Open AccessDistance Education in Social Work: An Evaluation of an Undergraduate Course on Family Violence
Author(s) -
Christine A. Walsh,
Myra Baynton
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of higher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1927-6052
pISSN - 1927-6044
DOI - 10.5430/ijhe.v1n1p148
Subject(s) - class (philosophy) , course (navigation) , social work , qualitative property , face (sociological concept) , psychology , online course , work (physics) , qualitative research , online learning , medical education , pedagogy , mathematics education , sociology , computer science , engineering , medicine , multimedia , political science , social science , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , machine learning , law , aerospace engineering
Social work is a discipline that emphasizes personal contact and has traditionally been taught face-to-face. This paper examines whether online learning is appropriate for educating social workers about family violence. It describes a newly-developed online course in family violence and evaluates its effectiveness. Two surveys of the class and an analysis of discussion boards provided quantitative and qualitative data. Results suggest that online teaching was effective in meeting course objectives and learner needs. The course did provide knowledge in the area of family violence that students then applied to their practices. The online learning environment proved to be safe, inclusive, acceptable and accessible to learners.