https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7523-494X
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ABSTRACT
This pioneering study in Spain in this specific area of knowledge, social work and social services, is framed around the incorporation of Virtual Reality (VR) in the social work teaching-learning process using 360º videos during the COVID-19 pandemic. Owing to the impossibility of face-to-face interaction, in order to put theory into practice, a VR simulation application—the Innovation Social Work App (iSWAPP) – was developed (intellectual property registration number 04/2021/491). In order to study the factors that determine the predisposition of social work students to use VR as a complementary pedagogical tool in the theory-practice learning process to acquire professional skills, a quantitative analysis was performed using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study was performed in May 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic with a sample comprising 42 social work undergraduates at the University of Cádiz. The most significant results were the opportunities and potential of VR in the teaching-learning process, especially in teaching practice. The conclusions of the study show that 360° VR enables progress to be made in response to the structural need to build positive bidirectional synergies between theory and practice in social work in order to improve the quality of professional intervention.
Acknowledgements
This article is part of teaching innovation (sol-201900138436-tra) entitled “Virtual reality applied to teaching in Social Work: the home visit”. It is financed in the call for Projects for Teaching Innovation and Improvement (INNOVA) for the academic year 2019-2020 of the Teaching Innovation Unit of the Vice-Rectorate of Teaching Resources and Communication at the University of Cadiz.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Patents
The innovation social work app (iSWAPP) with which the research was developed is registered (04/2021/491) in the General Register of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Spain.
Notes
1. EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the foremost community of IT leaders and professionals committed to advancing higher education. EDUCAUSE programs and services are focused on analysis, advocacy, community building, professional development, and knowledge creation because IT plays a transformative role in higher education. It brings together more than 100,000 individuals and higher education institutions worldwide (North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa; EDUCAUSE, Citation2022).
2. SATNAV: Sustainable, Agile Technology Navigation Accessing Virtuality for real-world learning.
3. This section is adapted from the article by Minguela-Recover et al. (Citation2021). Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol48/iss3/5.
4. The Spanish government provides social protection to those individuals who have been assessed as dependent as regards carrying out daily activities according to Spanish Royal Decree 174/2011, of 11 February which sanctioned the dependency assessment scale established in Law 39/2006, 14 December, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons. The level of support and services provided to individuals depends on the score obtained on the assessment scale. The services provided could include home support, a helpline telephone service, day care centers or residential care, taking into account individual personal needs.
5. Article 2.2 of the Law 39/2006, 14 December, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons defines dependency as: A permanent condition affecting persons because of age, illness or disability, that may be associated to the lack or loss of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory autonomy. The condition requires the care of other persons or special assistance to carry out basic activities of daily living. Persons with an intellectual disability or mental illness may require other supports for their autonomy (BOE, Citation2006, p. 44144).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
M.ª Ángeles Minguela-Recover
M.ª Ángeles Minguela-Recover is PhD in Social Sciences, graduate in Social Work and Labour Sciences from the University of Granada. She is an assistant lecturer in the Social Work Area of the Department of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Cadiz. She is a member of the University Institute of Research for Sustainable Social Development (INDESS) of the University of Cadiz. His main lines of research are: social work, active ageing, people in situations of dependency and care, labour market, social entrepreneurship and teaching innovation (virtual reality).
Pilar Munuera
Pilar Munuera, Ph.D and Graduate in Sociology. Diploma in Social Work (1988). Social Worker since 1979. Specialty in Psychiatry for AASS (Ministry of Health and Consumption, 1983). Expert in Mediation (1998). Professor since 1987, currently UCM Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Services. Research group director Observatory on Mediation and Social Intervention in Organizations. Her lines of research are: mediation, social work, people in a situation of dependence, active ageing, social active ageing, social entrepreneurship and innovation. She is the author of more than hundred publications.
Ruben Baena-Pérez
Ruben Baena-Pérez received a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Seville and is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Cádiz. He is currently a professor at the University of Cadiz, Spain, and a researcher in the Software Process Improvement and Formal Methods Group. His research fields are technology-enhanced learning and creative computing.
José Miguel Mota-Macías
José Miguel Mota-Macías received the master’s degree in computer science with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and a PhD degree from the University of Cadiz. He is currently with the University of Cadiz, and works as an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Computer Engineering and as a Researcher with the Software Process Improvement and Formal Methods Group. His current research interests include technology-enhanced learning, augmented reality, virtual reality and learning analytics. He has published several papers and book chapters in these fields.