Supporting Child Welfare Traineeship Students through an Online Peer Network
This article describes the implementation of a peer network for social work traineeship students pursuing or continuing careers in child welfare. Literature on the best principles and practices for online community building reviewed and an explanation of how these best practices were utilized to build the online community is provided. Initial program design is described as well as program developments that occurred over four years of the program. The article then examines how the program’s evaluation was carried out and reviews some of the evaluation data. The article concludes with a discussion about the successes and challenges experienced in building the peer network and how other social work or traineeship programs, or agencies, might use an online peer network to support social work students and professionals.
Deploying virtual communities of practice as a digital tool in social work: a rapid review and critique of the literature
Abstract This paper provides a rapid review, and a critique of extant literature on the use of virtual communities of practice (VCoP) as a type of digital tool in enhancing the social work profession. VCoP are ubiquitous and well documented as increasing the deployment of evidence-based practice interventions, and offers a borderless professional interaction for social workers. To this end, a rapid review of extant literature spanning a decade (2005–2015) was conducted using four electronic databases. Only 10 articles satisfied the inclusion–exclusion criteria out of the 67 potential articles produced from the databases searched. Summary of evidence table showed that Ning, Web 2.0, WebCT, email discussion forum, LISTSERV, and government-based web platforms were mostly used as VCoP digital tools by social workers. The 10 studies amplified VCoP utilization experiences of social workers from Israel, the USA, the UK, and India. Moreover, the study revealed that two major domains of social work (educational institutions and social service agencies) mostly used VCoP. Furthermore, the merits and demerits of VCoP, and a critique of the literature are delineated.
Microbial flora of frozen tail meat from captive Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus).
Frozen tail meat samples from nine Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) were evaluated for microbial numbers and types. Microbial analyses yielded a mean aerobic plate count (APC, 30 degrees C) of 4.86 log cfu/g, a mean coliform count (TC, 37 degrees C) of 3.77 log cfu/g and a mean faecal coliform count (FC, 44 degrees C) of 3.40 log cfu/g. Salmonella was isolated from three samples, and beta-haemolytic streptococci from two samples. Yersinia, Aeromonas, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus were not isolated. Typical bacterial genera recovered included Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Moraxella, Micrococcus, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.