slayter - sonar flc portfolio

8/8/2019 Slayter - SONAR FLC Portfolio

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Mid-term e-portfolio

Elspeth Slayter, Ph.D.Elspeth Slayter, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Salem State University



Access to the Internet required to view all elements of this portfolio

See ́ click hereµ hyperlinks to essays, andother items posted on my FLC blog orrelated websites

Caveat: First time preparing an e-portfolio,have tested all links, apologize if there areany bugs



I. Intro to SONAR FLCII. Teaching philosophyIII. Context: Overview of course, students,

curriculumIV. Before and after V. My own learning objectives VI. FLC inspirations Planned innovations VII. Achieving the objectives VIII.Plans for analysis of student learning,

feedbackIX. Plan B



Supporting Students OvercomingNegative Attitudes About Research Specifically: Required research courses

Focus on graduate students

Focus on human services students Social Work (focus of this individual project)

Occupational Therapy

Education



Explanatory haiku from

May 2010 meeting:

Sonar pings the signal

Critical consumers-

Get high on research!



Image on previous page resonatesbecause« It·s about engagement

Need to consider nature of original wave,reflected wave ² and patterns it creates

By nature a reflective process

To some extent process moderates/mediateshierarchical professor-student relationship to

foster engagement in required research courses



High anxiety about required researchcourses among human servicesgraduates

Inspired by need to foster increasedengagement

Often felt I spent more time managinganxiety than facilitating learning«



Began with planfocused on

community-basedparticipatory

research

FLC members didnot embrace a trueCBPR approach in

project design

Yet in the end, allapproaches had

community-focused elements,click here for more

commentary



Previously-crafted teaching philosophyfor this course For the full essay, click here

Key elements:

´Research as a second languageµ

Need for ́ translation,µ ́ de-mystificationµ and´starting where the student is.µ



Why not a new teaching philosophy?

Realized old teaching philosophy still fits

Needed a new framework or lens for thecourse

Chose: ´Evidence-based social workpracticeµ More on that in a moment«



Social work students do not come to thisprogram to ´do mathµ Even though research is MORE than math

Used to believing what they read, hard tobreak out of mold into critical thinkingmode

Approach class with anxiety, sometimeshostility



Introductory course: Art & science of literature review Use of library resources Introducing basic research methods, statistics Preparing for year-long research projectsx Product = community-based research project

Required in graduate program in social

work Very traditional (read: students think it is

BORING) syllabus (see Appendix A )



Retains focus of existing course (see

Appendix B)

Changes approach to reading, in-class

work, assignments, textbook

LENS/FRA MEWORK for teaching thecourse shifts Evidence-based practice

M

irrors the ´processµ of a social work ́ caseµ



What is evidence-basedpractice?

A process of consideringexisting research, one·sown expertise andclient/patient values inapproaching social workpractice Click here for more details

on how I conceptualize ́ EBPµ



Why evidence-based practice as alens/framework?

Integrates two key curriculum elements:

research, social work ´practiceµ I.e. screening, assessment, engagement and intervention

of social services clients Integration also a goal of accrediting body, Council on

Social Work Education

Creates a parallel process for teacher, learnersas reflective practitioners.

Also a ́ buzzwordµ in social work that needsclarifying!



Existing course: Research in Social Work

(see Appendix A )

Re-framed course: Evidence-Based

Practice in Social Work (see Appendix B) Name change focused on engaging students

from the start («and perhaps with a bit of trickery intended therein«)



Global

goal

Objectives

To

integrate

research

methods,statistics

and social

work

practice

content

towardsdevelopm

ent of

critical

thinking

skills

1a. To reduce students· anxieties and fears about research-

related content

1b. To increase student interest and understanding of the use of research findings in professional social work settings post-

graduation.

1c. To foster collaboration between the research and practice

faculty at the School of Social Work

1d. To improve students· critical thinking skills with respect to

critiquing research for use in social work practice



Change in overall lens for course (e.g. evidence-based practice) withinput from faculty that teach practice (click here for how FLC processimpacted development of these innovations)

Dyad activities: Use of research everyday life; Question formation activity

Individual activity: Mini-ethnography with applied behavior analysis elements

Class activity: Practice professor visits class

Online group activity: Discussion moderated by community partner

Individual activity: Article critique

Final assignment proposal response: By community agency partner, practiceprofessor partner

Individual and group activity: Reflection exercise



Global goal: Integrate

research, practicecontent

Informs criticalthinking

Objectives:

Reduce studentfear, anxiety re:research

Informs self-

confidence Acknowledgefears, anxiety

Make researchtangible

Link to real world

Implementationof innovations



Objectives Activity Assessment

1a. To

reduce

students·

anxietiesand fears

about

research-

related

content

i. Change in overall lens for

course (e.g. evidence-based

practice) with input from

faculty that teach practice

ii. Dyad activity: Use of

research everyday life

iii. Dyad activity: Question

formation activity

iv. Individual activity: Mini-

ethnography with applied

behavior analysis elements

i. Student surveys at start,

end of semester

(engagement questions)

ii. Use of weekly (i.e. each

class session, 1x per

week) check-

ins/temperature

readings re: relevance,

comprehension of material (anonymous

surveys with Likert-

scaled questions)




