MSW Advanced Year Assignments
SW
557
SW
581
Advanced Year: Fall (SW 557, 581, 582, 512)
Target Population and Program Activities
Letter of Inquiry
Fundraising Plan
Timeline
Budget
Evaluation Plan
Full Proposal due for Peer Review and Assessment
Due Date
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 9
Week 10
Week 12
Week 15
Critical Assessment of a Practice Method Used in field with Individuals in
relation to its “fit” with the NASW Code of Ethics (5 page paper/20 points)
1. Choose a model of intervention being used in your current field internship
2. Briefly describe the Model of Intervention, the type of clientele served with this
model, the research (evidence based practice research) that supports this model
as an effective or ineffective intervention to use with the type of clientele served
3. Critically assess the Model’s “fit” with the NASW Code of Ethics, especially
with regard to self-determination, empowerment, and culturally sensitive
approaches embedded within the Model as well as the usefulness to the client in
sustaining change
4. Summarize your response to your findings in completing this paper
Week 6
Weeks 9-11
30 minute Class Presentation of a Case from Field, Using DSM-IV TR (5 page
summary to be turned in day of class presentation/30 points)
1. Choose a case with which you are working in field
2. Present the case indicating why the client was referred to the agency; the client’s
strengths, opportunities, environmental stressors; significant facts from the social
history; the intervention plan; and the assessment plan for assessing the
effectiveness of the intervention
3. Specify whether you are at the beginning, middle, or ending phase in your work
with the client and how you plan to proceed to the next stage of intervention
4. Include any other data you think is relevant
Exam Week
Case Vignette Final Exam
Students will meet in a computer lab and will complete an assessment and
(Week 16)
intervention plan for a client. Content should cover the following:
1. Present the case indicating why the client was referred to the agency; the client’s
strengths, opportunities, environmental stressors; significant facts from the social
history; the intervention plan; and the assessment plan for assessing the
effectiveness of the intervention
2. Specify whether you are at the beginning, middle, or ending phase in your work
with the client and how you plan to proceed to the next stage of intervention
3. Include any other data you think is relevant
SW
582
Individual Paper: Intervention Group or Organizational Group Proposal
Each student will choose a content area related to a population group with which
they are working in their field internship and develop a proposal for a treatment
group or organizational/community group using the format provided by the
instructor. The paper must include consideration of intersectionality, power and
oppression issues in formulating the group proposal and must also include a section
on how the group advances social justice.
Week 6
MSW Advanced Year Assignments
SW
512
Individual Paper: Group Dynamics Analysis, including analysis of how Context
Shapes Practice
Students will use the concepts of intersectionality, oppression, cultural diversity and
power to analyze a group in her/his field internship. The group may be a client
group, an organizational/agency group, or a community group. Each student will
write a paper analyzing the group process, describing: (1) the dynamics (power,
decision-making, leadership, group process, cultural diversity, etc.) that took place in
the small group and (2) how these dynamics related to group theory. Examples
should be used to illustrate the student’s points.
Week 9
Group Class Presentation: Group Work with Special Populations
Working in groups of 3 students each, groups will choose a specific population to
research and describe the following: (1) the literature about the population (relevant
legislation or policy, major issues with which they struggle, special dynamics, etc.),
(2) special intersectional and power and oppression factors social workers should
consider when conducting groups with this population (i.e., how format, duration,
timing, leader’s role, and group dynamics would be affected), (3) the group
methods/techniques that would be most effective based on the above, (4) ethical
concerns social workers should consider when running a group with this population,
and (5) the best method for evaluating such a group. Students should be creative in
structuring their presentation and should include visual aids and/or handouts as
appropriate.
Weeks
10 – 15
Revised Evaluation Plan
In the preceding research course, students developed a proposal for conducting a
study. In this second research course, students carry out this study. At the start of the
course, they review and revise their plan for the study on the basis of the evaluative
feedback received from the prior and current instructor, the Institutional Review
Board, and the setting in which the study is to be conducted. Input from these
different sources helps students learn about how to design a study that responds to
multiple perspectives. Accordingly, the plan serves as a way to demonstrate
competence in being responsive to the contexts that shape practice (competency
2.1.9). Once their revised evaluation plan is approved, students collect data for their
study.
