social work practice educator assignment

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The Practice Educator's Handbook

• Sarah Williams - Bournemouth University, UK
• Lynne Rutter - Bournemouth University, UK
• Description

This series of books from Learning Matters is aimed at busy social work and health care practitioners, particularly in the context of integrated health and social care, who are looking to enhance their skills and extend their knowledge. Written from a practical point of view, they have clear links to both qualifying training as well as CPD. They are up-to-date, accessible and totally skills focused.

Practice education has never had a more important role in the development and delivery of quality social work practice. Updated to include the BASW (2022) Practice Educator Professional Standards, this Sixth Edition provides step-by-step guidance and support to those undertaking practice educator awards and to those new to the practice education role.  

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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The Practice Educator’s Handbook, 3rd edn, Sarah Williams and Lynne Rutter, series editors: Keith Brown and Steve Keen

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Karen Hillison, The Practice Educator’s Handbook, 3rd edn, Sarah Williams and Lynne Rutter, series editors: Keith Brown and Steve Keen, The British Journal of Social Work , Volume 47, Issue 3, April 2017, Pages 956–958, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw069

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This is an updated version of a previously published text ( Williams and Rutter, 2013) aimed primarily at practice educators, practice educators in training or those involved in training of practice educators. Having read the previous texts, a brief comparison convinced me that this was a book worth investing in: it provides a comprehensive and thorough framework for practice education closely following the Practice Educator Professional Standards, or PEPS, as the current assessment framework for practice educators in training. The book is divided into chapters which mirror the Domains, or areas, which a practice educator needs to attain, thereby being directly applicable to practice educator training programmes.

Changes from earlier editions include Chapter One providing more of a politically contextualised framework than previously, positioning the topic against a changing environment. In addition to the material in the second edition, there are two chapters in Section Four dedicated to the development of resilience and working with marginal or failing placements. The chapter references have been updated throughout and contain a brief résumé of the work which is particularly helpful, as a busy practitioner away from academia could easily select the most relevant texts.

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Learning contract and evaluation activities

Contact field education.

[email protected]

The School of Social Work currently is exploring and developing frameworks and applications of a trauma-informed and human rights (TI-HR) perspective across all levels of social work practice.

Trauma-Informed and Human Rights Perspective Activities

Please select a student type and learning objective to see a list of related Field Education activities. Activities relevant to a [TI-HR] perspective are labeled as such.

Student Type

• 8/21/18 Advanced Year
• 8/21/18 Foundation Year

Email us at [email protected]

Sample Learning Contract Projects for In-person or Remote Field Learning

These assignments can be useful adjuncts to in-person fieldwork as well as for when a disruption or stoppage in fieldwork occurs related to a public health issue or other event. They should be incorporated into student learning contracts and connected to relevant competencies.  

Examples include the following:

• Development of agency trainings on topics of self-care, ethics, etc.
• Development of curricula for groups or workshops on things like life skills, grief, trauma, intimate partner violence, etc.
• Development of written materials, such as handouts, flyers or brochures, for service recipients or wider community on topics such as voting rights, informed consent, etc.
• Agency-specific policy review with written recommendations on topics such as safety, use of social mediate, utilization of technology, etc. 
• Legislative policy review paper on laws and policies impacting the population students work with (ex- Indian Child Welfare Act, Emergency Mental Health Holds, Homeless Camping Ban, etc.) and provide a synopsis of key takeaways or prepare advocacy materials (letter to editor, develop key talking points, etc.)  
• Literature review on field-specific topics, i.e. effectiveness of an intervention, how interruption of services impacts mental health or economic stability, etc.
• Grant work, including researching potential funding opportunities and/or preparing specific sections of a proposal. 
• Community networking and Resource development, i.e. teleconferencing with various service providers, participating in resource mapping, and develop a list of resources for clients with services offered, referral process, etc. 
• Completing on-line trainings and providing a certification of completion and/or a written reflection paper.
• Engaging in volunteer work related to population served, or in response to community crisis and providing a written reflection paper. 

