Samantha Wolfe-Taylor and David A. Wilkerson, School of Social Work
Principal Investigator: Samantha Wolfe-Taylor, clinical assistant professor, School of Social Work
Co-Principal Investigator: David A. Wilkerson, assistant professor, School of Social Work
Project Title: OSCE Development, Implementation, and Evaluation in Online Graduate Social Work Practice Courses
Funding Level: $10,000
Abstract:
Objective, structured, clinical examinations (OSCE) have been implemented in schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, psychiatry, and occupational therapy for the last four decades to assess students’ practice competence. However, the use of OSCEs in schools of social work for educational and assessment purposes is a new frontier. The Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) require schools of social work to develop multidimensional assessments that focus on students’ practice competence in knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes. And, whereas schools of social work are looking at implementing innovative—yet reliable and valid—assessments into their practice courses to meet these standards, they’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of OSCE implementation into their practice courses, this is in part due to the cost associated with implementing a face-to-face OSCE assessment.
This proposal innovates OSCE assessment for online social work education, enhancing the effectiveness of social work practice courses through the use of cost-effective technology. It incorporates experiential learning through the development of innovative curricular materials for a graduate-level foundation practice course and a graduate-level concentration practice course. With the support of the Curriculum Enhancement Grant, the Indiana University School of Social Work (IUSSW) has the opportunity to lead the field of social work education to design and implement a sustainable OSCE assessment system for its practice courses. It would set an educational standard in practice competency assessment for all online graduate programs in schools of social work.