Digital Commons Network^™

Technologies And Social Intervention: Ethical Considerations, Sandra Barros

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article addresses the use of Information and Communication Technologies within the Social Work discipline. It highlights the necessity to reanalyze and reconceptualize our intervention strategies, due to the widespread use of digital technologies, and the importance of having academic study plans that include the necessary digital rights and abilities. The challenges associated with the use of Information and Communication Technologies within the current historical-social context demand that we adopt and maintain a critical ethical attitude. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of reassessing available methods and tools to improve social work practice and education.

Digital Social Work: Towards Digital Disruption In Social Work, Joaquín Castillo De Mesa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The digital transformation is posing a challenge to organizations, professionals, and the scientific community within Social Work. Until now, digital solutions have been incorporated spontaneously and arbitrarily, without models to contemplate and guide their incorporation. This has generated great uncertainty amongst social workers, who do not know what media should be adopted, in what form, and under what circumstances. In this article, we will review three digital solution models which Social Work has been adopting in an evolutionary manner: adaptation, transition, and digital disruption. Digital adaptation has meant spontaneously incorporating digital media which were not specifically intended for professional practice. …

Using Big Data To Manage Social Inclusion Programs, Esther Raya Diez, Manuel Trujillo Carmona, Domingo Carbonero Muñoz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Technological developments based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and empirical science in all areas of society are opening new opportunities for social work and social inclusion programs. AI relies on Big Data management systems, which in turn provide opportunities for descriptive inference and preventative measures, as well as data-informed decision making.

This article outlines the characteristics of Big Data and describes the process of designing a tool for diagnosing social exclusion, the SiSo scale. The tool consists of a scale that uses 25 variables to assess situations of social difficulty on the inclusion-exclusion spectrum. It is currently being used in the …

Home Visit Training In Social Work With Virtual Reality, Mª Ángeles Minguela Recover, Pedro Hernández Lafuente, José Miguel Mota Macias

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The incorporation of virtual reality and mobile learning methodology in university teaching facilitates the teaching-learning process of concepts and complex visualization processes for students, as is the case in social work. The goal of this article is to present the iSWAPP© application aimed at social work students training in complex skills such as observation, active listening, and interviewing through home visits. Among the results, we find how the student recreates the process of assessing situations of dependence. The main finding is how virtual reality becomes an additional learning tool by allowing students to assume the social worker’s role and design …

Could Whatsapp Be An Intervention Tool For Digital Social Work? A Case Study, Antonio Eito Mateo, María José Gómez Poyato, Antonio Matías Solanilla

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ensuring that individuals who exhibit difficulties or problems are able to stay in their family and community environments has been an issue of concern for governments and welfare states for several decades. Authorities now seek to reverse the impact of periods or years of institutionalization and concealment of a variety of personal and social realities.

It should be highlighted that two phenomena, in particular, have increased interest in helping to keep individuals in their homes and community. First, aging populations and increased life expectancy, and second, the possibilities afforded by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The aging population is a …

Digital Intervention, Covid-19, And Critical Realism: Toward A Science Of Digital Social Work, Antonio López Peláez, Chaime Marcuello Servós

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the pace of the digital transition process in which we have been immersed. In a context of generalized lockdown, our organizations have been forced to go digital and many of the activities social workers perform must now be done remotely. As a result, e-social work, or digital social work, has gone from being an emerging specialization to a critical specialty across organizations and activities. In this article, we examine some basic scientific and methodological foundations to develop a science of social work from the perspective of critical realism, with special attention to digitalization. Establishing …

An Introduction To The Special Issue, Antonio López Peláez, Héctor Luis Díaz, Chaime Marcuello Servós, Joaquín Castillo De Mesa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume 5, 2021

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

A Professing Parent's Reflection On The Covid Classroom And Research Illustrates The Full Utility Of Communication Pedagogy, Robin S. Mathis

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This essay uses an ethnonarrative method to illustrate why and how to communicate compassion in the K–12, college, and workplace classroom during a pandemic. Reflecting on my experiences as a parent and professor, my students’ journal entries March–May 2020, and field research notes, I conclude that the feeling of powerlessness in the classroom and compassion within the organization creates an innovative ethnonarrative research opportunity for the Journal of Communication Pedagogy reader. Ultimately, my reflection as a parent and professor emphasized the value of communication pedagogy. Ultimately, I argue that practitioners in traditional classrooms, as well as the workplace, can advance …

Lessons From The Pandemic: Engaging Wicked Problems With Transdisciplinary Deliberation, Miles C. Coleman, Susana C. Santos, Joy M. Cypher, Claude Krummenacher, Robert Fleming

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Some crises, such as those brought on or exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, are wicked problems—large, complex problems with no immediate answer. As such, they make rich centerpieces for learning with respect to public deliberation and issue-based dialogue. This essay reflects on an experimental, transdisciplinary health and science communication course entitled Comprehending COVID-19. The course represents a collaborative effort among 14 faculty representing 10 different academic departments to create a resource for teaching students how to deliberate the pandemic, despite its attending, oversaturated, fake-news-infused, infodemic. We offer transdisciplinary deliberation as a pedagogical framework to expand communication repertoires in ways useful …

