Title: Yeonjung Jane Lee
Department: Social Work
College/School: Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health
Showcase Course: SW 726 and SW 727
Email: yeonjung@hawaii.edu
“I believe that I can help students to be better learners when I reflect on my own identity.”
Table of Contents
Teaching Philosophy
I believe pedagogy must reflect the “self who teaches” (Palmer, 2007), meaning that my teaching style and interactions with my students are shaped by my own identity and experiences living in South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. I experienced the differences between rural and urban environments, both within and between countries, which gave me the insights to understand the cultural/geographic environments that students come from. I encourage students to re-examine biases, to learn from scholars from underrepresented backgrounds, and to learn from real-life examples. I believe that I can help students to be better learners when I reflect on my own identity. I endeavor to incorporate my passion and enthusiasm into the subjects that I teach. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I reflected on my personal experiences to compile and provide social justice resources on the following web page:
https://manoa.hawaii.edu/thompson/anti-asian-discrimination-and-hate-crimes-resources/
Active Learning to prepare students to serve diverse older adults
Teaching Practice
At the heart of my gerontology teaching is a scaffolded, active learning approach that progressively builds student confidence and competence in serving diverse older adult populations. Active learning, as I define it in my practice, means students are proactively engaged with course material through hands-on practice, peer interaction, critical reflection, and real-world application. Students become active learners by progressing through increasingly complex practice scenarios, each building upon previous experiences. Below, I present six major scaffolded steps for teaching geriatric assessments. These innovative multimodal methods include conversational AI tools, peer collaboration, critical reflection, and live actor practice. Together, they help students build confidence and competence in conducting geriatric assessments with diverse and minoritized older adults.
Step One: Foundational Building for AI Literacy. I begin by teaching conversational AI basics and safe usage, supplemented by workshops featuring AI experts in technology. This foundation-building helps students understand AI features and ethical limitations before incorporating them into practice scenarios.
Step Two: Practice with AI Clients. After I demonstrate role-playing as a social worker conversing with an older adult client played by a chatbot, students practice individually. Students are asked to consider diverse older adult populations and apply a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) lens in their assessments. This individual practice with AI clients allows students to experiment, make mistakes, and refine their approach in a low-stakes environment.
Step Three: Critical Reflection and Self-Assessment. After completing role-play with conversational AI, students submit their scripts and write reflection essays responding to: What went well in your assessment process? What are areas for improvement? Was there anything surprising? How can social workers use AI to strengthen practice skills? We discuss frameworks focusing on life course perspectives, resiliencies, strength-based approaches to aging, and evidence-based practices. Through this reflective process, students critically evaluate their own practice and learn from each other.
Step Four: Peer Collaboration and Feedback. Students role-play with each other based on their AI scripts, critically discussing successes and areas for improvement. This peer collaboration is critical because it allows students to experience real human interaction that AI cannot replicate. Throughout activities, we consider the needs of minoritized and vulnerable older adults in conducting geriatric assessments, discussing how to rephrase questions considering client backgrounds. We debrief as a class, with each student offering evaluations as a client for their counterparts who role-played as social workers. Student learning is supplemented by analyzing video case examples to further strengthen their assessment skills.
Step Five: Performance with Experienced Practitioners as Live Actors. I invite two social work practitioners to play real-life clients. By this point, based on experience with AI and peers, students are prepared to conduct geriatric assessments in more realistic, challenging scenarios. Through role-play with live actors, students gain hands-on experience and become critical observers, thinking about what strategies work for diverse clients. Since most students plan to serve Hawaiʻi’s aging population, I meet with actors in advance to discuss sociodemographic characteristics and scenarios that reflect DEI considerations. Planning these sessions in advance is critical for simulating the complexity students will encounter in actual practice.
Step Six: Application and Care Plan Development. Students use their research and analytical skills to develop comprehensive care plans for older adults based on unique needs and situations. This cumulative learning process helps students demonstrate how they can integrate all previous learning into professional practice they can carry forward into their careers.
Learning Outcomes and Transferability. Through this scaffolded, AI-enhanced active learning practice with authentic activities and a DEI lens, students with different learning preferences learn through individual and hands-on group activities. Students gain multicultural perspectives, examine self-bias, and understand health challenges that minoritized older adults experience. They strengthen critical thinking, oral and written communication skills, and learn to professionally analyze and deliver geriatric assessment outcomes to develop appropriate care plans. This scaffolded model can be applied in other disciplines if students: 1) clearly understand what conversational AI assistants are, and 2) practice safe and effective interaction with AI. Without proper foundation, ethical considerations arise. Students noted that AI responses sometimes felt unrealistic, highlighting why real-life situations and dedicated time for reflection and debriefing at each learning step are essential. Despite digital literacy’s power to enhance older adults’ quality of life, few students have used conversational AI to support learning and explore benefits for older populations. While acknowledging that AI cannot replace human interaction, when properly used, it fosters diverse and strength-based perspectives on digital literacy. This scaffolded approach, moving from AI practice through peer collaboration to live actor performance, prepares students for real-world social work practice with diverse aging communities, helping them become confident, culturally responsive practitioners.
For more information about the gerontology specialization, visit: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/thompson/msw/program/
Impact
The scaffolded active learning approach with AI-enhanced role-play produced measurable improvements in student competencies. Pre- and post-semester surveys revealed significant growth across three areas: conducting geriatric assessments (from 60% somewhat uncomfortable to 80% very comfortable), using AI/technology to support older adults (from 100% somewhat uncomfortable to 60% very comfortable), and applying scholarly literature (from 80% somewhat uncomfortable/neutral to 100% somewhat comfortable/very comfortable). Qualitative feedback highlighted three key benefits: discovering broader AI applications in social work practice, valuing the low-stakes practice environments, and appreciating how these activities bridge theory with real-world practice. Students valued practicing conversations alongside their learning experiences. These outcomes demonstrate that integrating AI tools with human-centered pedagogy creates measurable improvements in both student confidence and practical competencies essential for serving diverse aging populations.