Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research
Offered By: University of Michigan via edX
Course Description
Overview
Want to make a difference? Reach out, raise hope, and change society?
This innovative MicroMasters program provides an advanced, professional sequence of courses in social work so you can gain the skills needed to empower individuals, families, communities and organizations to meet needs and create positive changes.
You will gain a greater understanding of social work practice, an awareness of the history and impact of policy on the provision of key social services, and an appreciation for the research that supports effective practice.
Build on this valuable MicroMasters program experience and take advantage of a great opportunity to be accepted into the #1 ranked social work Master's degree program for a fraction of the cost.
More information about the program is available at the University of Michigan website.
Syllabus
Courses under this program:
Course 1: Social Work Practice: Advocating Social Justice and Change
Learn the values, techniques, and themes social workers use to help others as well as strategies for addressing social justice challenges.
Course 2: Social Work Practice with Individuals, Families, and Small Groups
Learn how to assess and design appropriate intervention strategies for individuals, families, and small groups.
Course 3: Diversity and Social Justice in Social Work
Increase your knowledge and critical thinking skills related to diversity, human rights and social justice and injustice.
Course 4: Social Work Practice in Community Organization, Management and Policy/Evaluation
Learn about macro social work and how to have large scale impact on entire communities and systems of care.
Course 5: Social Work: Research
Learn about the importance of an evidence-based approach in social work practice and how to conduct effective research.
Course 6: Social Welfare Policy and Services
Learn about the history of social welfare policy, services, and the social work profession.
Courses
-
In this social science course, you will learn how social workers in the United States engage in creating change and supporting the resilience of individuals, families and communities in this new era.
Learners will have an opportunity to explore the social work profession, the different roles of social workers in a range of settings, the cross cutting themes that guide social work practice, the history of social work, and current challenges.
Using a social justice lens, learners will reflect on current challenges facing the lives of individuals, families and communities and examine ways to advocate for needed changes.
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
-
This course focuses on the transactional relationships between people and their social environments.
You will learn social work practice methods to restore, maintain and promote social functioning as it relates to individuals, families, and small groups.
This course integrates content on multiculturalism, diversity, and social justice issues. You will examine social work values and ethics as well as issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, religion, and ability as these relate to social work practice.
This course builds off of behavioral and social science theories to inform the practice concepts and skills presented. You will learn how to perform various social work roles (i.e. counselor/clinical social worker, group facilitator, mediator, and advocate), recognizing that these roles must adhere to social work values and ethics. You will learn the importance of developing relationships with clients, colleagues, supervisors, other professionals, and other constituencies. You will learn how to apply skills such as active listening, empathic responding, contracting, and critical and creative thinking in practice.
All phases of the social work practice intervention process (i.e. engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation) are presented and applied with individuals, families, and small groups.
You will learn how to assess vulnerabilities and strengths in clients' lives that relate to attributes (e.g. ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender {including gender identity and gender expression}, marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation) as well as situational and environmental factors relevant to the client's social functioning.
You will also learn how to assess risks, barriers, and plan, implement and monitor change strategies and evaluate techniques in order to demonstrate effectiveness.
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
-
Understand social work research through the critical examination of the methods and organization of the ever-expanding professional literature associated with social work practice.
The field of social work research has experienced considerable growth over the past 25 years. This body of research is an essential source of knowledge for helping understand and solve complex social problems, but utilizing this research effectively requires proper contextualization. This course is intended to help you become an effective consumer of this professional literature by providing the tools necessary to find and comprehend what the research does and, importantly, does not tell us.
This course will cover:
• quantitative and qualitative research methods
• searching procedures to effectively find existing research
• application of research to practice
Be a part of this exciting time for the profession of social work and the opportunity to use this literature to help find solutions to complex social problems. Learn how to understand and appreciate a scientific approach to building and evaluating practice knowledge, and to use research to advocate for clients and inform policy. As you develop these skills, you will be well positioned to make correct use of the existing professional literature.
