This semester was a complete success. Service Learning was a great experience for conducting research and establishing community partners. Practice was ground breaking for the seniors and taught them new skills while working in macro practice. Team work was cohesive and all members were stretched beyond belief. However, each team’s final presentation was extraordinary. Presentations were completed using, Prezi, Google docs, PowerPoint & YouTube to share a few. Student’s research has begun and their topics are contributions to the field of social work.
Most first semester learners were unfamiliar with the use of social media in college courses. They were under the impression that social media use was associated with “negativity” and “drama.” Some of the comments were as follows: “I don’t do social media,”“I do not allow my children to use social media so I am not using it either.” My favorite was, “there is too much drama on social media.” These comments are presented to inform readers about thoughts that many individuals have pertaining to social media use in higher education.
Facing a group of student learners that were unaware of the positive aspects of social media was a challenge. A large portion of the semester consisted of conquering various educational milestones through the use of social media. Initial steps consisted of obtaining attitudes and perspectives from undergraduate learners on the use of social media in college course. During the study results revealed 38% (n=13) reported that social media was helpful. The responses consisted of, “it provides a great platform for research, “It is a good networking tool and it opens the door to learn various practice strategies. One theme revealed 70% (n=24) reported positive attitudes and perspectives about social media use.
While educating future social workers, there are various terms, practices and ethical principles that must be taught. For instance, the micro, mezzo and macro aspects of practice are essential for learning at the undergraduate level. The use of social media will assist with learning opportunities through networking with professionals in the field as well as obtaining knowledge from past and present literature. Another learning opportunity consists of exposure to social inequalities from a global perspective. While learning about global inequalities, learners will have the opportunity to identify the population and or issues they plan to serve after commencement.
Fall 2014 semester consisted of working with learners that had not attended college in several years. Others’ were working adults and had family members from various generations residing in their homes. There were several life circumstances that took place during this semester that would cause learners to quit college. However, many chose to push forward. For reasons such as these and additional listed above, fall 2014 was labeled, successful.
Most first semester learners were unfamiliar with the use of social media in college courses. They were under the impression that social media use was associated with “negativity” and “drama.” Some of the comments were as follows: “I don’t do social media,”“I do not allow my children to use social media so I am not using it either.” My favorite was, “there is too much drama on social media.” These comments are presented to inform readers about thoughts that many individuals have pertaining to social media use in higher education.
Facing a group of student learners that were unaware of the positive aspects of social media was a challenge. A large portion of the semester consisted of conquering various educational milestones through the use of social media. Initial steps consisted of obtaining attitudes and perspectives from undergraduate learners on the use of social media in college course. During the study results revealed 38% (n=13) reported that social media was helpful. The responses consisted of, “it provides a great platform for research, “It is a good networking tool and it opens the door to learn various practice strategies. One theme revealed 70% (n=24) reported positive attitudes and perspectives about social media use.
While educating future social workers, there are various terms, practices and ethical principles that must be taught. For instance, the micro, mezzo and macro aspects of practice are essential for learning at the undergraduate level. The use of social media will assist with learning opportunities through networking with professionals in the field as well as obtaining knowledge from past and present literature. Another learning opportunity consists of exposure to social inequalities from a global perspective. While learning about global inequalities, learners will have the opportunity to identify the population and or issues they plan to serve after commencement.
Fall 2014 semester consisted of working with learners that had not attended college in several years. Others’ were working adults and had family members from various generations residing in their homes. There were several life circumstances that took place during this semester that would cause learners to quit college. However, many chose to push forward. For reasons such as these and additional listed above, fall 2014 was labeled, successful.