Web-Based Degree: Connecting Social Work Education and Clinical Practice Council on Social Work Education 58th Annual Program Meeting

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Web-Based Degree Connecting Social Work
Education and Clinical PracticeCouncil on
Social Work Education58th Annual Program Meeting

• Rhonda G. Patrick, LCSW, MPA
• University of Houston
• Graduate College of Social Work

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Agenda

• Introductions
• Background FDIP Project
• Background Designing Web-Based Learning
  Environments
• Planning
• Conceptualization
• Creation
• Implementation
• Assessment
• Implications and Recommendations

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The Project

• University of Houston wanting to increase number
  of hybrid/online courses
• Expansion of Master Social Work program in US (20
  currently-many coming online in next 3yrs)-
  Pushed by USC program coming online and rumors of
  private online university coming online.
• Submission of FDIP Grant to develop four courses
  in Fall 2011, Second for six additional courses
  in Fall 2012.

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Courses-Fall 2011

• Foundation Practice Skills Lab- Clinical
• Administrative Practice- Macro
• DSM-IV Assessment- Clinical
• Transtheortical Social Work Practice- Clinical
• Child Abuse and Neglect (Dropped)

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Web Based Learning What is It?

• Technology Enhanced
• Blended/Hybrid
• Online
• Face to Face (F2F)

30 of all college students take at least one
online class. 77 of college presidents report
that their institutions now offer online courses.
89 of four-year public colleges and
universities offer online classes. 75 of
universities report that the economic downturn
has increased demand for online courses. 57 of
recent college graduates say when they were in
college they used a laptop, smartphone or tablet
computer in class at least sometime. Among
college graduates who have taken a class online,
15 have earned a degree entirely online.
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What Informs Web Based Education?

• Research
• General Distance Education Research
• General Online Education Research
• Social Work Specific Research
• Experience
• Other Disciplines
• Other Social Work Programs
• Individuals

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What Should Inform Web Based Education?
Patricia M. Reeves and Thomas C. Reeves (2008).
Design considerations for online learning in
health and social work education.
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Planning

• Administrative Issues
• Faculty Issues
• Students Issues
• Who is our student?
• Program Considerations
• Accreditation
• How vs What

Students How Students Are Learning What
Technology Students Are Using
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Planning

• Technology Infrastructure
• University
• User End
• Accessing University Resources
• Instructional Design Staff
• Faculty Development Courses

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Conceptualization

• Pedagogy
• F2F to Hybrid
• Hybrid to Online
• Technology Enhanced Courses

• Nearly 64 of faculty said it takes somewhat
  more or a lot more effort to teach online
  compared to a face-to-face.
• Over 85 of the faculty with online course
  development experience said it takes somewhat
  more or a lot more effort.
• 32 of institutions think that more time and
  effort is a significant barrier to wide adoption
  of online

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Model of Learning Community of Inquiry
Video Resource Social Presence Cognitive
Presence Teaching Presence Learner Presence
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Conceptualization

• Planning Tools
• Blended Learning Tool Kit
• Course Blue Print
• Learning Guides
• Story Boards
• Checklists
• Other Tools

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Rovai, A.P., Ponton, M.K., Baker, J.D. (2008).
Distance Learning in Higher Education. Teachers
College Columbia University New York.
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Creation

• Who is doing the work?
• Internal
• Third Party Developers
• Basic Design Principles
• Essentials Companion Website
• Do we need to BETA test?
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous

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Creation

• What technology will we use and how will we use
  it?
• Course Management System (BB, Sakai, Moodle)
• Courseware (Publishers)
• Public Domain (YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare)
• Other Technology Tools
• Web Based vs. Mobile Applications
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

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Implementation

• Student Issues
• Student Choice
• Orientation
• Assessing Fit
• Retention
• Success- Building in tools to facilitate

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Implementation

• Faculty Issues
• Mentoring, Facilitating, Teaching
• Adjunct vs. Faculty
• What if no one wants to teach online?

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Ways to encourage faculty participation

• Frame in terms of student need and the need to
  reach new students.
• Stress commitment to quality
• Stress increased flexibility
• Stress the use of new technological tools and how
  these can be brought back into the classroom to
  enhance classroom instruction
• Provide appropriate technical and designer support

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Assessment

• Issues with Quality
• SLOAN Scorecard

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Assessment

• Using CMS Analytics
• Importance of tracking user activity
• Attendance
• Reminders
• Engagement
• Retention

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3 Types of Analytics
Time based (when students access the course)-
Analytics can influence improvements in content
availability, assignment due dates, webinars,
virtual office hours, etc. Individual
assignments/content (how often a student hits
an assignment/content)- Track how often
student(s) view a content item (document, video,
podcast, webinar archive, etc.) Discussion Board
(how/when are students active in discussion
boards)- create a discussion that remains a
fluid conversation over the week(s)
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Assessment

• Students Assessments
• Course Specific (Technical)
• Competency Specific
• Academic Dishonesty

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Implication and Recommendations

• Ongoing Course Evolution
• Technology Enhancements
• Barriers and Facilitators
• User End Issues
• What Users Want
• What Users Have
• Faculty Issues

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Questions?
Additional Information rgpatrick_at_uh.edu Presentat
ion posted at www.rgpatrick.com