Developing and Supporting Faculty Training for Online Social Work Education: The Columbia University School of Social Work Online Pedagogy Institute

ABSTRACT

With the growth of online and distance education in social work, faculty training and support need to be provided to ensure high-quality online social work education. A model for training social work educators in online teaching is outlined that focuses on pedagogy, technology, and social work values. Columbia University School of Social Work’s Online Campus provides a five-week Institute on Pedagogy and Technology for Online Courses for prospective social work instructors. The Institute provides a faculty training model that can be adopted in other social work programs, and seeks to model best practices in online education.

KEYWORDS:

• Distance learning
• faculty training
• online learning
• social work education
• professional development

Acknowledgments

Dedicated to Steven Schinke and his pivotal role as the Founding Faculty Director of the Online Campus. The authors would like to particularly thank the amazing team of Live Support Specialists who have worked on the Institute: Agata Dera, Ana Quiñones, Chelsea Walus, Elexia Lowe, Erika Wiseberg, Jen So, Jneé Hill, Josh Levine, Kristin Anderson, Krystal Folk, Marianna Da Costa, and Sierra Spriggs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.