Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an extensive impact on the global higher education sector. In a written survey, staff and students at the Lucerne School of Social Work reported how they had coped with the challenges to their teaching or respective learning situation. The initial survey was conducted d...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.720565/full |
| _version_ | 1819066334782160896 |
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| author | Suzanne Lischer Seraina Caviezel Schmitz Paula Krüger Netkey Safi Cheryl Dickson |
| author_facet | Suzanne Lischer Seraina Caviezel Schmitz Paula Krüger Netkey Safi Cheryl Dickson |
| author_sort | Suzanne Lischer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has had an extensive impact on the global higher education sector. In a written survey, staff and students at the Lucerne School of Social Work reported how they had coped with the challenges to their teaching or respective learning situation. The initial survey was conducted during the lockdown in spring 2020, and the follow-up survey was performed in the period of relaxed sanitary measures in summer 2020. During the first wave of the survey, 51 employees and 225 students participated. In the follow-up survey, 28 employees and 117 students partook. Findings indicate that the increased workload created by the transition was stressful for both staff and students but overall was handled well. Staff and students who felt supported by the university management experienced less psychological distress. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been an effort to develop hybrid forms of teaching. Because the social work curriculum contains building blocks that are difficult to implement in the form of distance learning, the transition posed challenges for both staff and students. During times of transition, university management must carefully assess the support needs of staff and students and take appropriate action. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:00:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c60e4d86d9842d892c0fc94d3c55ffa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:00:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c60e4d86d9842d892c0fc94d3c55ffa2022-12-21T18:57:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2021-08-01610.3389/feduc.2021.720565720565Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and ChallengesSuzanne Lischer0Seraina Caviezel Schmitz1Paula Krüger2Netkey Safi3Cheryl Dickson4Department of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, SwitzerlandIndependent Researcher collaborating with the Department of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, SwitzerlandThe COVID-19 pandemic has had an extensive impact on the global higher education sector. In a written survey, staff and students at the Lucerne School of Social Work reported how they had coped with the challenges to their teaching or respective learning situation. The initial survey was conducted during the lockdown in spring 2020, and the follow-up survey was performed in the period of relaxed sanitary measures in summer 2020. During the first wave of the survey, 51 employees and 225 students participated. In the follow-up survey, 28 employees and 117 students partook. Findings indicate that the increased workload created by the transition was stressful for both staff and students but overall was handled well. Staff and students who felt supported by the university management experienced less psychological distress. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been an effort to develop hybrid forms of teaching. Because the social work curriculum contains building blocks that are difficult to implement in the form of distance learning, the transition posed challenges for both staff and students. During times of transition, university management must carefully assess the support needs of staff and students and take appropriate action.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.720565/fulldistance learningdistance teachingsocial workCOVID-19stresshigher education |
| spellingShingle | Suzanne Lischer Seraina Caviezel Schmitz Paula Krüger Netkey Safi Cheryl Dickson Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges Frontiers in Education distance learning distance teaching social work COVID-19 stress higher education |
| title | Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges |
| title_full | Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges |
| title_fullStr | Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges |
| title_short | Distance Education in Social Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Changes and Challenges |
| title_sort | distance education in social work during the covid 19 pandemic changes and challenges |
| topic | distance learning distance teaching social work COVID-19 stress higher education |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.720565/full |
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