Innovative social work education across distance : community focused learning

This paper elaborates the model of social work education delivered from the School of Social Work and Welfare Studies at Central Queensland University (CQU). The Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree is delivered in an approach called Community-Focused Learning (CFL). The template for the analysis in CFL is outlined, in Figure One, showing the detailed steps that guide the analysis, research and reflection on the social work cases and projects required for assessment. Three models of problem-based and experiential learning were influential in the construction of CFL. The strengths of each approach and their influence are identified. The process of CFL is initiated at on-campus meetings but continues across distance using a mix of information and communication technologies, increasingly referred to as 'lCTs' (Rafferty 1997, p. 959). Social work educators have been comfortable with the use of information technologies for research and social inquiry, but reluctant to experiment with new modes ofcommunication technologies in undergraduate programs. This paper concludes that CFL provides flexible delivery of social work education with the purposeful use of ICTs in decision making across distance. Participants in BSW at CQU can replace the time they would devote to on-campus travel and teaching sessions with an immersion in the social contexts that resemble their future workplace: remote rural properties, home towns or neighbourhoods.