Journal of Technology in Human Services

Carlson, Ray

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_02pmid: N/A

SUMMARY Research on expertise suggests that several years of extensive practice should lead to the development of good insights into effective practice. This paper describes this research and what it suggests about ways to capture and utilize such expertise in a computerized training simulator. Case-based reasoning is looked at as a way to interpret this research and its utilization. The paper also summarizes a project that is collecting such experience-based insights in the child welfare field. Particular attention is directed at ways to validate the experiential insights collected.

Freddolino, Paul P.; Han, Abraham Seonghee

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_03pmid: N/A

SUMMARY This paper describes practice applications of videoconferencing technologies in two settings. In Korea, people who live in areas which lack social welfare expertise receive services such as education, counseling, diagnostic assessment, and therapy through a system linking the central site with three service agencies in three different cities. In the United States, an interactive video breast cancer support group links women in three distant communities monthly. Evaluative feedback concerning these applications from professional and lay users will be reviewed in detail. Implications for the use of videoconferencing in social work practice will be discussed.

Hollister, C. David; Mehrotra, Chandra M. N.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_04pmid: N/A

SUMMARY Interactive television has potential merit as a medium for reaching rural audiences. The Blandin Foundation has recently explored the use of ITV for its workshops for leadership training in rural Minnesota communities. This paper presents the findings of a formative evaluation of a pilot ITV workshop on “Attracting and Sustaining Community Volunteers,” in terms of its technical aspects, acceptability to participants, learning impacts, and accessibility. Criteria for selecting distance learning modalities and ITV networks and providers are suggested.

Patterson, David A.; Cloud, Richard N.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_05pmid: N/A

SUMMARY Social workers and other mental health workers lack clinical decision support tools to predict which clients are at greatest risk of psychiatric rehospitalization. Artificial neural networks (ANNs), are computer decision support tools that make prediction and classification decisions based on accumulated experience and information contained in successfully solved cases (correct decisions). This study evaluates the use of ANNs in predicting rehospitalization of severely mentally ill outpatients. Eight Bayesian ANN models achieved correct prediction rates ranging from 75% to 93% for two prediction conditions. These results support the utility of Bayesian ANN models in the development of clinical decision support tools.

Tower, Kristine D.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_06pmid: N/A

SUMMARY In the enthusiasm for faster and more efficient technology for practice and education, social workers should not deny the obvious. Television has been, and will continue to be, the most influential tool of communication in American society. This article examines the role of social workers in broadcast television and describes the mechanics of TV production for novice social worker/producers.

Kunkel, Brenda R.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_07pmid: N/A

SUMMARY Social service agencies across the country are investing in a wide range of technological, business process reengineering, and organizational change projects. These projects include: • • using technology to connect social workers to enable collaborative case management; • • building databases with sophisticated querying applications that allow quick, effective decision making at the front-line and management levels; and • • expanding the number of ways clients can access services through the use of the Internet, kiosks, electronic benefit transfers, etc. Successful projects have a clearly identified business need and a strategy for addressing that need. This strategy includes understanding the process, organizational and technological context, evaluating alternative means of meeting the need, and developing a solid program management plan.

Ouellette, Philip M.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_08pmid: N/A

SUMMARY With the challenge for human services faculty to better integrate classroom materials to the realities of today's practice and the advent of several new communication technologies and technology-mediated instructional software, the use of Web-base instruction and the “Virtual Classroom” as a pedagogical strategy may be a viable added dimension to the learning process for human services practice courses with the potential to improve learning efficacy. Possible teaching strategies are discussed as well as implications for research.

Kolbo, Jerome R.; Washington, Earlie M.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_09pmid: N/A

SUMMARY Students admitted to graduate social work programs possess varying levels of understanding of prerequisite curriculum content. Compounding this situation is that social work educators teaching at the foundation level are now required to provide an expanded array of curriculum content in their courses. This article conceptualizes an Internet-Based orientation course as a unique tool for preparing students with prerequisite curriculum content necessary for successful integration and mastery of a graduate curriculum. Several steps are presented in the design and development of the course: obtaining support and approval, identifying and collecting data, designing and developing course components, and implementing and evaluating the course. Although course development occurs within a social work education setting, findings from this Internet-Based orientation course are applicable to other educational and human service settings.

Falk, Diane S.

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_10pmid: N/A

SUMMARY This author describes the use of a web-based conferencing program to augment classroom learning in generalist social work practice courses in a BSW program. This “virtual classroom” allows students to have more or less continual access to the instructor and to each other, greatly expanding opportunities for teaching, learning, and communication.

Gohagan, Debra

doi: 10.1300/J017v16n02_11pmid: N/A

SUMMARY This article describes the use of WebQuests, a computer-facilitated instructional strategy for social work education. Pedagogical constructs relevant to the use of WebQuests as a computer-facilitated instructional strategy are identified and discussed. Examples of the application and integration of WebQuest activities in an undergraduate social work curriculum are presented.