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
-
In this social sciences course, you will develop a framework for:
- Engaging diversity and differences in social work practice.
- Advancing human rights and social and economic justice.
We will explore the knowledge base that underlies skills needed to work towards justice. You will learn about types and sources of power, multiple social locations, social constructions, social processes, social identities, conflicts, and how all these interact.
You will develop skills in critical contextual thinking and analyses, and in praxis, learn to use knowledge and theory to recognize and critique underlying assumptions and paradigms and inform working for change.
You will learn how multiple kinds of boundaries are especially important--across groups, between organizations and system levels, and within and between people, related to intersecting social locations.
You will actively explore how societal power and diversity characterize and shape the human experience, and are critical to the formation of social structures, cultural understandings, group and organizational processes, and identities. You will learn how the dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of multiple factors including: age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
You will learn how current experiences of privilege and oppression are shaped by historical forces, societal structures, social constructions, groups, interpersonal processes and human understandings. This includes an understanding of the institutional, organizational, policy, and socio-cultural arrangements that contribute to privilege and oppression. Additionally, this course will explore formulations of human rights, including positive rights, and negative conditions that need to be eradicated.
You will also study how social justice and injustice occur in organizations, institutions, and society, relevant theories that can inform work for justice (e.g., critical race theory, and components of many theories), and how mechanisms of oppression and privilege work (e.g., marginalization, exploitation, violence, cultural hegemony, and powerlessness).
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
-
In this social science course we will discuss various methods, strategies and skills within macro social work practice, used to help identify and address needs on a larger scale. You will gain knowledge and skills in the areas of community organizing, management, and policy advocacy, and learn about the various roles social workers play within these areas. This course will provide an appreciation of the historical and contemporary importance of these social work methods and the relevance of these methods for diverse populations and identities.
We will focus on:
- understanding the context of macro practice;
- identifying community and organizational interventions to address social needs and problems;
- organizing and building relationships within communities and organizations;
- organization-based and community-based policy making, planning, and program development.
You will also learn concepts and practice skills involving assessment, problem solving and intervention planning at the macro level, and strategies to work effectively with communities and organizations. Content includes reflective practice and utilizing interpersonal skills in macro practice.
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
-
Explore current social welfare issues in the context of their history and the underlying rationale and values that support different approaches. Emphasis is placed on major fields of social work service such as:
- income maintenance
- health care
- mental health
- child welfare
- corrections
- elderly services
You will learn about analytic frameworks with regard to social welfare policies and services. These frameworks identify strengths and weaknesses in the current social welfare system with respect to:
- multiculturalism and diversity
- social justice and social change
- behavioral and social science theory and research
- relevant social work promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs
There are four main content areas for the course.
- The philosophic and practical basis for social welfare provisions.
- The history of the social work profession and the emergence of specific policies and programs within their historical, social and political contexts.
- A critical analysis of current social welfare policies in the U.S. and cross-nationally, and programs, nationally and cross-nationally with attention to the evolving policies.
- An understanding of theory/research, debates, and trends in social welfare provision and patterns of service delivery.
This course is part of the Social Work: Practice, Policy and Research MicroMasters Program offered by MichiganX. Please note that to complete this program with a MicroMasters certificate, you must be enrolled as a verified learner in all courses in the program by November 30, 2020, and you must complete all assessments by March 29, 2021.
Taught by
Mary Ruffolo, Barbara Hiltz , Katie Richards-Schuster , Jamie Mitchell and Brian E. Perron
Tags
Related Courses
Women and the Civil Rights MovementUniversity of Maryland, College Park via Coursera English Common Law: Structure and Principles
University of London International Programmes via Coursera The Holocaust
University of California, Santa Cruz via Coursera Public Privacy: Cyber Security & Human Rights
Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance via iversity International Human Rights
Université catholique de Louvain via edX