The Development of a Multimedia Training Project: Rewards and Challenges of the Multidisciplinary Team

SUMMARY

This paper describes the development of Building Family Foundations, an interactive, multimedia training project for child welfare workers. In addition to this description, the collaborative process among professionals from various disciplines is examined. The authors recommend applying the social work helping process to the development of training projects that involve a large multidisciplinary team effort. The profession of social work is committed to ensuring that members regularly receive continuing education in order to enhance their knowledge and skills and keep current with trends in the various fields in which they practice. Social workers who practice in rural areas find it difficult to meet this commitment. Distance education, particularly multimedia instruction, offers an exceptional remedy to this situation (Thurston, Verschelden & Denning, 1996). This method of delivering training and education, new to the social work profession, is both exciting and challenging in its development and implementation. The Kanasa Department of social and Rehabilitation Services in collaboration with Kanasa state University developed a training curriculum to help address rural child welfare training needs. This project, Which began in November 1992 and ended in June 1998. produced a significant training tool for the state of Kansas as well as contributed to the growing body of knowledge of multimedia development and multidisciplinary collaboration (Thurston et al., 1996; Cauble & Dinkel, 1999).

KEYWORDS:

• Participation
• interactive videodisc
• training
• focus groups
• public