Home   Courses I teach    Social Work Program

Intro to the profession, practice ethics case - Chaps 1and 2
History of Social Welfare - Chap 3
Role play/case study - Chap 4
Family and Children's Services - Chap 5
Mental Health - Chap 6
Schools and Developmental disabilities - Chaps 7 & 8
Medical and Occupational Social Work - Chaps 9 & 10 
Substance Abuse - Chap 11
Social Work and Corrections - Chap 12
Social Work and the Elderly - Chap 13

Instructor: Dr. Karen Neuman Room: 2100
Fall, 2001 Phone: Office - (734) 432-5565
Home: (734) 420-0483 University Toll Free: 1-800-852-4951, ext. Mondays 6:30 - 9:30 5565; Email: Neuman@smtp.munet.edu

Course Description (proposed Fall, 2001)
This course introduces students to the profession of social work, its Code of Ethics, values base and commitment to social justice and working with vulnerable and oppressed groups. Explores social work's historical development as well as current trends in the profession and acquaints students with various fields of practice. Orients students to the roles of the generalist social work practitioner within a theoretical framework that consists of systems theory, the ecological perspective and the problem solving model. Emphasizes the positive value of diversity with a strengths-based approach to empowering populations at risk, including gays/lesbians, people of color, the elderly and women. Stresses self-assessment in determining suitability for a career in social work. Includes a pre-field requirement of 30 hours of experience (observing). Prerequisites: SOC 1010, PSY 1010.

Required Text:
Suppes, M.A., & Wells, C.C. (1996). The social work experience: An introduction to the profession and its relationship to social welfare policy. (3^rd ed). Boston: MacGraw- Hill.

Recommended Reading:
Brody, R., & Nair, M. (1997). The art of volunteering and service learning. Wheaton, IL: Gregory Publishing Company.
Martinez, M., & Clark, C.L. (2001). The social worker's guide to the internet. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Fourth Credit Hour Project:
The fourth credit hour is to be fulfilled by meeting the objectives of a pre-field service-learning experience detailed in the assignment section and require that you provide 30 hours of service in a social service agency. The purpose of the pre-field experience is to learn by directly providing service in a social service agency or organization. The experience is designed to facilitate a beginning level of understanding for the role and tasks of the social worker and the needs of client systems as well as developing skills at observation and reflection.

Course objectives (proposed Fall, 2001)
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

1. List the characteristics of social work that make it a profession.

2. Describe the historical development of the profession and its unique commitment to working with oppressed and vulnerable populations in furtherance of social justice.

3. Define generalist social work practice and describe the roles of a generalist social work practitioner within various fields of service.

4. Identify and define the theoretical foundations of social work (system theory; the ecological perspective; the strengths perspective; the problem solving approach; and the biopsychosocial orientation to interpreting human behavior).

5. Identify major components of the NASW Code of Ethics and appreciate the role that professional values and ethics play in social work practice.

6. Distinguish between professional and personal helping and demonstrate the capacity for self awareness and reflection.

7. Identify the steps of the research and knowledge building process and develop skills in accessing and critically appraising professional materials and information.

8. Locate and access community resources and demonstrate beginning skills in linking clients with services.

9. Demonstrate beginning skills in technical and professional writing.

10. Demonstrate the ability to effectively interact with others using verbal and nonverbal communication and other social and interpersonal skills.

11. Develop and/ or enhance a personal commitment to helping others through service learning.

12. Determine suitability for the profession of social work.

Classroom participation:

In addition to the required assignments, a number of in class exercises and small group activities will be offered through the term. Although most of these exercises will not be graded in the same sense that the required assignments will be, they will be collected. Completion of these exercises will be considered as part of the classroom participation and attendance requirements for the course.

It is assumed that your classroom behavior is a reflection of your personal and profession conduct and your interpersonal skills. As such, your classroom behavior is an important indicator of your suitability to the social work profession. Behaviors such as inappropriate nonverbal behavior, disruptive comments, taking while others are talking, and reading other materials during class time are examples of inappropriate behavior that I consider unacceptable and unprofessional and which will affect your grade. Should repeated instance of these behaviors occur, you will be asked to leave the class and expected to make an appointment with me to discuss the conditions of your returning to class.

