Teaching to Tech: A Quasi-Experimental Assessment of a Technology-Enhanced Social Work Course

ABSTRACT

Professional interests and social problems demand social work practitioners who can “harness technology for social good.” Although the field has acknowledged the need to train social workers to use technology in practice, existing scholarship has tested few models for doing so. This article describes and tests an information and communication technology-enhanced course for macropractice. Results from a quasi-experimental test of the technology-enhanced course yield positive gains in students’ technological efficacy, but not in their attitudes toward technology. Ultimately, models that capacitate students to use technology in social work practice, like that described here, are needed. However, their effectiveness in promoting future use in social work practice likely depends on their ability to change skills and attitudes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Notes

¹ The project is a two-part assignment. Part 1. The community assessment requires students to conduct a comprehensive needs and assets assessment for distinct Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The assessment requires students to research, experience, and report on the realities of a target community using information from observations, existing data (e.g., census), and stakeholder interviews. Part 2. The intervention proposal requires students to develop an intervention that responds to the findings of their community assessment. The intervention addresses a critical issue in each Pittsburgh neighborhood assessed.

² Two students enrolled in the course, one in the intervention course and one in the comparison course, after the second week of class. These students were excluded from participating given they missed two classes’ worth of content.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been financially supported through an Innovation in Education Award from the University of Pittsburgh Office of the Provost.

Notes on contributors

Leah A. Jacobs

Leah A. Jacobs is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Jaime M. Booth is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Jaime M. Booth

Leah A. Jacobs is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Jaime M. Booth is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.