Assignments

Creating a virtual social work office: an innovative way to engage clients (5-10 hours).

Social workers are finding new and creative ways to engage clients in the pandemic. One way is through creating a virtual office. Clients can "visit," see helpful resources and activities, and schedule appointments. In this activity, students will enhance their technology skills and create a product that will help them engage with clients at their field agency. To participate, you can:

• View this presentation
• View Bitmoji Classroom Tutorial [19:12 min YouTube video]
• Create a virtual office using the instructions in the presentation
• Send out links and instructions for the virtual office to stakeholders at your field site

Watch Creating a Virtual Social Work Office: An Innovative Way to Engage Clients [10:02 min]

To cite: Shanahan, M. & Lynch, M. (2020). Creating a Virtual Social Work Office: An Innovative Way to Engage Clients. Retrieved from  http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/field-educators-liaisons/field-educator-resources/orientation-and-training-new/learning-contracts-and-performance-evaluations/learning-contract-evaluation-activity-search.html .

Self-Care Assignment (4-5 Hours)

Self-care is an important component of social work practice (and life in general), especially in times of stress. While many of you will have already seen some of these resources, and certainly given thought to your personal self-care, it is important to regularly re-visit our self-care plans and activities. We are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and we want to encourage and ensure that students are taking care of themselves in positive and healthy ways. For this assignment, we want to students to spend around five hours engaging in the study of self-care, and developing a personal plan for yourself.

Review the following:

• Self-Care for Social Workers During the Coronavirus Pandemic (NASW Podcast)
• Six Domains of Self-Care: Attending to the Whole Person (Butler, et al. 2019)
• Kristin Neff: The Three Components of Self-Compassion (Youtube video)
• UBSSW Self-Care Starter Kit
• Kristin Neff: The Three Componentsof Self-Compassion (Youtube video)

Field Podcast Assignment (35-40 Hours)

This assignment can be done individually or with a partner. The purpose of this assignment is to help students learn about assessment, evaluation, and/or intervention skills while also learning about technology tools and resources that will help them be informed about social work practice. In this assignment you will also demonstrate your ability to present yourself in a professional manner, self-awareness, and ability to engage in critical peer consultation.

An audio podcast is a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a portable media player, computer, or other device. The content of a podcast can inspire, inform, or entertain an audience. An audio format can be used as a way to capture people’s attention and direct their concern to the topic you cover in ways that you cannot do in writing. You will save your audio file in an mp3 or mp4 format, which is the default for most recording devices.

Before you record, edit, and upload your podcast, you will:

• Listen to a podcast and rate it using the attached rubric
• Review attached material about storytelling best practices and audio technology
• Review YouTube videos related to creating podcasts
• Listen to a podcast that is similar to the type of podcast you will create
• Choose a topic, audience, and interview or discussion guide for your podcast. Draft your narrative: what’s the story you want to tell? What do you imagine will flow from this story? What will listeners want to know about your topic? How will you elicit or develop this information?

For your podcast - your podcast should focus on a topic that is relevant to your field agency, the podcast can then be shared with your field site to use as a resource. For example, if you are placed in a school, any topic about education and/or children and youth would be relevant. You could also highlight how your agency is adapting to the changes and stresses associated with the Corona Virus pandemic.

The podcast assignment has three parts:

1. Create a podcast between 15-20 minutes in length, including intro. 

• The intro should be 1-4 minutes and identify you (name and your role as a social work student), and any other people, include the date of the recording, and explain what is talked about during the podcast. It should also mention any distractions (that can’t be edited out) that happen during the podcast. You might also discuss background or relevance of the topic to social work, and what audience might benefit from listening. For best results, this should be created after the podcast is recorded.
• If you are conducting an interview, questions should help weave a story. If you are not interviewing, your narrative should still help weave a story. See story arc presentation handout.
• The podcast should end with a thank you (if interview) or other clear ending (where to find more information on the topic, etc.)
• The interview should be edited to cut distractions where possible, pauses, and add a very short (a few sec) intro/exit music or other appropriate sounds that enhance the recording.
• If you have external references, mention the website/article/etc as “show notes” which will be posted alongside your podcast if shared widely.

