developed a three-credit-hour self-care elective. This article explores students' participation in the primary assignment of the course, a modified version of mindfulness-based stress reduction. We also present empirical findings of…

Skilled, ethical use of social media can advance social justice, impact policy, engage and educate the community, and elevate social workers. To assure that MSW students develop these skills, we created an assignment that required students to use a professional social media profile to advocate for a cause or policy based on findings from a needs…

Student-produced videos are assignments that can increase students' understanding of course content. This teaching note describes how an undergraduate Human Behavior in the Social Environment I course used student-produced public service announcement videos to develop an understanding of the different life stages in humans. The advantages and…

The Policy Advocacy and Social Change course is a specialized practice course offered in the Master of Social Work Program (MSW) at the University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. The course is designed to introduce MSW students to a variety of policy frameworks (i.e., Kingdon's policy window, political model of…

Meaningful integration of evidence-based practice (EBP) in graduate school curricula may be best achieved by partnerships between service agencies and academia. This article provides a concrete example for teaching EBP in a master's-level social work course through collaboration with an agency with a strong track record of EBP implementation. The…

The field of social work recognizes the need to evaluate one's practice. Social work educators are mandated to prepare students to evaluate their own practices and be knowledgeable consumers of research. The goal of being competent in both of these is often challenged by the fact that many students do not initially understand the relationship…

The emergence of COVID-19 created significant disruption for MSW students across the United States. This study uses several data for a case study of MSW student attitudes about COVID-19, online instruction, virtual field placement, and innovations during the emergence of COVID-19 in the United States. Data includes qualitative data from weekly…