Background

The biggest challenge that I have found in teaching this course is meeting the needs of and engaging the broad range of students whose skills vary from those with no supervisory or management experience to others with many years of experience. What I wanted to create were assignments that illustrated student learning, challenged all students, and reflected how course goals were scaffolded.

Implementation

Organizational analysis was the first layer of the scaffold and job analysis the second layer. These two topics were woven into every additional assignment. The group presentation, which came toward the end of the semester, integrated the conceptual work into one project, providing a contextual way to put the ideas into practice. Students worked as a team and did presentations as a team, and they had to consider organizational climate and diversity in the performance evaluation.

One way that I could track student learning was through electronic submission of papers. By having students send me all their work in this manner, I had an easy means of continually assessing their progress as they applied their increased knowledge to the course. I could read and compare work they were doing throughout the semester to determine if they were reaching course goals; if not, I could make changes to veer them in the direction they needed to go.

Student Performance

It would have helped students throughout the semester if I had required specific ties to earlier papers. The students assumed that there was a thread that went through the semester, and I assumed that they would articulate it. Although I thought I had made the link transparent that was not the case: the students needed a more direct connection between the material we studied and how to incorporate it in their assignments. One thing that I will continue to work on for both the written assignments and in-class presentations is a template that will direct their work more clearly.

Reflections

The preparation that we did for the in-class presentations appeared to make a positive difference in the teaching methods the students utilized for their presentations. We had spent a class session discussing methods for reaching adult learners. Their performances were much more creative and interesting, and they used more than a straight lecture style to present their content material, which is what I would typically see in a class. Because social workers spend a great deal of time communicating with groups and working as a team, it is important that they develop these skills.

While the grades for the student work have remained steady year by year, I think that the content has improved. This is more of a hunch than an established fact, but I believe the assignment guidelines gave the students better direction that led to the enhanced content. I also think I saw this deeper reflection in the positive way they evaluated the course. They mentioned how they liked the course work and how they were pleased to take useful ideas with them as they entered their professional fields.