Transcript Slide 1

Council on Social Work Education
2011 Annual Program Meeting
Integration of Gero Field & Classroom Education:
Reconsidering the Possible
Nancy Hooyman, Co-PI, CSWE Gero-Ed Center
at Volland, PI, HPPAE
Ricky Fortune, University of Albany
Cheryl Waites, Wayne State University
Deborah Waldrup, University of Buffalo
Session Objectives
 Overview of HPPAE (field) & Gero-Ed
Center (classroom) models to curriculum
change
 Complementarity of two approaches within
programs that had funding from both
initiatives
 Barriers to integration of class & field
 Strategies to address barriers
 Strategies to ensure sustainability
 Implications for gero social work & other
fields of practice
Impact of HPPAE
 2669 students in aging field
education
 72 social work programs, 33
states
 750 field agencies
 80% of graduates in agingfocused agencies 18 months post
graduation
Impact of the Gero-Ed Center
 Worked directly with 300 faculty
 Reached approximately 10,000
students
 181 grants to 163 programs
across all states
Background
 36 programs had both HPPAE &
Gero-Ed Center funding
 Assumption of optimal conditions for
integration of class & field
curriculum
 To what extent has integration
occurred?
“Ripple effect” of two approaches
 Is the whole greater than the sum of its
parts?
 Where did integration occur: required
vs. specialized gero curriculum?
 What partnerships promoted
integration of classroom & field?
 What can we learn for future
partnerships?
Integration of Gero Field and Classroom Education:
UAlbany School of Social Welfare
Anne E. (Ricky) Fortune, PhD
[email protected]
UAlbany Integration of Gero Field and
Classroom Curriculum
 Applied for HPPAE development grant in 1999
 Planned for strong curriculum to support field
 Methods specialization only, combine micro &
macro requirements
 Received Gero grants for MSW Generalist and
Advanced years
How funding facilitated integration: faculty
 Allowed multiple pathways:
 Workshops to change faculty
attitude toward aging
 Intergenerational family
practice
 Expand faculty scholarly
opportunities
How funding facilitated integration:
curriculum
 Modules for all generalist courses:
 readings, discussion questions, exercises/videos, assignments,
lectures
 Intergenerational learning opportunities in field, esp. first-year
 Modules for advanced MSW courses in specialized areas:
 Aging & mental health practice
 Aging and rural social work
 Aging and substance abuse policy
 Developed Brown Bag Lunch series
 “aging and _____” topics
Results of projects
 Larger aging presence throughout SSW
 Faculty scholarship
 Normalized as part of curriculum
 Topical visibility to students/community
 Involvement of community at many levels
 Study of impact of aging content in first year classes:
 increased aging content without sacrificing other aspects of
diversity
 Strong HPPAE program and curricular support
 Post-graduate networking, leadership impacts
 National applicants
 More applicants from first-year curriculum
Barriers to Integration/ Strategies
 Attempts to change faculty attitudes towards aging or
competency not fully successful
 More successful: Provide resources, videos, guest
speakers
 Turnover in faculty teaching courses
 New faculty more likely to add aging content but then
leave
 Staff reach out to new faculty and disseminate new
information to existing faculty
 Continuing funding for infrastructure and student
stipends
Sustainability
 Some stability is critical for success
 Support of Dean/senior administration
 Someone who is enthusiastic and supported in
HPPAE role
 If faculty feel resource (speaker, video,
exercise) is valuable for course, they
continue to use it but rarely do it themselves.
 Time and support for fundraising
 Part of community-university relations, PR for
What’s possible?
 Aging as a focus of education
has a presence within the
student community
 Powerful cohort effect from
HPPAE program
 Both during and after program
 Rotations in field placement
accepted as a model of field
education in selected areas
Recommendations
 Involving community members reaps
benefits tenfold
 Multiple connections between field instructors,
as classroom resources, speakers, etc.
 Costs highest at start-up (time, $, effort) but
if community involved, can become (nearly)
self-sustaining
 Combining field and curricular efforts
synergistic, strengthens both and school’s
standing in community
Integration of Gero Field &
Classroom Education:
Reconsidering the Possible
Wayne State University
School of Social Work
Cheryl Waites
Wayne State University
School of Social Work
WSU School of Social Work
 Located within an urban research university
in Detroit Michigan
 Diverse student body and metropolitan area
 BSW, MSW, PhD programs
 Interdisciplinary Gerontology Graduate
Certificate Program
 Social Work Faculty Research in Gerontology
 WSU, Institute of Gerontology
Three Overlapping Projects
1. HPPAE - Field
2. BEL –Service-Learning
3. CDI – Classroom Foundation
Curriculum
Create An Aging Buzz
 Increase interest in working with older
adults among students (BSW and MSW)
 Field agencies wish to be part of the
HPPAE
 BEL students provide meaningful service
to the community
 Real-world experience integrated into
courses
 Curriculum infusion in master syllabus
(BSW and MSW)
 Aging course oversubscribed each
semester
Funding

Attracted more students to working
with older adults

Strengthened our relationship with
partner agencies

Provided faculty time during the
summer to work on projects

Provided resources to spotlight
“Careers in Aging” – Created an aging
buzz
Barriers and Strategies
 Student lack of interest in working with
older adults
 Faculty interest and buy-in

