Mandatory Online Orientation   

Deadline: to be fully completed by the end of Week 1, Sunday, August 27th, by 10pm - (10 points)

Requirement to remain in the course. If you do not successfully complete the Online Orientation requirement for this course, on Blackboard (Bb), you will be withdrawn from the course at the end of Week 2.

Community Building Actions     

Deadline: By 11/26 - (10 points each, total of 50 points)

Each student will have 5 opportunities throughout the semester to post an ACTION (idea they have executed in the community) that encourages community building. Others can simply be inspired by these actions or replicate in their own way. More detailed instructions and examples are located on Bb. 

Service Learning Hours and Journaling    

Deadline: By 12/10 - (100 points for the 50 hours of SL and 40 points for Journaling, total of 140 points)

A total of 50 Service Learning Hours to be completed by the end of the semester, as part of the required 50 hours in a social service setting/in the community. These hours should be completed this semester, not previously, in the community in a way that is safe for the student and the community. Each student needs to discuss their plan to complete these service learning hours with the professor before they can begin to complete these hours. The community service should be meaningful not only for the student's educational outcomes but also to the community. A journal will be maintained by the student on a weekly basis where they will document their service learning hours. Make sure you consistently, on a weekly basis, post your journal entries as they will be graded and worth a total of 40 points.  More detailed instructions are located on Bb.

Group Interview 

Deadline: By the end of October - (total of 50 points)  

To complete this assignment, students will need to interview a social worker, virtually or in-person, who is doing work in the community, not simply as a counselor/doing therapy. As a group (3 members who will be randomly assigned by the professor), you will work together to locate an interviewee, schedule a time for the interview, conduct the interview, write-up the interview, and post the interview, in Q&A format on Bb. Only one group member needs to post the Q&A write-up interview to Bb, with only the names of group members who participated fully. 

The person you choose for the interview MUST hold a social work degree…Bachelor’s of Social Work Degree (BSW) or a Master of Social Work Degree (MSW) or PhD or Doctorate in Social Work—this person does not have to be a licensed social worker. 

This person must, however, be doing some work in the community, outside of counseling, if they are doing counseling.

The interview has to be done in-person or online where you can see the person in real time and they can see you. Please do not record the interviews. More detailed instructions and interview questions are located on Bb.

Community Organization Group Project (3 members)

Deadline: By the end of November - (total of 50 points)    

Each student will have an opportunity, as a group of 3, to research a community organization. This assignment is based on what you learned during your field experience/research you have conducted, as part of the required 50 hours in a social service setting. 

More detailed instructions and questions are located on Bb. 

Reading Material will be assigned—they will be posted on Blackboard for students to download and read.

A supervised experiential learning course designed to integrate program study with introductory exposure to the field of social work. In conjunction with individual study and virtual seminars, the student will set specific goals and objectives in the study of social work and/or social institutions. The academic cooperative is not a social work skills-based practice experience, but instead, an observational volunteer experience. 

Skills: E Prerequisites: SOCW 2361 (Introduction to Social Work).

COURSE STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

1. Articulate elements of the social agency’s structure.
2. Summarize the agency’s delivery of services. 
3. Describe the delivery of services in relation to the agency’s mission statement. 
4. Explain how the agency meets the needs of the populations served. 
5. Describe how the agency’s services support the mission of social work, including diversity, justice, and equity. 
6. Evaluate the learning experience in the context of professional goals. 
7. Evaluate the learning experience in the context of personal goals. 
8. Describe how a social worker enhances/could enhance service delivery within the organization.
9. Identify personal and social work values and reflect on value conflicts in the practice setting.

PROGRAM STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

PSLO 1 - Critical thinking: Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.

PSLO 2 - Advance human rights and justice: Articulate social work’s goal of advancing human rights and social and economic justice, as well as the core values of social work as stated in the NASW Code of Ethics.