|
|
SOWK 734 - Advanced Practice with Organizations and Communities II: Community Social Work
SYLLABUS
I. Purpose/rationale for the course
Social workers who specialize in practice with communities and organizations must be prepared to respond to and influence changing social and political environments. This course prepares students to critically analyze emerging social work issues within communities, and to develop community responses.
II. Course content
Through course materials and hands-on applications, this course targets the development and refinement of advanced community practice skills. Students focus on community practice methods and models, and intervention strategies that are essential for social work practice with communities and organizations.
III. Course objectives
The student who successfully completes this course will be able to:
- Develop understanding of community structure and changes over time.
- Draw from the history of community organizing and development to inform practice.
- Compare and contrast the major tasks, processes, and models of community organizing.
- Sharpen analytical, political, and interactional skills for community organizing.
- Understand the concept of sustainable development in local, national, and international contexts.
- Compare and contrast relevant models, methods, strategies, and tactics of local economic development, and how community economic development relates to sustainable development.
- Determine the main issues in communities when working directly with individuals and groups whose social class, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity are similar to and different from yours.
- Develop an analysis of the structure and impact of metropolitan and rural regions on social and economic justice (i.e. opportunities for and threats against poor and minority residents).
IV. Linkages to Other Courses
This advanced practice course, builds on the introduction organizations and communities material taught in the foundation year (732), focusing more narrowly on building the skills necessary for planning and implementing community change. It builds on knowledge of organizations developed during the foundation year HBSE course on organizations and communities (712).
V. Method of instruction
A variety of instructional methods are used in this course and include lecture, discussion, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, field-based case studies, role play, videotapes, and class presentations. Emphasis will be placed on the integration of field placement experiences and course content through such tools as case consultation, case studies, role plays, and written assignments requiring the critical application of theory to practice with large systems in the students’ field placement settings.
VI. Course assignments
The student is expected to satisfy the following requirements:
- Completion of three graded exercises
- Completion of other brief written or oral exercises, if assigned, to support classroom learning.
- Completion of assigned reading as specified in the Course Outline. Students are expected to complete all assigned readings and to be prepared to incorporate these readings into their class discussions and written assignments.
- The due dates for the written assignments and their values toward the final grade will be determined by the individual instructors.
|
|
