Oleksandr (Sasha) Kondrashov

March 22, 2020

Many social work students in Canada are required to move to remote learning starting on Monday March 23^rd, 2020. Canadian Association for Social Work Education offered the following guidelines for social work programs https://caswe-acfts.ca/covid-19-communication-field-education-placements/ and encouraged programs to develop remote learning plans with students.

To facilitate work for field liaisons, field instructors, field coordinators, and to support students learning, I have uploaded the guide for remote learning in field settings that include 12 discussion topics and 7 learning activities that I have used with my students. I also added some sample learning activities in the guide that social work field program can apply for remote learning. https://krasun.ca/remote-learning-practicum-discussion-topics-and-learning-activities/

In recognition of the CASWE-ACFTS Board of Directors’ recommendation to suspend on-site field education placements and allow for Remote Learning Plans (RLPs), CASWE-ACFTS requested access to the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) online webinar library to support students in this endeavour. To access CASW webinars for free, please go to https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/webinars  Again, no account or login is required for access recorded webinars until May 30, 2020. Please note that for students seeking to register for upcoming webinars, there is a requirement on the sign-up page to input your CASW affiliation. Students may select the CASW partner organization in the province or territory they are studying, regardless if they are a member at this time. If students are having issues accessing CASW’s webinar resource, please have them contact casw@casw-acts.ca directly. The University of Toronto Faculty of Social Work compiled list of free training from US for MSW students: https://socialwork.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Online-Training-Guide-for-FIFSW-Practicum-Students.pdf

In US Melanie Sage from University of Buffalo shared many US-based resoruces that allows students to create remote learning plans and safely work from home to complete their field requirements: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mXxjFJxd2J6t_pwioWKBYSaCbO5kVOjbb2dsXlpZmRs/edit#gid=0

I will highlight 10 of the essential resources from Melanie’s list that can be applied to the Canadian context:

1. Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences offers a detailed Field Education Continuity Plan for Disruption of Field Placement Activities. Lots of learning activities listed based on CSWE core competencies: https://case.edu/socialwork/sites/case.edu.socialwork/files/2020-03/CWRU%20Mandel%20School%20Remote%20Field%20Activities%20Policy%20%26%20Guidance%20%283.11.20%29.pdf
2. NCA&T/UNCG Joint BSW Field Program categorized Remote Field Learning Resources into online training options and ideas for remote learning: https://sites.google.com/uncg.edu/bsw-field/
3. Meredith Powers, Phd, MSW offers insightful ideas and tips for Meaningful Remote Tasks for Field https://docs.google.com/document/d/13pi5ab0hBCwMLvcrIoagt5106Scq-CQvLsMxfv37WB0/edit
4. The St. Louis Field Education Collaborative has developed a plan to address temporary disruption to students’ social work field placements due to national or local events such as communicable diseases, natural disasters, and/or civil unresthttp://www.naddssw.org/pages/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Interruption-of-Field.pdf
5. US social work response to COVID-19 can be found on CSWE website: https://cswe.org/News/News/CSWE-Responding-to-Coronavirus
6. The University of Maryland School of Social Work Office of Field Education send a notice to Students, Field Instructors, Agency Coordinators and Liaisons and include Field Education Remote Activity Plan, Field Education Disruption Plan Activities and Field Education Remote Activities attachments: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/CORRECTED-VERSION–UMSSW-Coronavirus-Field-Placements-Update—3-13-20.html?soid=1114009451637&aid=OiWC-PMXd4k
7. Ohio State University offers some reflective question related to COVID-19: https://csw.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/COVID-19-Virtual-Student-Activity.pdf
8. Laurel Iverson Hitchcock, Melanie Sage and Nancy J. Smyth shared Technology-Based Learning Task List for Social Work Education (Version 1.1 – 6/13/16) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByR_E-iQH7PdaU1XTk5ocHEzZnM/edit
9. National Association of Deans and Directors Schools of Social Work collects all the Coronavirus and Field-work Contingency Plans http://www.naddssw.org/resources/coronavirus-and-field-work-contingency-plans
10. The School of Social Work at the University of Buffalo developed the page to provide resources and tools to help our faculty, staff and students stay informed and remain productive during the COVID-19 pandemic: http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/about/covid-19.html#title_0