Teaching in higher education is often not addressed in doctoral education, even though many doctoral graduates will eventually teach. This article describes a biweekly teaching workshop, presents pitfalls and challenges that beginning instructors face, and advocates pedagogical training for doctoral students. Led by a well-known social work…

Digital technology has transformed social work education. Today's students can take individual courses and earn an entire degree without ever meeting their faculty members in person. Technological innovations such as videoconferencing, live online chat, asynchronous podcasts, and webinars enable social work educators to reach students whose…

One of the first tasks of the Social Work Distance Education Network at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary was to review the literature and address three research questions to inform policy making and planning relating to distance social work education programming. This paper is intended to disseminate responses to these…

Teaching research to social work students continues to be the topic of an ongoing dialog within the profession. The literature suggests that some form of a "real-world" or "hands-on" learning opportunity has many benefits for teaching a subject that students often are reluctant to engage in. Using online survey methods,…

In July 2010, the faculties of Law, Business and Economics, and Medicine at Monash University, Australia commenced placing law, finance, and social work students in a multidisciplinary clinic at a community legal service operated by the University. Students from the three disciplines began seeing legal service clients at the same time as a team.…

Blended learning is a newly emerging trend in higher education and is defined as the purposeful integration of synchronous and asynchronous learning to provide educational activities that maximize the benefits of each. This paper describes the development of a graduate social work foundation-year practice class in a blended online environment in…

In an effort to teach students the basic knowledge of research methods and the realities of conducting research in the context of agencies in the community, faculty developed and implemented a service learning model for teaching research and program evaluation to foundation-year MSW students. A year-long foundation course was designed in which one…

Service learning is a powerful pedagogical tool linking community service to academic learning. Several steps are necessary to implement service learning effectively into the curriculum. This study uses a case example as an exploratory study to pilot-test data on how service learning impacts student outcomes. The paper will (1) provide an overview…

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…

This study utilizes linear and log-linear stochastic models to examine the impact that a variety of variables (including graduate education) have on M.S.W. students' desires to work in clinical practice. Data was collected biannually (between 1992 and 1998) from a complete population sample of all students entering and exiting accredited graduate…

Foundation social work practice education is critical to the preparation of BSW practitioners for professional practice and the establishment of a theoretical and skill base upon which graduate students may build competencies in the advanced curriculum. Issues in the foundation practice curriculum may hinder this development. The common factors…

This article investigates the perceived quality and skill outcomes of Title IV-E MSW training programs at four universities from the perspective of their graduates. It also sought to identify necessary program supports, expectations of graduates as they began child welfare employment, and pre-employment factors related to retention. The vast…

Social work doctoral candidates and others without much or any formal teaching experience or training are frequently invited to teach a variety of graduate-level social work courses. This beginning teaching experience can be quite challenging both personally and professionally. Yet, it is seldom discussed in the literature, especially from a…

Evidence-based practice has received increased emphasis within the social work field in the past decade and social work educational programs are including more evidence-based practice content in their curricula. This article examines some issues social work educators may wish to consider as they teach evidence-based practice to social work…

Many course websites and much of the literature about them address the delivery of distance education. However, course websites are also useful for bringing the world to campus-based social work students, as well as for communicating between classes and making up for missed sessions. Course websites can incorporate synchronous or asynchronous…