2. Have a peer review your podcast using the attached rubric. After the review, you may choose to re-record or edit any part of the podcast to address changes. Complete the reflection portion of your assignment. Your reflection should answer these questions: (a) what did it take to create your podcast; (b) what did you learn from creating the podcast, about technology and your topic; (c) how is podcasting similar and different to writing a paper on the topic; (d) how will you use podcasts in the future; (e) if you worked with a partner, describe how you divided the work and who did what.

3. Complete a short survey about this assignment. This survey is worth one hour of field time. You will upload the last page of the survey (confirmation of submission) to receive the extra credit. Your answers to the survey will not impact your grade, but will be used to improve the assignment in the future, and the information will also be anonymized and used for research if you give consent. The survey will ask you about your learning and strengths/weaknesses of this assignment.

Complete a reflection paper that covers: (a) what did it take to create your podcast; (b) what did you learn from creating the podcast, about technology and your topic; (c) how is podcasting similar and different to writing a paper on the topic; (d) how will you use podcasts in the future; (e) if you worked with a partner, describe how you divided the work and who did what.

Consider sharing your podcast with the Field Team at [email protected] and/or via social media. For example, your podcast can be published with accompanying text via Wordpress or other blogging site, and a link to your post can be shared on Twitter or other platform using the hashtag #UBSSW. 

• Digital Storytelling: Tools, Techniques, and Traditions (Sage et al., 2020)
• Three files posted below, Podcasting for Social Work, Consent Form, and Rubric and Checklist

Cultural Humility Assignment (9-15 Hours)

The online version of this module, Conversations About Culture: Video and Lesson Plan, can be found on this website .

The content is designed to facilitate skills for effective cross cultural communication and collaboration. The very important concept of cultural humility is a central focus. Cultural humility entails acknowledging difference, and positioning ourselves as people interested in learning and understanding. Cultural humility is particularly relevant to a trauma-informed, human-rights-based approach to social work practice; it underscores the dignity and value of the individual and empowers the client as expert in their experience.

Because the process of self-reflection is so important for the development of cultural humility, sample reflection exercises are provided. Learning objectives include the following:

• Define the concept of cultural humility;
• Discuss the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility;
• Highlight the role cultural humility plays in social work practice;
• Explore the dynamics of difference;
• Reflect on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes which are associated with becoming culturally self-aware and valuing diversity;
• Increase awareness of unconscious cultural stereotypes, and the impact of these on service recipients.
• Introduction Video - This video defines the concept of cultural humility and highlights related components. Cultural humility is defined as an ongoing process of self- reflection and self-critique. It entails working collaboratively with clients, and embracing difference. Students, faculty and practitioners reflect on the role of cultural humility in their work and share their insights.
• Cultural Humility: People, Principles and Practice s Video
• Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence (NASW)
• Retrieve from UB Libraries: Fisher-Borne, Jessie Montana Cain & Suzanne L. Martin (2015). From Mastery to Accountability: Cultural Humility as an Alternative to Cultural Competence, Social Work Education, 34:2, 165-181, DOI: 10.1080/02615479.2014.977244
• Optional Additional Readings and Videos

Technology in a Pandemic Assignment (4-5 Hours)

The use of technology, both personally and professionally has profound impacts on our lives and our work. Recently, CSWE and NASW have put out standards for the ethical use of technology and making tech proficiency a critical component of social work education. This assignment allows students to explore various uses of technology and their implications for practice and self-care.

