Working on The Tool-box for e-social work
The second intellectual output of the project has been keeping the partnership excitingly busy. Using the Curriculum to teach e-social work from our first result we have piloted and conducted training workshops with trainers from the social work sector.
The training was focused on a learning by doing experience and integrated the basic principles of online teaching in the social sector. Specifically, this part has been devoted to engage participants in the co-development of a training module on digital tools for social workers.
Below we invite you read about the experience of the piloting in the partner countries.
The training was focused on a learning by doing experience and integrated the basic principles of online teaching in the social sector. Specifically, this part has been devoted to engage participants in the co-development of a training module on digital tools for social workers.
Below we invite you read about the experience of the piloting in the partner countries.
ITALY
In Italy, the Social Connection pilot training has taken place the 30th and 31st of March 2022. The training has been designed in an online format, through a videoconferencing platform, that allowed the execution of training aimed at developing e-social work skills. Participants are part of the internal staff of the ANS cooperative and they were chosen based on their role, skills and development possibilities on this topic. Specifically, 8 professionals participated: a neuropsychologist, a social worker, two project managers, an ICT developer, two expert social workers’ trainers and a trainee.
The training was divided into two specific parts. During the first day, the theoretical aspects underpinning the training were analysed, in detail delving into several chapters of the project's IO1 manual and performing a number of activities and exercises to test and solidify knowledge. These were recognised by the participants as very relevant, especially the group activities, because they allowed them to confront each other and integrate different points of view. The second day was dedicated to the co-creation of a training module on the Blackout poetry technique. Together with the participants, we looked at how this technique can be used with users with vulnerabilities, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, and people with a low level of schooling. Finally, the participants tried their hand at creating an online poem themselves in order to fully understand the mechanism.
Participants enjoyed the training, rating its execution, content, and methods as highly satisfactory (on a scale of 1 to 5, all responses are between 4 and 5). Among the comments left in the evaluation questionnaire are relevant:
“The trainers were very clear and explained in detail the concepts and content of the course. I really appreciated the activities that allowed to identify with the final recipients and grasp positive and negative aspects of the digital approach.”
“The group exercises were useful both for the exchange that was created and for the opportunity to learn about and experiment with new tools.”
“The trainers were very clear and explained in detail the concepts and content of the course. I really appreciated the activities that allowed to identify with the final recipients and grasp positive and negative aspects of the digital approach.”
“The group exercises were useful both for the exchange that was created and for the opportunity to learn about and experiment with new tools.”
SPAIN
We implemented the Social Connections pilot course at INTRAS Foundation (Spain) between May and July 2022. Our main target group, amongst others, are people living with severe and prolonged mental illness. The IT abilities of this target group are very variable, so this project is especially interesting for our professionals to learn the best way to effectively work online with our clients. This time, we had the participation of three social workers’ trainers working at different facilities (residential homes, psychosocial rehabilitation centers, etc.) of INTRAS in different cities (Ávila, Zamora and Valladolid), so the pilot was held online.
The theoretical part of the training was held on a single day (four training hours), being the participants provided with all the related documentation. The practical part of the training was focused on Game-based learning and lasted for more than six sessions (lasting 2 hours each training session), as some parts of the work needed to be modified and improved. The proposed topic was a big challenge for the Spanish trainers, as none of them were fond of videogames. Nevertheless, they were really motivated to learn and the process became a very interesting experience for the three of them.
First of all, it was complicated to distinguish between several related concepts as gamification, game-based learning or gamified education. Fortunately, we had the expert advice from the partner Virtual Campus, who helped the team to create a clearer picture about this new field. Then, choosing an appropriate game to be used with our clients was complicated too. There were plenty of options and choosing only one meant several discussions and trials. Finally, Minecraft was the video game chosen to train different abilities as organization, team building, critical thinking, ability to focus on the important things, problem solving or learning motivation.
First of all, it was complicated to distinguish between several related concepts as gamification, game-based learning or gamified education. Fortunately, we had the expert advice from the partner Virtual Campus, who helped the team to create a clearer picture about this new field. Then, choosing an appropriate game to be used with our clients was complicated too. There were plenty of options and choosing only one meant several discussions and trials. Finally, Minecraft was the video game chosen to train different abilities as organization, team building, critical thinking, ability to focus on the important things, problem solving or learning motivation.
The INTRAS’ participants in the Social Connections pilot course are very happy with the results achieved and highly motivated to use online tools when working with their clients:
“I’ve never imagined I could use videogames to work and motivate the people I work for!”, “I feel much more confident now to use online tools to interact with my clients”.
“I’ve never imagined I could use videogames to work and motivate the people I work for!”, “I feel much more confident now to use online tools to interact with my clients”.
