Over the past few years, numerous highly ranked, Tier 1 universities across the United States have embraced the development of advanced online degrees, a niche of secondary education long held by a small group of private, for-profit universities. Rapid advances in online learning technology, increasingly sophisticated, and easy to use ‘learning management systems’ and ‘anytime, anywhere access’ has dramatically increase the demand of individuals, mostly full time employed, working professionals. This volume addresses the dramatic changes that are occurring in social work pedagogy as more schools develop online programs. The University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work launched their ‘Virtual Academic Center’ with a cohort of 80 online students. The program has now reached a ‘steady state’ of 2,200 ‘virtual’ students now representing two thirds of their MSW student population. Additionally, the school launched a doctorate of social work degree with a focus on leading and managing innovation, leading public discourse and management of large complex systems. This book essentially tells the ‘USC story’ with the challenges faced in embracing this new technology, teaching social work courses in an online environment, as well as pedagogical enhancements made by faculty in converting traditional campus based courses to the virtual environment.

Clear, accessible and practical, this guide introduces the first-time researcher to the various instruments used in social research. It assesses a broad range of research instruments - from the well-established to the innovative - enabling readers to decide which are particularly well suited to their research. The book covers: questionnaires interviews content analysis focus groups observation researching the things people say and do. This book is particularly suitable for work-based and undergraduate researchers in education, social policy and social work, nursing and business administration. It draws numerous examples from actual research projects, which readers can adapt for their own purposes. Written in a fresh and jargon-free style, the book assumes no prior knowledge and is firmly rooted in the authors' own extensive research experience. Using Research Instruments is the ideal companion volume to The Researcher's Toolkit. Together they offer a superb practical introduction to conducting a social research project.

Make the most of what today’s technology has to offer in human services education! Distance education presents special challenges to social work education. Using Technology in Human Services Education: Going the Distance provides case studies and practical research on making the best use of this powerful new tool for teaching. Designed for both practitioners and educators, this fascinating book examines the use of technology in education and practice in the field of social work and other human services. Because setting up distance-learning programs can be expensive, Using Technology in Human Services Education suggests ways to reduce the impact on the budget, including setting up a consortium to merge resources with other schools. It also shows how to integrate traditional instructional approaches with the new technologies, how to make use of email and electronic discussion groups, and how to use the Internet to hone practice-related skills. In addition, it covers the current status of the technology itself. Using Technology in Human Services Education: Going the Distance explores ways to maximize the potential of distance education, such as: a framework for designing distance education courses that fully utilize the unique environments these courses offer a discussion of the impact of technological tools in teaching specific course content ways that SACs (Site Advisory Committees) can increase students’ socialization into their new professions ways that students need to be supported in order to feel a connection to a distance-learning program the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to help meet and identify the information needs of a field placement agency Using Technology in Human Services Education offers creative approaches and practical advice for making the best use of the technology. Whatever your level of computer skill, from novice to hacker, this book will give you ideas you can use. No individual or institution interested in maintaining top quality in human services education should be without this book!

ÿWritten by pioneers in the field of online learning,ÿLeading the e-Learning Transformation of Higher Educationÿis a professional text that offers insights and guidance to the rising generation of leaders in the field of higher education. It explains how to integrate online learning into an institution during a period of rapid social and institutional change. This important volume: ? Shares success stories, interviews, cases and insights from a broad range of leadership styles ? Reviews how technology is transforming higher education worldwide ? Provides an overview of how distance education is organized in a range of institutional settings ? Breaks down current leadership challenges in both unit operations and institutional policy This volume launches the new Stylus series that is aimed at the online learning and distance education market. It offers readers the opportunity to benefit from the collective experience and expertise of top leaders in the field. All of the contributors have held leadership roles in national and international distance education organizations. Five of the contributors have been recognized as Sloan Consortium Fellows in 2010 and they have all collaborated with the Institute for Emerging Leaders in Online Learning. These contributors have helped pave the way and now share their insights, advice, and broad vision with the future leaders of the field.ÿ

This informative and incisively written edited collection brings together experts from around the world to discuss issues which the social work and social welfare sectors face every day and to ensure a closer link between evidence-based practice, policy objectives and social development goals. Furthermore, this book reveals how these may affect the conditions of people and demonstrate how the social work and social development community can contribute to sustainable development.

In this innovative book Fabio Folgheraiter presents a systematic introduction to networking and reflexive practice in social work. The text explores how the interested parties in social care can acquire a shared power in care planning and decision making and that when this networking occurs, the efficacy of caring initiatives increases.