E-Pedagogy for Teachers in Higher Education – 10 ECTS credits. See the Curriculum plan 2011

Lifelong learning is an important objective for the EU educational systems and for labour mobility in Europe. A tool for LLL is e-learning methodology that makes it possible for professionals to increase their knowledge as part time students. Being an e-Learning teacher demands specific skills and competences in pedagogy related to supervising students on the Internet. One needs an explicit knowledge of how to structure the learning material to make a suitable and inspiring learning environment for e-Learning students.This course promotes and strengthens the participants’ skills in teaching, supervising, planning and organising good e-learning courses in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Objectives:

This study programme will meet the needs for knowledge and skills in e-Learning pedagogy in the field of social work education. The study programme will increase the possibilities for more educational institutions to take part in or initiate new e-Learning courses for students in international programmes. The study programme is based on situated learning perspectives, a task centred approach to learning and learning-by-doing during the course.

Virtual Learning Material: http://virclass.net/eped

For more information about intake and the application form go to the Student Administration

Community Work from an International Perspective – 15 ECTS credits. See the CURRICULUM-PLAN-CW-2012 All our curriculum plans are competence based which integrate theory and practice. In the Community Work course students are working with a virtual community case.

Community work is a planned process to mobilise communities to use their own social structures and resources to address their own problems and achieve their own objectives. Community work focuses on participation and fosters empowerment, emancipation and change through collective action.   Community work is closely related to work for human rights.  The community work process is about people in communities creating opportunities for growth and change.
‘Community’ can be understood in different ways, as geographical areas, interest groups, organisations or institutions.  Community work rests on a basic democratic ideal, anti-oppressive practice, equality and solidarity with the affected individuals. It aims to generate and communicate new insights with a view to effecting change.    As community work is an ideological, theoretical and practical approach to social life and the risk of social exclusion, it is ideologically sustained by a basic trust in people’s ability to improve their life chances. Society is the outcome of collective action and is perpetuated and/or changed by action.  

Content and objectives 

This course will focus on different theories, methods and approaches in community work from an international perspective. The course consists of several parts. One part focuses on theories and methods, another part consist of a case-study related to a video/virtual case. Students will make a project plan related to the case, by collaborating and comparing different approaches.
The students will learn about community work and its historic background and come to understand the risk of manipulation when community work is not worked out from a grass-root level. Students will also learn about the advantages and power in approaches carried out from a bottom-up perspective.  One of the main aims of the course is that students develop a critical understanding of the wide range of theories and methods of community work, develop the ability to recognize these in current projects and are able to design a project plan of community work, and show which steps and facilities are needed for realizing and managing processes and products.

Virtual Learning Material: http://vircamp.net/cw  (password protected material)

 Comparative Social Work – Module 2 – 10 ECTS credits. See the Curriculum Plan Social work in Europe

Module 2 offers three optional themes each one of 10 ECTS credits. All our courses have a Competence based Curriculum Plan, integrating theory and practice.

Which of the three themes that will be arranged every year depends on the number of students that apply for the module.

Theme 2A: Discrimination Oppression and Ethnic Diversity as Phenomena in Europe. Anti-oppressive approaches to social work

This module will allow the student to understand commonalities and differences in terms of the how societies marginalise certain groups of people. In what way are social work theories and methods suitable to deal with questions concerning discrimination and oppression. In some places anti-discriminatory practice has come to be seen as integral to good social practice; in other words, one cannot have good social work practice without it.  But how far is this reflected in the reality of everyday practice, and to what extent are students given the knowledge and skills they need to practice it? The module will demonstrate that discrimination and oppression are not homogenous concepts but focus on different target groups in various ways, and therefore are different in their manifestations in relation to these groups.  A range of disadvantaged groups will be considered, but particular emphasis will be put on cultural and ethnic diversity, and racism.  The implications of discrimination and oppression of marginalised groups for European social welfare and social work will be considered.

Theme 2B: Poverty and welfare systems. Anti-oppressive approaches to social work.

Poverty is one of the core problems for social work throughout the world. This module deals with how social work in Europe can meet and deal with the challenges of social problems caused by poverty.
Social problems are created in a national, European and global context. Every country has its own way of dealing with social problems depending on different historical, cultural, religious and political backgrounds. The commonalities are that all countries have to deal with social problems through resources from the family, voluntary organisations, the state and the market. The difference is that all countries have a “welfare mix” of their own.
A cross-cultural comparison of social work and welfare systems in Europe should facilitate understanding of social problems in the different parts of Europe and should improve strategies and methods of social work.
This module will focus on anti-oppressive approaches in social work. A central questions  is: How can social workers fulfil the values written in The International Federation of Social Workers definition of social work: “In solidarity with those who are disadvantaged, the profession strives to alleviate poverty and to liberate vulnerable and oppressed people in order to promote social inclusion”. 

Theme 2C: Social work Practice in a European Context  

 The traditional background of social work has been connected to two different roots of origin, the individual casework tradition and the community work tradition. Modern social workers in Europe have to deal with social problems that need multiple methods for solution. Knowledge about society and law as well as psychological understanding of the human nature is important and is paid great attention in the educational programmes in Social Work. However, achieving “Best Practice” is in many part of Europe a challenge to the educational programmes.
Social work emerges in the space between person and environment or person-in-situation. In a comparative study of social work in Europe we will focus mainly on system- and critical-  theories and methods. We believe it will be interesting to see how these theories and methods will appear when they are used in different contexts on similar problems and with people from different countries. A central question will be what skills and competences are needed in different social contexts? 

Virtual Learning Material: http://www.virclass.net/virtualbook/login.php (password protected material)