Year 2018
Title Assessing MSW Students’ Access to and Use of Information and Communication Technologies: An Exploratory Study.
Organization The Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
Skills used Qualtrics, SPSS
Role Author, Researcher
Stage Completed
Description
I developed and conducted an IRB-approved study of MSW students’ use of and access to digital technologies in their personal lives, and their field placements. I designed the research instrument in Qualtrics, collected data in cooperation with my school's administration, analyzed data using SPSS, and authored a report on the findings. I saw the need in my MSW field placement, when I found myself teaching my supervisor, who held the role of Operations Manager, how to use Excel, and wondered what skills her training included. I collaborated with my school administration and distributed a survey I designed to 1200 MSW students. The findings indicated that students used far more technologies in their personal lives than in their field placements and that there was a need for more explicit training and discussion about technology skills in their social work education.