Written Assignments:
All assignments are to be type written, double spaced in a 10 or 12 point font, using upper and lower case letters, black ink and 1" margins. Number and put your name in the upper right hand corner of all pages. For technical reports and papers, you will use APA format to cite all references. Narrative and reflection papers that primarily describe your personal experiences or the experiences of others do not have to follow APA. However, they must be coherent and follow an appropriate structure or outline. For every three grammatical errors, typos and misspellings, etc. a point will be deducted. Do not put your papers in a binder, just staple the pages together. One point will be deducted each day an assignment is late. Late assignments will not be accepted more than one week after the assignment is due.

Any information describing another individual, client, friend, colleague used in any assignments must be disguised to protect confidentiality. When describing people at an agency, it is customary to refer to them by title, such as "the social worker" or "the Director".

Attendance:
Students are required to attend all class sessions and to be on time. Final grades will be lowered by one whole grade for every two unexcused or excused absences, tardiness or early departures. The final grade will also be affected by the student's professionalism, level of effort, attitude in class and participation. The assignments are as follows and are discussed in detail in the assignments section.

Attendance procedures:
1. If you are absent, there are video tapes available for the lecture part of the course. It is your responsibility for contacting Media Services to arrange for viewing.

2. We will be establishing a telephone tree for notification of class cancellation due to severe weather conditions in Gaylord. Your site facilitator and I will do our best to monitor weather conditions and to notify students when class is canceled. We will try to give a minimum of one hour's notice to try to catch students before leaving home. When class is canceled in Gaylord but held in Livonia, Media Services will provide all students with a taped copy of the class lecture.

4. Students on main campus can call the University's main number (734) 432-3300 or Public Safety at (734) 432- 5442 for updates on cancellations.

Assignments/grading

Assignment1 Library exercise, Technology/web assignment
Not graded - In Class Exercise
Assignment 2 Professional and personal helping paper 10%
Midterm Exam 20%
Assignment 3 Community resource paper 10%
Assignment 4 Social Issue paper 15%
Final Exam 20%
Fourth Credit Hour Service learning 25%                               Total 100%

Grading Scale  

Course Outline

Assignment 1. Library Exercise and Technology Assignment
Part One: You will be given an exercise to complete when we go to the library that will help you locate resources in the library, use the e-catalog, locate articles on line.
Part Two: Search the www for social work resources of interest to you (See Quick Guide to the Internet for Social Work). Turn in the home page1 from three different sites you visited.

Assignment 2. Personal and Professional Helping Paper:
In 4-5 typewritten double spaced pages discuss the following:

•What is the difference between a personal and professional helper?
• Why is the NASW Code of Ethics important to our role as professional helpers?
•Select one standard from the Code of Ethics and describe how your personal values and beliefs may potentially conflict with your professional responsibilities.
• What is meant by a a professional knowledge base and why is it important to professional helping?
•Why is self awareness important in professional helping?
•What personal characteristics and experiences do you bring to your professional helping?
• What are some areas of concern or potential difficulty that could impinge upon your effectiveness as a professional helper?

Assignment 3. Community Resources Assignment
Find five community resources that relate to your social issue or that interest you as a field of practice. Contact the agency and obtain a brochure and find out the types of clients served and how clients are referred to the agency and the types of services provided. Write up a brief description of each agency. This should be a typewritten paper, double spaced, with approximately one half page per agency. Please write the name, address, phone, contact person (if possible) at the top of each page describing the agency. Staple the pages of your paper together, include a title page with your name, course, etc. and number the pages. DO NOT PUT THIS PAPER IN A FOLDER OR A BINDER.

