Strategic Community Partnerships to Build BSSW Curriculum

Overview: This panel of BSW/BSSW Program Directors will present on utilizing community partnerships to enhance curriculum. Community partnerships increase student confidence as they engage decision-makers in the community, as well as contribute to service delivery. Presentation is from an online, face-to-face, public, and private program perspective.Proposal text: The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) highlights the need of students being prepared to embrace the professional identity of social workers. Prior to beginning field placement students should have a variety of learning experiences within a defined curriculum to establish professional identity, confidence, and cultural competence (Cano, 2020; Jackson & Marques, 2019; Robinson, Izlar, & Oliver, 2020). This can be accomplished by putting strategic alliances into the curriculum (Berzin, & Dearing, 2019). BSSW Curriculum is to align with CSWE Competency standards of competence based learning which is to purposefully integrate and apply social work knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes to practice situations in order to promote human and community well-being (CSWE). This is accomplished by providing students with an education that familiarizes them to current, real practice (Baginsky, Manthorpe, & Hickman, 2019; Jackson & Marques, 2019; Robinson, Izlar, & Oliver, 2020). The field of social work has a rich history of collaboration between community and education, dating back to the first school of social work (Schachter, 2011). Today community partnerships provide diverse and unique opportunities for students to learn, as they also conduct research, consult, and contribute to service delivery (Adams, 2019; Baginsky, Manthorpe, & Hickman, 2019; Robinson, Izlar, & Oliver, 2020). In terms of research, community-academic partnerships (CAPs) provide opportunities rich to both the local community and the academic community, as students and faculty learn while providing needed data to community stakeholders (Adams, 2019). Cano (2020) discovered that community-academic research partnerships inform curriculum, particularly in areas of diversity and inclusion, so important to social work education moving forward. In terms of consultation, faculty and students have the opportunity to engage in decision-making as they provide latest best practices and evidence-informed practice to local service providers (Berzin, & Dearing, 2019). And in terms of contributing to service delivery, students and faculty have the opportunity to give time and effort to processes of service delivery by conducting drives, organizing places where resources are stored, serving breakfast, etc. (Berzin, & Dearing, 2019; Jackson & Marques, 2019)) . This panel of BSW/BSSW directors will discuss ways their unique programs have identified, utilized, and maintained community partnerships for the purpose of enhancing curriculum and student experiences. The three programs include an online program, a face-to-face faith-based program, and a face-to-face public program. Partnerships include the use of online textbooks and curriculum, research-based collaborations, and program-level service-learning programs. It is the aim of this panel to help other program directors in discovering innovative ways to employ community relationships with various university modalities as well as design curriculum through strategic collaborations. After hearing from each program director, participants will be invited to brainstorm and discuss new collaborative opportunities with colleagues with an interest in overall undergraduate curriculum enhancement.