Evaluating Student Learning of Methods of Interpersonal Social Work Practice with African American Families, Offered in Historical and Contemporary Context.

Evaluating Student Learning of Methods of Interpersonal Social Work Practice with African American Families, Offered in Historical and Contemporary Context.

Grant:
Investigating Student Learning Grant (ISL)
Academic Year:
2012 - 2013 (June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013)
Funding Requested:
$3,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
lholling
Overview of the Project:
African American families are over-represented in many of the settings in which social workers practice, particularly in the child welfare system. There is research evidence that racial disparities in the way services are provided, in terms of bias and of failure to consider cultural context, are sources of these disparities and that the presence of an MSW is not always sufficient to eliminate them. This application proposes an approach to evaluating the effectiveness of an advanced MSW-level course in interpersonal social work practice with African-American families to be offered in Fall 2012 and Winter 2013. The course utilizes content on knowledge, skills, and values associated with an Africentric approach to service delivery, in historical and contemporary context. Evaluation will make use of the case-study and portfolio methods.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The objective of this project is to ‘provide a research foundation in the development of a new innovation in teaching interpersonal social work practice at the Master’s degree level’. The specific research question to be investigated is: “Will Master’s level students with prior coursework in interpersonal social work practice with families and exposed to published content on knowledge, skills, and values taught from an Africentric perspective, demonstrate the ability to apply the content in providing services to African American families in the child welfare system?”

Project Achievements:

The conduct of a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of this course increased my awareness of the value of methods of evaluating student learning beyond the University's standard course evaluation. I plan to utilize these methods in future courses. Almost 100% of the students were able to demonstrate their ability to apply methods of interpersonal social work practice that were grounded in an Africentric perspective in work with African American families. The course increased the visibility of an Africentric perspective among African American and non-African American students who took the course and in the School of Social Work at large. (Two African American students in the class accepted positions of president and first vice-president respectively in the School's Association of Black Social Work Students. Three students enrolled in special studies programs with me that involve their service travel to countries in the African diaspora and a fourth Latina student enrolled in a special studies program with me that involves service travel to Peru. Teaching the course also increased my own awareness of the importance of integrating specific African and African American content in advanced social work clinical courses. Finally, teaching the course increased my personal commitment to service in African American communities.

Continuation:
Yes. The course is being taught this (Fall 2013 term). I also received a request from four students who are participating in a special behavioral social work course for a special studies focused on content from the course and I'm honoring that. In both sets of circumstances I will use the same quantitative and qualitative methods of evaluation, although I plan to reduce the amount of content I attempt to cover. I also plan to compare the outcomes of the students in the regular, three-credit-hour course with those of the students in the one-hour special studies program.
Dissemination:
We held an end-of-term dinner in December 2012 in which one other class (that was held at the same time) participated and which was attended by other faculty members and community members as well. I presented a poster at the annual event sponsored by CRLT and the Provosts office. My workshop reporting on the structure and outcome of the course has been accepted for presentation at the October 2013 Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education.
Advice to your Colleagues:
The support and oversight of the CRLT faculty was immeasurable. In terms of challenges, I tried to cover more than was realistic. The doctoral student from the School of Social Work who was working with me on evaluation turned out not to have sufficient time to contribute to the project.
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