Using ICT to Teach Clinical Social Work Skills in New Zealand Academic Reflections
Keywords:
Information communication technology, E-learning, Social work education, Online learning platformsAbstract
This article explores New Zealand social work educators’ experiences of using information and communication technologies (ICT) to teach clinical social work skills. The development of new digital technologies, blended learning approaches and a desire to engage with social work students has prompted social work educators to consider the role of ICT in the delivery of clinical social work courses. The research was an exploratory study utilising semi-structured, qualitative interviews with seven social work educators from New Zealand tertiary providers. The aim of this research was to understand New Zealand social work educators’ views on ICT. This included how well existing ICT works as well as the challenges and future possibilities of using ICT in teaching clinical social work. The results of the study confirmed that social work educators across New Zealand utilise a variety of ICT platforms including Zoom, Skype, Adobe Connect, Moodle and Blackboard, amongst others. These tools have been employed asynchronously to create a blended learning environment with discussion forums and to deliver course materials including written documents and podcasts. Social work educators also adapted the ICT to support synchronous educational opportunities enabling their students to be present in virtual classrooms to learn, engage and practise the use of interpersonal clinical social work skills. The results from this study support that existing ICT offers the opportunity to engage face-to-face with social work students outside of the physical classroom and can be utilised to support the incremental development of clinical skills. The use of ICT to teach clinical social work skills is consequently redefining the nature of face-to-face contact. This challenges social work educators and regulators to consider what face-to-face means for meeting the standards for professional recognition and registration
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