• Listen to the following podcast: New York Times: Alone Together podcast (7 minutes)
• Review at least 4 blog posts on Laurel Hitchcock’s Social Work Technology Blog
• Read: The Tech That Could Be Our Best Hope for Fighting Covid-19—and Future Outbreaks
• Watch: How Technology is Being Utilized to Mitigate the Covid-19 Virus
• What ways are you using technology for self care and to stay connected to peers?
• How have you been using technology in your field placement? Do you have any new or innovative ideas of ways that technology can be implemented in your field placement?
• How can technology be used in social work to improve practice?
• Do new technology (social media) pose any unique risks or threats in an environment that the Covid-19 pandemic?

Training or Volunteer Participation Reflection Assignment

This sample reflection paper assignment can be used in conjunction with training, volunteer or other activities assigned by the Field Educator. 

Write a Reflection Paper (at least 3-5 pages) on the training you attended, responding to the prompts below, and addressing where possible connections to competencies 1-9. 

Submission instructions: Students can submit their reflections, noting number of completed training hours plus time spent completing this reflection, directly to their Field Educator. 

(1-2 Pages) Respond to the following prompts

• What I learned
• What I would do differently
• My thoughts going forward

(1-2 Pages) Next, consider any connections to the nine Social Work competencies.

• Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
• Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice
• Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
• Competency 4: Engage In Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
• Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice
• Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
• Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
• Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
• Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

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Key Components for Effective Social Work Assignments

Posted By Laurel Hitchcock on Jan 26, 2023 | 0 comments

As social work educators, we create assignments to give our students opportunities to learn about the profession and develop competencies needed for social practice. Assignments also offer a way to assess if students are growing in their understanding of how to be professional social workers. Assignments can range from reading a chapter in the course textbook to a 20-page research paper and more. I have shared many assignments on this blog that I have used in various classes. What I have learned over the years is that it takes effort and structure to create a quality assignment that will help students connect what they are learning in the classroom to their field experience and beyond. In this blog post, I share my thoughts on how to structure an assignment that is clear and contextualized for the social work profession, using three simple questions – Why?, What?, and How?

With this question, you are trying to explain why students need to do this assignment—explaining “the why” of an assignment gives students an understanding of how the assignment fits into learning about the social work profession and how it fits into the course. You are giving students a general sense of the project before the details while also helping them understand how this assignment will inform their future practice as social workers. To get started with drafting the why of an assignment, ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the course objectives or student learning outcomes?
• What are the social work competencies addressed by your course (think about the competencies outlined by Council on Social Work Education [CSWE] )?
• What are the social work values addressed in your course (think about the National Association of Social Worker’s Code of Ethics)?
• How does your course fit into the overall curriculum of the social work program?

Answering these questions about your course should help you define your reasons for including assignments as part of your course. Not only will this help you explain to students why these assignments are important, but you will also discover keywords from the competencies or course objectives that you can incorporate into your assignment’s purpose statement. Also, you will be able to add a brief reminder of what was previously learned in the course (or other courses) and how the assignment builds on this content. Lastly, you will want to write a brief statement about the learning objectives for the assignment.

Here is an example from an infographic assignment I developed with colleagues :

This infographic assignment aims to help students practice advocacy & brokering skills as it relates to a human service issue and/or topic. Students are expected to create an infographic that provides statistics and/or facts on a chosen social problem.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this assignment, students will be able to:

• Create an engaging infographic that provides awareness and/or describes preventative measures related to a chosen topic
• Conduct research to identify statistics, resources, and other data relevant to a chosen topi c
• Increase ability to interpret and communicate a social work topic
• Demonstrate communication and advocacy skills by sharing and promoting one’s infographic via social media

As you write the learning objectives for the assignment, I recommend using Bloom’s Taxonomy to identify action words for your objectives. Briefly, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification system for learning outcomes and is commonly used in higher education.

