The Big Pivot: Moving a Continuing Education Program Online

ABSTRACT

In 2020, the rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made the delivery of in-person social work continuing education impossible, suddenly leaving online training as the only viable and safe alternative. This article describes the experience of a large continuing education program, based at a school of social work, and its transition to deliver synchronous webinars for the first time. This process included cancelling 200 previously scheduled in person programs and rapidly moving to online synchronous webinars. It also led to a shift in staff roles and responsibilities and the recognition of the value of virtual mutual support among the team. Some of the key lessons learned during this transition include building staff and trainer webinar literacy, troubleshooting and navigating online platforms, development of best practice skills for online training, and evaluation of synchronous webinars.