Distance Education in Social Work - Paul Abels

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Distance Education in Social Work
Planning, Teaching, and Learning

Editor: Paul Abels, MSW, PhD

Pub Date: 01/2005
184 pp Paperback
ISBN13: 9780826124753

List: $50.00

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Description

Distance education (DE) is one of the most important ways in which future social workers can complete their MSW degree. With a reach to multiple populations, DE is especially suited to the field of social work, allowing rural, working, and financially-strained individuals to complete degrees and provide important services to underserved communities.

In this comprehensive and well-organized guide to understanding and implementing distance education components into social work, pioneering professors explain how to administer DE components, discuss the adjustments and rewards of the DE teaching experience, evaluate the benefits for both students and teachers, and address evolving issues in the field.

In addition, readers will be introduced to the latest audio-visual, computer -mediated, and computer-assisted modalities now in use as applied to distance education. From audio and visual teleconferencing to e-mail, networks, and web based courses, we are exposed to the current and future trends and possibilities in DE programs.

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Special Features

Illustrates the need for distance education programs in today's social work programs
Offers perspectives on the issues, problems, strengths, design, and methods of distance education
Shows patterns, variety, potentials, and inner workings of distance education programs
Includes the author's personal experiences as an educator within distance learning programs

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Table of Contents

Part I: The Rise of Distance Education

The Way to Distance Education, P. Abels
The History of Distance Education in Social Work and the Evolution of Distance Education Modalities, F.B. Raymond

Part II: Planning and Administration of Distance Education in Social Work

Managing the Distance: Distance Education Administration, C.B. Klienpeter
Which Hat Do I Wear? The Multifaceted Role of the Site Coordinator in Distance Education, K. Crew

Part III: Teaching in Distance Education

The Tribulations and Rewards of Distance Teaching, A. Glezakos
Connecting With Students, P. Abels

Part IV: Research in Distance Education

Measuring the Distance: Evaluation of Distance Education in Social Work, M.K. Potts
Faculty Issues in Distance Education, J.A. Regan

Part V: The Future

Issues and the Future of Distance Education, P. Abels

M.K. Potts

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Reviews

"This edited volume consists of contributions from social work educators who have been involved in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of distance education (DE), specifically interactive TV (ITV), initiatives in social work. The book provides the perspective of experience on the issues, triumphs, and pitfalls associated with planning, administration, and teaching within a variety of DE models." --
Joanne Yaffe, PhD, Associate Professor of University of Utah

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Author Biographies

Paul Abels, MSW, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Long Beach, Department of Social Work. He obtained his MSW form Boston University and his PhD from the University of Chicago. He was Professor and Associate Dean at Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Abels was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey and Iran, and he and his wife, Sonia Abels, helped start a school of social work in Lithuania following its independence. He is the author of a number of books and articles, and introduced courses on administration, the future, alternative helping approaches, and narrative therapy for social work.

Dr. Abels has practiced with individuals, families, and groups and did tenant and community organization in Public Housing. He aided his wife in the development of the journal, Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping. His current research is on the use of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and how it might be linked to narrative practice, thus providing an internationally appropriate helping approach.

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