The Impact of Setting on Student Peer Evaluations in Social Work Practice with Groups Classes
Katryna Moland, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA (USA)
Atlantis Leonard, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA (USA)
Michael Lyman, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA (USA)
The purpose of this project is to assess the impact of setting in a social work with groups class. The settings being compared are classes in the pre-COVID-19 era versus classes in the post-COVID-19 timeframe. The data collected showed higher ratings for social work skills and values in the post-COVID era.
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Presentation Description:
The purpose of this project is to assess the impact of setting in a social work with groups class. The settings being compared are 1) a class in the pre-COVID-19 era versus a class in the post-COVID-19 timeframe. The relevance to our research is the significantly different approach some students had to take during the pandemic. Students who could not role-play group simulations had less practice before entering the field. Therefore, there is a whole group of social workers who did not get the same hands-on curriculum that provides important skills for the field. In a Group Skills class, the students are required to simulate a group where the students act as facilitators. Students are required to evaluate one another on how well each person facilitated their group. While their peers are facilitating, the rest of the students are completing the evaluation forms. For this research project specifically, we are comparing the scores pre-covid students gave to each other versus post-covid students. There was a statistically significant difference in the way the post-COVID students evaluated their peers when compared with the way pre-COVID students evaluated their peers. The post-Covid students rated their peers higher than pre-COVID students.
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