Abstract:

At the intersection of the vast growth in the provision of distance education in social work programs and the focus on competency-based education expressed in the 2008 EPAS (Council on Social Work Education, 2008), social work educators find themselves compelled to avoid obsolescence by joining those providing distance education and, at the same time, provide quantifiable evidence of the effectiveness of their coursework presented via computer mediated modalities

While numerous studies have explored the effectiveness of coursework presented via computer technologies (Freddolino & Sutherland, 2000; Richardson & Swan, 2003; Rovai, 2002) and have served to validate the integrity of distance education, other studies have noted the resistance of social work faculty toward integrating technology and the clinical practice skills courses (Moore, 2005). Social work faculty concur, for the most part, that courses such as social welfare policy, research, and human behavior (HBSE I) may conform to the web-based formats as these course tend to be less interactive. Teaching clinical practice skills, on the other hand, is viewed as being less compatible with computer-mediated modalities as this course is intensely interactive and hands-on (Siegel at al., 1998).

This workshop will present the use of Elluminate technology in the teaching and assessment of clinical practice skills in a foundation social work practice course. Elluminate software is a synchronous computer-mediated experience presented utilizing webcam technology. Student role plays will be presented “live” in the workshop so that participants can view first-hand the interaction and active learning activities that are experienced in the Elluminate classroom.

Keywords:

Elluminate, webcam, blended, social work, practice skills.