Community Driven Introduction to Social Work Course
Introductory courses in undergraduate social work and human services programs have received scant attention in the literature despite having considerable responsibility in their curricula. In addition to providing a foundation for the courses that follow, they introduce students to the diverse settings in which social work and human services professionals practice, shape professional values and behaviors, and help students decide whether these are good career paths for them. After experimenting with several course models, one social work faculty developed a vigorous model with community stakeholders as active participants in its design and delivery. Integration of service recipients and social service settings provide diverse opportunities for students to gain exposure to the social work profession and determine its suitability for them. Though limited by the scope of the study, this case study illustrates the potential of an introductory course to meet the needs of students, faculty and community. KEY WORDS: Human services education; introductory course; service recipients; social work education; values ********** Introductory courses in social work and human services have received scant attention in the literature. This is surprising given an introductory course's significant responsibilities: providing a foundation for what follows in the curriculum, introducing students to the various roles and responsibilities of social workers and human service professionals and the myriad settings in which they practice, shaping the values and behaviors of those who will become helping professionals, and serving to help undergraduate students decide whether this is a good career path for them. For purposes of simplicity, and because the authors both teach in accredited programs of social work, we use the term 'social work' from this point on to refer to both social work and human services. Mondros, Kelly and Glazer (2004), noting the lack of uniformity among introductory social work courses, define a dual teaching/learning agenda for the introductory course, that of (a) introducing students to social work's major ideas and practices and (b) supporting the development of academic skills, mainly the abilities to communicate, read in a discerning way, and think critically. The undergraduate social work program in which one of the current authors is a faculty member supports a similar teaching agenda while also choosing to implement a sizable experiential component. Over the years the faculty experimented with several different course models for the introductory course with varying degrees of satisfaction with the model's ability to meet the three main goals established for the course: (a) Exposure to the profession; (b) professional development (socialization into the profession); and (c) gatekeeping, in this case self-selection into or out of the profession. A mini-practicum model required students to complete a 40hour service-learning component, with traditional lectures provided over the customary introductory concepts. A field trip model involved students visiting different practice sites (e.g., children's emergency shelter, juvenile detention center, nursing home) along with an accompanying weekly lecture. Finally, a philanthropy experiment required students to visit and research the missions of local agencies and subsequently invite selected agencies to compete for small grants awarded by the students. Although each of these models had strengths, none of them comprehensively met the three main goals established for the course. The purpose of this article is to describe the successful redesign of an introductory course in an undergraduate social work program as propelled by the interests and involvement of community professionals and stakeholders, and involving their ongoing support in course delivery. A full description of the course--goals, objectives, expectations, and grading--follows, along with student reactions as they pertain to course effectiveness in meeting each of its three major goals. …