Next, you will want to explain “the what” of the assignment, focusing on what the students will be doing for the assignment, and what they need to do to complete it. Here is where I think about the learning I want the students to demonstrate as part of the assignment. I have found CSWE’s definition of holistic competence helpful when considering what I want students to gain from an assignment. Specifically, CSWE recognizes that social workers demonstrate their professional competence with four dimensions – their knowledge, skills, values, and ability to think critically and reflect. When applied to an assignment, I will consider each of the four dimensions with questions like these:

• Knowledge – What content do the students need to learn, discuss, etc.? What do they need know they know about a topic? Models, theories, or structures?
• Skills – What skills do they need to demonstrate? Techniques or methods?
• Values – What core social work values connect to this assignment? Service, Integrity,
• Cognitive and affective processes – How will critical thinking appear in this assignment? Critical Reflection? How can this assignment help students develop professional judgment?

Again, Bloom’s Taxonomy and CSWE’s Social Work Competencies can be helpful here. Do not be afraid of incorporating language or phrasing from these sources. You can review the educators’ resources on the CSWE’s website. I like to “collect” social work assignments as models for myself. When appropriate, I acknowledge the resource, person, or organization who inspired the assignment with a brief note at the end or in the footnote.

Next, I state (or re-state) the genre of the assignment (i.e., paper, presentation, discussion post, exam, etc.) and give some guidelines for structure and formatting, such as a page or word limit, type of software program to use, or writing style. Of course, these guidelines will vary by the type of assignment. Here is an example from the same infographic assignment:

Please use the following guidelines when creating your infographic:

• Include APA-style references and in-text citations to support that information in your assignment.
• Use only images and other visual content that are in the public domain.
• Apply the rule of three when selecting colors for your infographic.
• Select fonts from the primary categories of font families and stick to a font palette.

For this question, I like to include a list of all the tasks a student needs to complete in chronological order, which can help them plan for the assignments. Please think of this as scaffolding, an educational technique that supports students as they learn new ideas or skills. Briefly, scaffolding includes modeling as the instructor, practicing (either as a group or individually), and then providing resources so the students can accomplish the assignment independently. For this example, here is the task list I provide for the infographic assignment:

To complete this assignment, each student will do the following tasks:

• Review an infographic as part of a class discussion
• Review the course resources about how to create an infographic
• Identify the topic for your infographic
• Collect data and information needed for the infographic
• Create a draft infographic
• Get feedback from a peer as part of a class discussion
• Revise and submit their final infographic
• Share the infographic with others outside the class as appropriate
• Complete the self-reflection journal about your learning

The goal here is to draft a task list that helps students think through the logical steps of an assignment without micro-managing it for them. Two strategies that help with this include:

Tying the tasks back to previously learned content – For example, when reviewing an exemplar infographic as part of a class discussion, I will often select an infographic about a topic that the students are already familiar with (i.e., a topic from a previous course or one already covered in class). This helps to re-enforce the topic with the students and allows me to focus on the skills of creating an infographic rather than answering many questions about a new topic.

Giving students as much choice as possible – For example, I prefer that students select their own topics for assignments when possible. Other ways to give choice include letting students select the software or web-based program they prefer to complete an assignment and design options. As you may already know, giving students choices related to assignments supports a trauma-informed approach to teaching and offers students opportunities to deepen their knowledge about a topic of interest to them.

Finally, I provide information on how the assignment will be assessed. This helps the students understand the assignment’s expectations and provides transparency about how I grade. Rubrics are one of my favorite tools for grading as I can use them with any assignment and share descriptions of the criteria I will be using to assess student work. You can see an example of the rubric used for this infographic assignment here. Additionally, you might want to consider using a meta rubric, which is a rubric for your assignment rubric. A meta rubric will help you quickly identify where the assignment needs updates for the next semester.

How do you come up with assignments for your social work courses? I am interested in hearing about your processes and assignments. Please share in the comment section below.

How to cite:

Hitchcock, L.I. (2023, January 26). Key Components for Effective Social Work Assignments.  Teaching and Learning in Social Work .  https://laureliversonhitchcock.org/2023/01/26/key-components-for-effective-social-work-assignments/

Author: Laurel Hitchcock

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