Abstract:

Since August 2021, the Social Work degree program (Bachelor's and Master's) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland has been undergoing further development in order to meet the changing demands of practice and the needs of the heterogeneous student body. Quantitative and qualitative student surveys on the perceived teaching and learning culture are used to discuss the need for action for further development (Gawron/Uphoff, 2023). Based on the view that student engagement (Kahu/Nelson 2018) is an essential prerequisite for learning success, the student perspective is systematically incorporated into the project design. This strengthens participatory, discursive and dialogical elements in the development of the course and in the course itself.

The jointly developed objectives of the new degree program include more options to enable more individual learning paths, more flexibility to incorporate current topics into the degree program and a diversity-sensitive teaching and learning culture in which the resources of all participants are actively included.

Such individualized and personalized curricula are in vogue, but they are more time-consuming, complex and demanding and therefore require support services and a different approach to knowledge. Both requirements are currently being developed cooperatively.

In the mentoring format, mentors from the university and practice accompany students throughout their studies in constant groups and individual settings in order to jointly reflect on the skills acquisition process, provide orientation in their studies and individual profile development and strengthen their professional identity development. The newly designed support format also includes regular meetings with peers to promote social exchange and networking among students.

In order to support self-determined and collaborative learning, a didactic paradigm shift in dealing with knowledge is necessary. The use and provision of open educational resources (OER) on knowledge platforms makes it possible to have more time for individualized support and feedback that is effective for learning and supports the idea of lifelong learning. The use and creation of OER is therefore an important building block in the new curriculum. In line with this, a Swiss-wide knowledge platform for OER for the higher education sector is currently being set up in a cross-university cooperation (Germann, Kunz & Mürner, 2023).

The article presents and reflects on the cooperative and iterative development process on the one hand, and on the other, the initial experiences with the new mentoring format and the design of the knowledge platform for open educational resources are presented.

References:
[1] Gawron, M. & Uphoff, A. (2023). Lehr- und Lernkultur an der HSA FHNW in der Wahrnehmung der Studierenden. Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit. Olten
[2] Germann, M., Kunz, R. & Mürner, B. (2023). Sharing knowledge advances the discipline and profession of social work: Open Educational Resources (OER) - a new paradigm of cooperation in education. In: Social Work and Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic: internationalInsights toward Innovation and Creativity. (S. 301 – 3021). Taylor & Francis. London
[3] Kahu, Ella /Nelson, Karen (2018) Student Engagement in the Educational Interface: Understanding the Mechanisms of Student Success. Higher Education Research & Development. 37 (1). S. 58-71.

Keywords:

Participatory curriculum development, individual learning paths and support formats, peer formats, open educational resources.