1b. To

increase

student

interest and

understanding of the

use of

research

findings in

professional

social worksettings

post-

graduation.

i. Change in overall lens for course

(e.g. EBP)

ii. Class activity: Practice professor

visits class

iii. Online group activity: Discussion

moderated by community partner

iv. Final assignment proposal

response: By community agencypartner, practice professor partner

v. Individual/group activity: Reflection

exercise (click here), discussion of

social location (click here)

i. Student surveys at

start, end of

semester

(engagement

questions)

ii. Use of weekly (i.e.

each class session,

1x per week)

check-

ins/temperaturereadings

iii. Innovation-specific

quick responses

(same methods as

above in ii).




1c. To foster

collaboratio

n between

the researchand practice

faculty at

the School

of Social

Work

i. Change in overall lens

for course

ii. Class activity: Practiceprofessor visits class at

least once

iii. Final assignment

proposal response: By

community agencypartner, practice

professor

i. Student surveys at start, end

of semester (engagement

questions)


class session, 1x per week)

check-ins/temperature

readings re: relevance,

comprehension of material

(anonymous surveys withLikert-scaled questions)

iii. Innovation-specific quick

responses (same methods

as above in ii).




1d. To

improve

students·

criticalthinking

skills with

respect to

critiquing

research for

use in social work

practice

i. Change in overall lens

for course

ii. Dyad activity: Questionformation activity

iii. Individual activity:

Article critique

iv. Individual/group activity:Reflection exercise (click

here), discussion of

social location (click

here)

i. Student surveys at start, end

of semester (engagement

questions)


class session, 1x per week)

check-ins/temperature

readings

iii. Assessment of grades onaspects of article critique



2 approaches to measurement of studentlearning Grades

Attendance/participation In-class data collection

Remaining question: Is measurement of

grades and attendance/participation fairas a measure of student learning? Is this pie-in-the-sky?



Table 1: Grades, attendance and participation

Variables

New course

N=X

Traditional

course

N=X Independent

samples t-

test N (%) or M

(SD)

N (%) or M

(SD)

Attendance rate

GPA on mid-term

GPA on final

assignment

GPA on class

participation

*p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001;

To achieve this plan, I would use theapproach I piloted afew years ago (clickhere)

Results in reports bystudent about ́ gradesµ

for each learningobjective To be shared with

students



i. Use of weekly (i.e.

each class session,

1x per week) check-

ins/temperaturereadings

ii. Comprehension

iii. Anonymous surveys

with Likert-scaledquestions

Example: Circle the number that

reflects your comprehension of

today·s discussion topic

1 Totally irrelevant

2 Almost all irrelevant

3 Somewhat relevant

4M

ostly relevant

5 Extremely relevant



2 approaches tomeasurement of student learning

In-class data collection:Focused on relevance vs. comprehension, seetable to right

Paper surveys at start,

end of semesterx See exemplar table shell

on next slide

x See link to draft survey,next slide

Example: Circle the number that

reflects your views on the relevance

of today·s discussion topic to social

work practice

1T

otally irrelevant

2 Almost all irrelevant

3 Somewhat relevant

4 Mostly relevant

5 Extremely relevant



Table 2: Self-reported expectations for engagement before first-class

exercise, pre-test/post-test

Categorical variable

measuring competency as

high/low reduced from

Likert scale answer

structure

New course

N=X

Traditional

course

N=X

Odds

ratio

test

(adjusti

ng for

gender,GPA?)

N (%) or M

(SD) N (%) or M (SD)

My anticipated/actual level

of engagement in this

course is/was...

My comfort level about

learning about research

methods is/was...

My comfort level aboutlearning about statistics

is...

My comfort level about

learning new types of

things is/was...

*p< .05; **p< .01; ***p< .001;

Feedback onengagement

For the ́ prettyµ andreadable version of mydata collectioninstrument, click here This will take you to a

surveymonkey.

com page Note: You will have to fillout the survey to see itall



Plan B, part 1: Collect baseline data on ´oldµ style course

(not taught by me) and collect data next fall on ́ newµ

course

PlanB

, part 2:I

mplement several of the innovations inexisting, advanced course this Spring (and collect

relevant data per previously described approaches)

x Class activity: Practice professor visits class

x Online group activity: Discussion moderated by

community partner

x Final assignment proposal response: By

community agency partner, practice professor

x Individual and group activity: Reflection exercise



Plan to invite FLC colleagues to blog with

me

( www.

hatetoloveresearch.

blogspot.

com)

FLC members, observers can email

postings directly via this address:

elspethslayter.SONAR.blogger.com

slayter - sonar flc portfolio

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