Preparing Tomorrow’s Social Workers: Looking through a Technology-supported Participatory Research Lens
Purpose: This paper presents data from a five-year study designed to mobilize intellectual and organizational resources toward the resolution of problems facing youth by engaging broad-based groups of faculty, students, policymakers, and service providers. By employing technology solutions, the project has successfully linked a School of Social Work with various communities nationally and internationally. This study examined the effectiveness and impact of a collaboratory model on social work teaching, research, and youth issues. Ten projects were analyzed to test how the model facilitated the collaborative research process and the resulting impact on teaching and learning in a School of Social Work.
Method: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from document reviews, surveys and interviews of participants, and formative evaluations. The paper presents findings on the following areas: 1) the consequences of the collaborative process for social change; 2) the impact of infusing IT solutions; 3) the impact on teaching, learning, and student understanding of university-level research.
Results: The collaboratory model is intended to promote the successful facilitation of multidisciplinary, community-based, and cross-cultural research. Working in the collaboratories has provided students with an enhanced understanding of academic research, the role community can play in that research, and potential for infusing technology. Faculty leaders are reflecting on the meaning and means of academic research and teaching, how technology can be used most effectively and innovatively within and beyond the classroom, and how to apply the values of translational research to models of dissemination. Data demonstrate how collaborative work contributes to social change and the resulting implications for social work education.
Implications: Through this initiative, the process of conducting technology supported, collaborative research can be examined. This session presents how this project is impacting teaching, research, university-community partnerships, and social change. The results inform how social work education and research can address the needs of communities and youth.