Teaching Social Work with Digital Technology

This book was written to help social work educators make pedagogically sound, rational, practical, and ethical decisions about integrating technology into their social work programs and across the curriculum. It covers a range of essential topics, from understanding digital literacy skills to ethical implications for technology in social work practice, from using technology in the traditional classroom to fully online teaching environments. Case studies, practical examples, and technology tips are integrated into each chapter, and checklists show how technology is integrated with the Council on Social Work Education s EPAS competencies, the NASW s Code of Ethics, and other social work practice standards and guidelines. Appendices provide a wealth of practical materials.

Laurel Iverson Hitchcock is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her Ph.D. in Social Work and MSW at the University of Alabama and has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Hitchcock has over ten years of practice experience in health and behavioral health care settings. Prior to her career in social work, Dr. Hitchcock served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal, West Africa (’91-’93), and as an AmeriCorps Volunteer with the Jefferson County Department of Public Health’s Healthy Start Program in Birmingham, AL (’94-’95). She is the co-director for the Institute for Healthy Engagement and Resilience with Technology (iHeartTech) at the University at Buffalo's School of Social Work, and she writes a blog titled Teaching & Learning in Social Work.

Melanie Sage is an Assistant Professor at the University of Buffalo. Her research and scholarship areas include the use of technology in social work education and practice, the intersections of technology and child welfare, family engagement in child welfare and child welfare practice with Indigenous families. Sage teaches in the areas of individual and family interventions, and focuses on the applied use of evidence-based practice. She enjoys helping students develop clinical skills for practice, as well as working with students on effective ways to use technology and reinforcing strategies for lifelong learning. Her current research is focused on technology and engagement in both teaching and practice. Her specific interest concerns the perception, application, and best practices of technology and social media in the child welfare setting, and how it can be harnessed to support individual and family well-being.

Nancy J. Smyth is a professor and former dean at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Smyth is a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress through the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and has worked in both mental health and addiction treatment settings for over 35 years as a clinician, manager, educator, researcher and program developer. Her research, teaching and practice focus on trauma, substance abuse, and on working with people recovering from those experiences, including the use of innovative treatment approaches like EMDR and mindfulness meditation. In the last few years, Smyth has been exploring the implications of digital technologies for social work practice and education.