Re-framing Challenges as Opportunities: Moving a Social Work Practicum Program in an On-line Format and Making It Work
Re-framing Challenges as Opportunities: Moving a Social Work Practicum Program in an On-line Format and Making It Work

Summary/Abstract: As a response to the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the world strived to find the best solutions to keep their students engaged in education and maintain the quality standards in the educational process. The main strategy was to move all the educational activities in an on-line format. However, while an on-line teaching format could prove very suitable for some of the training activities (like theoretical courses), it does not fit perfectly with others (like practicum). There are many voices that raise concerns about students’ ability to develop practical skills without face-to-face and on-site interactions. The discussion is even more relevant for human service professional, such as social workers. In the current paper, we focus on a practicum program delivered to Romanian social work students in two formats: on-site, before the COVID-10 pandemic, and on-line, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conduct a SWOT analysis for each type of delivery format and also comparatively assess the efficacy of the two delivery formats and the quality of the learning experience they provided for the students involved. The results of the analysis show that each type of delivery format came with its own advantages and disadvantages and that, from the perspective of the effectiveness of the programs and the learning experiences provided to the students, there is not a “definitely better” delivery format between the two, but they might very well work in conjunction.

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