Academic mentorship is a vital step in preparing the next generation, yet little information exists on what successful mentorship looks like--particularly the process by which one ascertains a mentor, builds and maintains mentoring relationships, and achieves success in doctoral programs. Systems thinking is applied here to conceptualize academic…

Providing field education for social work students requires intensive support from field instructors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the effects of an educational program developed to better support social workers providing a student placement in a community-based hospital. This study examined the attitudes, beliefs, needs,…

Competency-based education in social work (CSWE, 2022) demands active learning methods that demonstrate professional competencies and practice behaviors. Role-plays and simulations are methods that link learning in the classroom with practice. This article explores role-play and simulation variants: basic role-play, real play, student-scripted…

The rise of AI generated texts offers promise but creates new challenges for social work teaching. A recent survey found that 89% of higher education students used AI on their homework. AI generated text may be difficult to distinguish from a student's own work, yet are being submitted as the student's own work. This poses new challenges to…

Recognizing the current turmoil resulting in the displacement of large numbers of people across the globe, the continuing persecution of groups within their countries, and the necessity of responding effectively and globally to human vulnerability, the authors argue for the elevation of human rights content within the social work curriculum. The…

Social workers engage with many professionals to address complex social problems. This includes leveraging the power of social work to support quality interventions on interprofessional teams. While generalist social workers are prepared to apply multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks and rely on interprofessional collaboration, specialized…

The Grand Challenges for Social Work were introduced by the American Academy for Social Work & Social Welfare in 2016, which are social problems that are interrelated and "exceedingly complex". We discuss the relevance of complexity theory, operationalized by complex adaptive systems (CAS), to the Grand Challenges. CAS moves beyond…

Plagiarism is a continuing and growing concern in higher education and in academic publishing. Educating to avoid plagiarism requires ongoing efforts at all levels and clear policies that explain the several types of plagiarism and potential consequences when it is found. Identifying plagiarism requires complex judgments and is not a simple matter…

5.8 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, and this number is rising. Social work can play a key role. Yet, the field is ill prepared for the growing number of individuals and families affected physically, emotionally, and financially. This mixed-methods concurrent study assessed the preliminary efficacy of an education event for students…

Social work education programs in the U.S. are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Amendments made to the 2022 competencies reflect antiracism language, which requires assessment opportunities in the classroom moving forward. An assessment tool that assesses efficacy across the four domains, specifically related to antiracism, is…

The School Social Work Association of America's national certified school social worker (NCSSW) credential was launched in April 2021. Because the certification is so new, it has not yet been evaluated. Without information on the benefits of the NCSSW credential, it is difficult to promote the certification, to help the certification grow, or to…

This article reports the use of online live-streamed simulations (online LSS), implemented on Zoom with Master of Social Work students. A thematic analysis was conducted from an online survey (n = 26 responses) to explore, 1) if online LSS can offer the same potential to develop holistic competence as in-class simulations, and 2) how students…

Self-care is receiving increased emphasis in the NASW Code of Ethics, and while social work programs may teach about self-care, it has yet to be embedded in the curriculum. This paper examines the idea of self-care being taught using an embodied framework and integrated throughout social work education programs. Research examining social work…

This teaching note reflects on the challenges we face when attempting to cultivate the seeds of social justice in our pedagogy and our engagement toward social justice. First, we situate our vision of pedagogy in a critical lens and present challenges we encounter when trying to foster activism among students. The challenges we identify allow us…

Field action projects are a distinguishing feature in social work education and practice and can serve as a live lab for social work students. Many renowned social work educational institutions began with the field action projects and developed them to a significant level. The state of Madhya Pradesh, India has several problems, and field action…