Week 3
Field Notes on Data Collection
In their Field Notes on Data Collection, students record the process of collecting the
data and reflect on this process. They are expected to document how the procedures
adhered to their evaluation plan and to the protocols set forth in their Institutional
Review Board application. The course emphasizes that research must be carried out
in ethical ways that are respectful of diverse populations and oppressed communities,
and students are expected to collect and store data so as to protect the wellbeing,
privacy, autonomy, and dignity of evaluation participants. Students are expected to
examine how their procedures affected evaluation participants from diverse
backgrounds and with differences in power vis á vis the researcher (competency
2.1.4). Additionally, the field notes serve as a means to assess students’ capacity to
collect data in a manner that is attuned to the context in which the study is being
implemented (competency 2.1.9). This course encompasses both qualitative and
quantitative methods of data collection. Students learn about various methods of data
collection such conducting interviews, focus groups, surveys, and file reviews. The
Week 9
MSW Advanced Year Assignments
field notes provide the student with an opportunity to consider the effectiveness of
their own data collection approach in securing relevant data about the intervention or
program that they are evaluating (competency 2.1.10d).
Field Notes on Data Analysis
In the field notes on data analysis, students record the steps taken in their data
analysis and reflect on the strengths and limitations of their methods. This course
encompasses both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis, and students
learn how to use SPSS for quantitative analysis and ATLAS.ti for qualitative
analysis. The field notes provide a means of by which students demonstrate their
capacity to consider the effectiveness of their analytical methods for evaluating the
social work intervention or program (competency 2.1.10d).
Week 13
Exam Week
Evaluation Report
In this second research course, students learn how to prepare an evaluation report that (Week 16)
comprehensively covers the study’s purpose, relevant literature, research questions,
methodology, findings, and implications of the findings. The report’s components
and their order help students grasp how scientific inquiry is organized so as to
answer evaluation questions by applying valid methods and critically reflecting on
the trustworthiness of the findings (competency 2.1.6). In preparing their evaluation
report, they learn about how to describe their evaluation methods and how to
integrate qualitative and quantitative findings and relate their conclusions to practice
(competency 2.1.3). In their evaluation report, they reflect on how the data collection
procedures may have affected their results, specify the steps that they took to protect
the identities and dignity of evaluation participants in how they reported findings,
and acknowledge how the dissemination of the evaluation findings may affect
populations in different ways. This helps students to understand the balance between
rigorous and ethical study (2.1.4). In addition to this comprehensive report, students
prepare an executive summary. This summary is geared to the needs of agency
administrators and workers for a succinct overview of the study and its key findings.
The full report and its executive summary lay the foundation for wider dissemination
efforts in the third and final research course, which seeks to translate research into
practice. This series of reporting encourages accountability to diverse constituents, in
the community and university (competency 2.1.6).
SW
583
Advanced Year: Spring (SW 583, 560, 561, 590)
Due Date
Weeks 3 – 4
Family Therapy Model Used in Field Agency & Case Presentation of
Assessment, Intervention, and Evaluation of Practice Plan: Group Presentation
Individual Paper (6-10 pages):
Critical assessment of Family Therapy Model used in Field Agency with focus on (1)
How the model fits with the NASW Code of Ethics, (2) Evidence-based research
about the Therapy Models’ application to social problems experienced by different
populations, and (3) student’s critical assessment of whether the model being used is
the most appropriate for the clients with whom the student is working
Final Exam (Oral and Written)
(1) Family Assessment, (2)Intervention Plan, (3)Choice of Model/Theory for
Intervention (include evidence-based research to justify your choice of
Theory/Model for Practice)(4) How Your Choice of Intervention Model Fits with
NASW Code of Ethics and (5) Plan for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Your
Intervention; instructor will provide the case
Weeks
15 – 16
MSW Advanced Year Assignments
SW
560
Administrative/program policy change memo
Students individually prepare a memorandum that addresses an area for
administrative or program policy change. This memo may relate to their field work
(past or current) or another area of their work. Students are not required to submit the
memo to the agency. If they choose to submit the memo to the agency, they must do
so in consultation with agency or field personnel. In the memo, students specify the
area, why it requires change, and how change should be enacted. They submit to the
instructor both the memo and a separate 4-page, double-spaced explication of the
memo. In the explication, they discuss their rationale for how the memo is framed
and worded, who signs it, to whom it is addressed, and when and how it is
transmitted (competency 2.1.10a). They reflect on their memos likely interaction
with established agency norms and structural arrangements and its likely impact in
terms of advancing social and economic justice (competency 2.1.5). They relate this
explication to their course readings by Jansson on implementation advocacy and
Schneider and Lester on administrative advocacy and attach a list of references cited.