Assignment 4 - Social Problems Paper
Select a social problem that concerns you and follow it through out the class. You are to use a at least eight different sources in developing this paper. You must include at least one newspaper article, a magazine article, a professional journal article, and a web site. You can also include the following: a book (fiction or non-fiction); a movie; or a television or radio broadcast. Be creative, but also begin to critically think about the problem and what these different sources and types of information tell us about the problem. You must have a total of eight different sources in developing this paper.Attach the first page of any professional journal or magazine article, the title page of any book, and the home page of any web site. For the movie, radio, etc., summarize the content and identify the day/time/station, etc. of any broadcast. Examples include articles on welfare reform, domestic violence, homelessness, children's issues, refugees and immigration, mental health cutbacks, privatization of the State's Family Independence Agency, Social Security and Medicare reform, etc.
The written portion of your paper must be at least eight, double-spaced typewritten pages (not including title page, references, etc.). Introduce the issue. Develop your responses to the following questions using the material in class and the material you have gathered. In your paper, be sure to distinguish when something is your opinion, or the opinion another, or based on another source such as a research study. Credit your sources appropriately using APA format in the paper. This is referred to in the APA manual as "reference citations in text", meaning within the body of your paper. You must include a reference list in APA format at the end of your paper. Use headings within your paper to organize your work. Address the following questions in your paper.

1) Define the issue/problem. What are the causes of this problem, or what led up to this policy/law?
2). What group of people are most affected by this problem? Why? How are they affected? What are the potential risks to society and to the people affected by this problem if we fail to address this issue?
3) What values and ethics of social work are involved in the issue? What are the values of the general public or society involved here? What are the potential sources and types of value conflicts represented in this issue?
4.) What do your various sources of information tell you about the problem? What different viewpoints and perspectives are presented? Do your sources agree or disagree with each other?
5) What do you think about the issue? Does the profession's values support or conflict with your own position? What do you think should be done? Why?
Pre-field Service Learning Experience (4^th Credit Hour Lab)
Part of our mission at Madonna University is to instill in our students, a commitment to serving others. This is also a defining characteristic of the profession of social work. In SW 2300, your first class in social work, you will learn basic concepts of social work and have an opportunity to begin to put what you are learning into practice through a service learning experience in your community. Service learning is a method of experiential learning that involves providing services to the community to help meet the needs of the community and its members and to assist the participant in developing certain insights, skills and abilities. It differs from volunteer work, because it is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum, which provides a structured format students reflect on the experience (Brody & Nair, 1997).

For this course, the service learning experience consists of a minimum 30 hours over the course of the semester serving and observing in a social service agency. The service learning experience can be in any type of social service agency, an organization that employs social workers (hospital, school, etc.), a social action group, or a program that offers tutoring and/or mentoring to special populations. You will need to have a representative of the agency assume responsibility for your agency-based experience and be willing to document your hours and fill out a brief, one page evaluation of your performance. This person does not have to be a social worker, although it is hoped that you will at least be able to meet with a social worker at some point during the experience.

The objectives of the service learning experience are to:
1. To develop a commitment to serving others
2. Become familiar with social service agencies, services provided, professional roles and types of clients served
3. To begin to develop a level of comfort in working in a social service agency and interacting with various types of staff and client systems
4.To determine one's suitability for the profession of social work
5. To begin to develop skills in self-assessment, critical thinking, observation and empathy necessary for social work practice.

Grading Criteria for the Service Learning Experience:
1. Supervisor's evaluation of performance and verification of hours (See attached form).Please ask your supervisor to fill out the attached form assessing your performance. Have them put in an envelope, seal it and sign across the back flap. This is the procedure for submitting references when making formal application into the Social Work Program. If any concerns or recommendations are noted by your supervisor, I will share them with you.

You must have your supervisor verify the dates and hours that you were at the agency!

2. A final paper that addresses the following areas. The paper must be type written, double-spaced, 1" margins all the way around and in an appropriate font. It does not have to be in APA format, but it must be coherent and well organized. You can follow the following as an outline or address each point in the context of the paper.

Development of observation skills

Development of empathy skills

Development of self awareness

SERVICE LEARNING FORMS

Madonna University
Social Work Department

EVALUATION OF STUDENT SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Agency Name:________________________________________________

Supervisor:_____________________________________________________

Period Covering:________________________________________________

Hours of Service:________________________________________________