The Meaning of Online Social Work Education for Students and Faculty during COVID-19: Between Preservation and Change

ABSTRACT

Academic online social work (SW) education has developed over the decades, fully transitioning to it following the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have examined the emotional responses, coping strategies and resilience of faculty and students to this transition. Our aim is to examine online education experiences and their meaning for faculty and SW students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed based on principles of thematic analysis. Interviewees included fifteen SW students and fifteen faculty members at schools of SW (n = 30) from universities and colleges throughout Israel, who also participated in a quantitative survey addressing online SW education. Findings include two themes (i) Between the illusion of intimacy and the illusion of anonymity Is it so? (ii) Experiences of difficulty, acceptance and choice relating to online education interactions. Both themes refer to interpersonal dimensions of communication and contact between faculty and students and among students. The desire to preserve a traditional education format versus openness to the online platform is discussed using critical reflexivity. Alternative education programmes combining the two should be developed. The unique and deceptive interplay between intimacy and anonymity in the online space should be considered in courses relying on interpersonal interaction and self-disclosure. The COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 has dramatically changed lives in all domains, including the format of social work (SW) education, which shifted from face-to-face encounters to online. Although online education had been developed in SW education before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was restricted to SW courses on theory and policy and was never fully employed to include courses teaching SW practice skills. Accordingly, our aim is to examine online education experiences and their meaning for faculty and SW students following the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed. Participants included fifteen SW students and fifteen faculty members at schools of SW (n = 30) from universities and colleges throughout Israel. Students and faculty addressed the illusion of intimacy and anonymity in the online space, revealing its complexity, including difficulties, acceptance and choice relating to online education interactions. Findings refer to interpersonal dimensions of communication and contact between faculty and students and among students. We discuss preserving a traditional education format versus openness to online platforms and suggest developing alternative education programmes combining the two. Furthermore, the unique and deceptive interplay between intimacy and anonymity in the online space should be considered in courses requiring interpersonal interaction and self-disclosure.