Community organizing/development model critique
Students individually write a critique of a model of community organizing or
development. They are expected to review the origins of the model, how it
approaches building community assets, and cite references. In preparing this 5 to 8page, double-spaced paper, students are expected to reference chapters by Green and
Haines (chapters 1-9), Medoff and Sklar, Warren, Kahn, and the reading on which
they presented in class (competency 2.1.3).
Week 3
Lobbying assignment
In small groups, students select an area for lobbying and prepare a policy brief
(competency 2.1.9). They submit to the instructor (a) the policy brief and (b)
accompanying materials. These accompanying materials include the following: a
force field analysis of support for and opposition to the proposed change, a team or
coalition strategy for lobbying on behalf of the proposed change (competency 2.1.8),
reflections on likely impact of the policy brief for historically oppressed group and
the broader society, and citations (competency). In preparing their strategy, students
draw upon the Jansson textbook and Avner chapter.
Week 8
Advocate’s autobiography
Individually, students prepare the advocate’s autobiography. It is written in a
reflective, informal style. In this autobiography students identify their own strengths
and challenges as policy advocates, relate these aspects of themselves to the force
field analysis of support for and opposition to the proposed policy change in the
Lobbying Assignment, and create a trajectory of ways to continue their growth as
policy advocates that builds on their strengths and addresses their challenges
(competencies 2.1.2, 2.1.4). Citations are only required for direct quotations.
Week 10
Week 6
Group project: Implement a policy conference/workshop program that informs Week 12
the community regarding a policy issue
In the same small groups as used for their Lobbying Assignment, students design,
implement and evaluate a policy conference/workshop. To design the workshop, they
interview a purposive sample of informed community and/or agency members about
the lobbying area for policy change and create a map of assets and needs
(competency 2.1.9). Then based on this assessment, they prepare and carry out a
conference/workshop program on the area of policy change and seek participant
feedback on the session (competency 2.1.10b). Subsequently, they submit a report
MSW Advanced Year Assignments
documenting the process of designing, delivering, and evaluating the
conference/workshop program (competency 2.1.8).
Weeks
Policy shapes practice reflection presentation
In the final class sessions, students individually present their reflections on how
14 – 15
policy shapes practices. The area of policy is the one selected for their Lobbying
Assignment and Group Project. In their presentations, students connect the area of
policy change to the literature on how policy influences practices, indicators of
sustained change, and the likely results of the policy change in terms of building
various forms of community capital for different populations, especially those having
experienced historic oppression (competency 2.1.3).
SW
561
Case Study # 1 – Organizational Problem
Case Study # 2 – Personal Issue
Case Study # 3 – You Write It
Newsletter Development & Editorship
As a class, you will conceive, plan, and create the Social Work Courier newsletter. The
newsletter will connect alumni and supporters with the Department of Social Work; that is, it
will have a purpose beyond self-expression. The newsletter will seek to build morale, share
organizational mission and vision, promote activities or events, aid recruiting, and encourage
community to name a few goals. Topics will be based on the data from an alumni survey to
stakeholders.
SW
590
Week 5
Week 8
Week 12
Weeks 4-5
(Week 9
Draft 1 due)
Leadership Interview Assignment
Management Project
The semester project is a management project in program planning, administration,
and/or budgeting. It is very important that the project be developed in partnership
with the field agency. A component of the project will be a management interview,
which will profile an individual manager with supervisory responsibilities; analyze
the nature of challenges, competencies, and characteristics needed for the position;
situate the position within the context of a social work and social justice framework;
and summarize personal reflections concerning social work administration. The
project is required to provide a learning experience for students as well as an
authentic benefit to the organization.
Week 14
Exam Week
(Week 16)
Student Group Class Presentation
Student groups will present to the class the creative project they intend to implement.
Student Group Project
1. Final implementation date for the project/products is April 30, 2010. Projects
that are publicly presented to stakeholder groups should be scheduled, if
possible, during the time the class normally meets.
Weeks 5 – 8
2. All written materials/products created in the implementation of the project
must be completed by April 30, 2010.
3. All assessments/evaluations related to the project must be completed by May
7, 2010.
Week 15