Day 4 of #BPDTX16 for me and my last presentation will be at 9:30 AM today. I will be talking about the work I have been doing with my colleague, Dr. Scott Batey, along with many other partners at UAB and in the Birmingham community. Unfortunately, Scott was not able to attend BPD this year, but he feels confident I won’t mess up the presentation. For our session, we really wanted to highlight the development of service learning labs in our BSW curriculum as a case study, hopefully offering tips and ideas for others wanting to incorporate more service learning into their assignments, courses & curricula.

1. Implementing Service Learning
Labs Across a Social Work
Curriculum
D. Scott Batey, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor
&
Laurel I. Hitchcock, PhD, MSW, MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Social Work
University of Alabama at Birmingham

2. Objectives
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
 Understand strategies to plan & engage multiple
partners in developing a community-based service
learning project to support student & community
outcomes
 Demonstrate how educators can duplicate the
planning process for curriculum-based service learning
projects at their institutions
 Appreciate the role of professional collaboration in the
planning and development of service learning projects
across a curriculum

3. Background
“Pedagogy of Service Learning”
 Public scholarship
 Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
 Service learning pedagogy
Bringle, Games, & Malloy (Eds.), 1999; Furco, 2003

4. Challenge
To incorporate service learning into a
social work curriculum

5. Campus
 University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
 Enrollment
 Urban Campus
 Medical Research Emphasis
 Many Community Partners (internal & external)
 Unmet needs on our own campus
Setting

6. Department of Social Work
 Student demand for more hands-on experiences
 Accreditation
 Strong ties between adjunct & full-time faculty
 Departmental Curriculum Committee
Setting

7. Service Learning
 Campus-wide Office of Service Learning
 Engaged Scholar Fellowship Program for Faculty
 Carnegie Community Engaged Institution
Setting

8. From Course to Curriculum
Service Learning Labs in Practice Course Sequence
 Social Work Values Laboratory (SW 222)
 Social Work Practice I (SW 322)
 Social Work Practice II (SW 422)

9. From Course to Curriculum
New & Strengthened Roles with
Community & Campus Partners
 UAB Townhouse
 United Way of Central Alabama
 UAB Department of Occupational
Therapy
 Center for Interprofessional
Simulation & Education

10. From Course to Curriculum
SW 222 Social Work Values Lab
 30-hours of volunteer time at UAB TownHouse
 In-class orientation
 Self-guided Tour
 Two Self-Reflections
 IP Meetings with OT students
 Group Work – Community Resource Guide, Group Event & Poster Presentation
 2-hours of poverty simulation
 Group de-breifing
 Self-Reflection
 Start of Service Learning Portfolio

11. From Course to Curriculum
SW 322 Social Work Practice I
 32-hours of volunteer time with United Way of Central Alabama’s
2-1-1 community referral hotline
 In-class Orientation
 Two Self-Reflections
 Adding to Service Learning Portfolio

12. From Course to Curriculum
SW 422 Social Work Practice II
 Hours in Field Practicum Agency
 Self-Reflections
 Agency Assessment (Podcast)
 Community Assessment
 Group
 Participate in a two-hour of interprofessional simulation experience
 2-hours of poverty simulation
 Group de-breifing
 Self-Reflection
 Submit Final SL Portfolio

13. Strengths
 Enhanced interprofessional collaborations of faculty &
students
 All social work students complete at least 64 hours of
service learning (across two courses)
 Increased number of service learning courses in social
work
 Approved IRB to assess student learning

14. Challenges
 Delays due to administrative timelines and
policies
 Developing interprofessional simulations
 Monitoring Student hours
 Coordination and logistics

15. Next Steps
 Implement final service learning lab
 Finalize student portfolio assignment
 Enhance assessment of student learning outcomes
 Cultivate more interprofessional opportunities
 Collect and analyze data

16. Questions?
For a copy of these slides:
http://goo.gl/iZhE8H
Laurel Iverson Hitchcock, PhD, MPH, MSW
lihitch@uab.edu
205.934.8673

17. Thank You!
Libba Vaughan
Deek Cunningham
Chris Eidson
Sarah Tucker
Amanda DuBois
Harry Brown
Shayne Rittmann
Karla Lawrence
Laura Johnson