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Built a strong HPPAE program that prepared
students to work with diverse older adult
population
Effective leadership and support from
administration
Discussed experiential learning at faculty
meetings
Sensitive to faculty overload with the addition of
yet another project
Sensitive to course overload so curriculum
infusion and experiential learning activities were
embedded in course assignments already
established.
Strategies:
Creating a BUZZ or Spotlight
Three projects working together
 WSU and Agency Partners participated in
panel presentation for “Careers in Aging
Week” event to publicize HPPAE and social
work careers in aging
 “A Round Table Discussion on Infusing Aging
Content into WSU SSW Curriculum: Voices
from the Field of Aging.
 Brought together students, lead teachers,
director of field education, aging services
providers from the community, DAAA board
members, staff and the President & CEO
 HPPAE students recognized each spring during
graduation luncheon serving to attract other
students to be part of this prestigious program
Sustainability
 HPPAE partner agencies offering stipends
 Program will continue without stipends
 Students are attracted to being part of HPPAE and
Gerontology
 Round table discussion event keeping the discourse
going
 Aging content infused into the master syllabus
 HPPAE, BEL, CDI and Gerontology Graduate Certificate
program, will collaborate with the Institute of
Gerontology to promote a “Careers in Aging” campus
wide event
 School has added an experiential learning component
to the BSW Introduction to Social Work Course
 Older adult Home visiting Project – Interdisciplinary
team project – practice application for BSW and MSW
students
BSW Student
Prior to this project, one student discussed how he felt
when he encountered older adults in his own words:
 they were “somewhat disgusting with their
wrinkled bodies”
 and he stated he could hardly look at them.
After completing the BEL project he continues to
volunteer at the site coming up with new ideas to
engage older adults in activities - playing cards going
for a walk, or showing him new things.
This student fully intends to work with this population
upon graduation and is currently doing research on
grief and loss
Redefining the Possible
Redefining the Possible
 Build awareness - Spot-lighting
Gerontology
 Build a strong program
 Create a Buzz about Gerontology and
Careers in Aging
 Get buy-in from key constituencies
 Work together toward a common
goal
Recommendations
 Ensure students get a well rounded
education related to older adults: include
experiential learning, course infusion, and a
field experience
 Break down the myths of working with
older adults
 Create opportunities for students to
interface with aging professionals
 Establish community partnerships for aging
education
Integration of Gero Field & Classroom Education:
Reconsidering the Possible
Deborah P. Waldrop, LMSW, PhD
University at Buffalo School of Social Work
Overview
UBSSW integration of Gero field &
curriculum
How Gero-Ed+ HPPAE facilitated the
integration
Barriers & strategies
Sustainability
Redefining what is possible
Recommendations
Change over
time…
…is like water
dripping on rock
(Hooyman, N., 2006).
UBSSW Integration of Gero field &
curriculum
Ignited the change effort:
Required UBSSW HPPAE students to take
Aging Populations & their Families (SW
706)
Curriculum review/change process: SW
706 became an “Advanced Topics
Analysis” course
“Mainstreamed” aging
Use of community partners as “master
teachers” & agencies as “classrooms in
the field”
How Gero-Ed & HPPAE helped
 Gero-Ed Brought the conceptual use of
“the intersection between aging and [ ]”
to life…
 HPPAE students became my “ambassadors
for aging”
 Strategize with interns about making
assignments for every course “agingfocused”-they teach my colleagues
 Gero-Ed website teaching resources
 HPPAE became the “go to place” for
aging
Barriers: Marathon vs. sprint
 The number of students who enter our
program with the desire to work with
children, teenagers or people who have
substance use or trauma histories
 Competing faculty interests
 Competing curricular interests
 No Center on Aging or nexus of disciplines
 Limited job opportunities in WNY
 Expectations (!!!)—mine, students',
community
 Missed/Failed opportunities
Strategies: “Be the change you want
to see in the world.”
 School leadership: Curriculum re-design
involved a “leveling” course; co-coordinated,
provided materials
 Next Generation: Gero-Doctoral students
teaching HBSW
 Be present: Orientation, Field Fair
 Lessons learned: NO (!!!) monthly
reporting….Find surprising-not mundane ways
to inform faculty
Sustainability: Luck is involved
 Utilize your University Development Office
 Community Health Foundation of WCNY
 Build strong & enduring relationships with
community agencies
Showcase & involve community partners in
seminars, networking events
Geriatric workforce Initiative
Redefining the possible
 What would a new-age model of
Gero- social work education that
integrated classroom & field look like?
 “[I]dwell in possibilities”
Interdisciplinarycommunity
seminars
 Program/community specific-a must!
One size does not fit all…Use of:
 Community advisory boards-including elders
 Planning & delivery—more off than on campus
 Agency commitment/give-back
 Possibilities??
Simulated clients
Recommendations
 Teach non-aging courses
 Give guest lectures
 Create a “speakers bureau”
 Keep track of films; documentaries + first
run for suggestions
 Accept invitation(s) to serve on the
Board(s) of Directors of aging-related
agencies
Keep School Administration Aware,
Informed
Invite the Dean
to lunch with the
cohort
Have an end-of-year
event; share the results
during your annual
meeting w/the dean
Have your interns make audio
recordings of: Hi Dean Smyth,
The best part of the HPPAE
program was…
Accept
opportunities
for publicity
UBSSW HPPAE
Cohort VI
2011-2012
Current issue of
the UBSSW
Alumni
publication
Create, nominate, facilitate &
celebrate student awards
UBSSW award winners, 2007
HDF, HPPAE
Associate
Rose Weinstein
Scholar Award, UB
Emeritus Center
Pick dedicated partners, nurture &
celebrate those relationships
School, Consortium
and
Agency partners
Be hopeful, optimistic, opportunistic
and dedicated!
 How far you go in life depends on your
being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving & tolerant
of the weak and the strong, because one
day you will have been all of these.
 ~ George Washington Carver