Unit: Social Work
Program: Social Work (MSW)
Degree: Master's
Date: Mon Oct 15, 2012 - 10:52:51 pm

1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.

Since our last report, the MSW Program has begun its transition from the Seven Key Abilities to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS, 2008). In Academic Year 2012, faculty identified salient competencies and student learning outcomes for the master’s level sequences in human behavior in the social environment, policy, practice, research. These SLOs were articulated in syllabi for Fall 2012. Currently, we are developing methods for assessment.

Beginning in Academic Year 2013, the Seven Abilities will be replaced by the Ten (10) Core Competencies as outlined in CSWE EPAS.  These competencies are:

  1. Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.
  2. Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.
  3. Apply critical thinking to inform & communicate professional judgments.
  4. Engage diversity and difference in practice.
  5. Advance human rights and social and economic justice.
  6. Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.
  7. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
  8. Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.
  9. Respond to contexts that shape practice.
  10. Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://www.hawaii.edu/sswork/
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: http://www.hawaii.edu/sswork/forms/msw/MSW_Handbook_2012.pdf
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: http://www.hawaii.edu/sswork/bulletin.html
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: NA
Other:
Other:

3) Select one option:

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2012:

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) Did your program engage in any program assessment activities between June 1, 2011 and September 30, 2012? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning the curriculum to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys or tests, etc.)

Yes
No (skip to question 14)

6) For the period June 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.

We have initiated a planning process to assess critical competencies requisite for MSWs in the current social welfare landscape. This process includes review of core competencies already articulated in our curriculum, as well as specification of additional competencies that reflect the School’s growing emphases on indigenization of the curriculum and global social work practice in the Pacific Rim.  Part of this process involves planning for systematically gathering from our community stakeholders’ (e.g., alumni, social service agency personnel, and social welfare leaders) input on training and educational needs of our masters level students, such that the latter are better equipped for entry into the field.

7) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #6.

Minutes from MSW Program/Curriculum Committee meetings.

Syllabi and practicum requirements

Sequence chair review

8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

Fifteen faculty members (i.e., sequence and concentration course chairs, representatives from the Practicum Office, Student Services, Distance Education, PhD and BSW curriculum chairs) and one MSW student representative met monthly for the MSW Program/Curriculum Committee meetings. 

9) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)

Course instructor(s)
Faculty committee
Ad hoc faculty group
Department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Faculty advisor
Advisors (in student support services)
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean/Director
Other: Sequence Chair

10) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
Compiled survey results
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)
Other:

11) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #6:
Summarize the actual results.

MSW Program/Curriculum committee has revised the SLOs to reflect the accreditation standards (i.e., 2008 EPAS 10 core competencies by CSWE).  MSW committee has decided to implement and assess the newly revised SLOs starting from the 2013 academic year, having continued work on reevaluating new SLOs during this academic year.  Using new SLOs, a curriculum map was created to reflect the integration of the MSW curriculum, and it is under constant revision based on reevaluation of the SLO’s, changing needs of the program, the communities we serve and the bodies we respond to. 

We also recently finalized school’s missions, strategic priorities and initiatives; and now are in the process of planning/implementing specific activities to infuse identified strategic priorities into school’s curriculum.  

12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.

Since our last report we developed curriculum and syllabi for all non-elective courses which are based on the CSWE EPAS 10 core competencies. All student learning outcomes have operational definitions and our faculty has agreed upon some common assignments which will be used to measure the outcomes. We note that we are in a transitional phase and our current efforts are intended as a pilot. Based on what we learn in this academic year, we will finalize SLOs and assignments. Other ongoing efforts include: (1) development of SLOs and activities for measuring the School’s unique emphasis on indigenization of social work practice, (2) development of mechanisms for engaging and involving community stakeholders in the assessment process. We anticipate completion of these objectives by academic year 2013-14. 

Social Work faculty re-affirmed the benefits of assessment as a tool for discussing the curriculum and improving the students’ educational experience.  MSW Faculty also agreed to amend and/or change the current Seven Abilities to the 10 Core Competencies as outlined by CSWE EPAS, beginning in Fall 2013.  

13) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.

N/A

14) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.
Or, if the program did engage in assessment activities, please add any other important information here.

N/A