Encouraging College Student Democratic Engagement Through A Collaborative Voter, Angela M. Mcgowan-Kirsch

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Drawing on challenges I experienced when teaching a political communication course, I designed an upper-level undergraduate course with the objective of developing students’ civic competence and democratic engagement. The major class assignment, which is the focal point of this best practices essay, was a four-step collaborative voter mobilization project designed and executed by undergraduate students. I use research, classroom conversations, and student observations to discuss four best practices for encouraging students to participate in electoral politics: (a) fostering political efficacy, (b) peer-to-peer learning, (c) experiential learning, and (d) learning through reflection. This essay breaks a four-step collaborative voting mobilization project …

Toward An Invitational Andragogy: Articulating A Teaching Philosophy For The Andragogic Classroom, Whitney Tipton, Stephanie Wideman

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Students older than 25 years are a growing population on our campuses. However, separating these students and labeling them as “nontraditional” further isolates them from campuses that are already geared toward younger learners. This reflective essay explains the need for a philosophy of invitational andragogy—a classroom approach rooted in invitational rhetoric (S. Foss & Griffin, 1995) and Knowles’s assumptions about older learners (1980, 1984). While inviting transformation is important in all classrooms, it is especially important for older learners who often feel separated from the campus at large. To explain how an invitational approach to the andragogic classroom can be …

Toward A New Community Of Care: Best Practices For Educators And Administrators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cody M. Clemens, Tomeka M. Robinson

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

The onset of COVID-19 left people feeling unsettled, confused, and afraid of what tomorrow may hold. As university professors specializing in health communication, we too were left with these same feelings. As health communication scholars, we focus on issues surrounding illness, risk, crisis, care, health inequities, and wellness. COVID-19 is a health crisis, yes, but it has also changed the way we operate not only in higher education but in daily life. We begin this essay with an overview of COVID-19 and its impact on students, educators, and administrators. Then, we suggest four best practices to foster a community of …

"Minor Setback, Major Comeback": A Multilevel Approach To The Development Of Academic Resilience, Brandi N. Frisby, Jessalyn I. Vallade

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This study examined communicative processes at multiple levels that may influence students’ academic resilience through transitions. Participant interviews (N = 23) revealed that at the individual level, students develop a resilient mindset and effective academic strategies, engage in self-care, and compartmentalize. At the relational level, students rely on teachers to demonstrate positive teaching behaviors, receive academic and emotional support from a variety of sources, and find role models to inspire resilience. Finally, students reported that the campus community gave opportunities to build support networks and access campus resources, but identified threats to effective use of these resilience-building opportunities. Finally, …

Pandemic Pedagogy: Elements Of Online Supportive Course Design, Nate Brophy, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Karin Nordin, Angela D. Miller, Michelle Buehl, Jeff Vomund

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

The purpose of this study was to identify which course design elements students perceive as supporting an easier transition to emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19, as well as to use those items to develop the Online Supportive Course Design (OSCD) measure. By asking students to rate their course with the easiest transition and hardest transition to emergency remote teaching, this study identified which structural elements were most important for supporting students during the transition. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a seven-item measure was developed to operationalize OSCD, and initial validity was established by examining the relationships between OSCD, …

Reflexivity And Practice In Covid-19: Qualitative Analysis Of Student Responses To Improvisation In Their Research Methods Course, Elizabeth L. Spradley, R. Tyler Spradley

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

The improvisations needed to adapt to COVID-19 teaching and learning conditions affected students and faculty alike. This study uses chaos theory and improvisation to examine an undergraduate communication research methods course that was initially delivered synchronously/face-to-face and then transitioned to asynchronous/online in March 2020. Reflective writings were collected at the end of the semester with the 25 students enrolled in the course and follow-up interviews conducted with six students. Thematic analysis revealed that available and attentive student-participant, student-student, and student-instructor communication complemented learner-centered and person-centered goals, but unavailable or inattentive communication, especially with participants and students in the research team, …

"It's Been A Good Reminder That Students Are Human Beings": An Exploratory Inquiry Of Instructors’ Rhetorical And Relational Goals During Covid-19, Victoria Mcdermott, Drew T. Ashby-King

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

As colleges and universities moved to remote learning during the Spring 2020 semester due to COVID-19, the traditional higher education classroom format was challenged. This study examines how instructors reconceptualized their rhetorical and relational goals in the pandemic classroom. A thematic analysis of 68 qualitative survey responses revealed that instructors adapted their rhetorical and relational approaches to instruction due to a perceived change in students’ needs. Moreover, findings suggest that instructors intend to continue to use many of these instructional changes in their post-pandemic classrooms. These conclusions confirm that instructors should consider contextual factors not only during but also after …

Invisibility As Modern Racism: Redressing The Experience Of Indigenous Learners In Higher Education, Amy R. May, Victoria Mcdermott

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Indigenous Peoples represent the smallest group of ethnic minorities in the United States, and they are significantly underrepresented in the academy. The tumultuous relationship between institutions of higher learning and First Nation Peoples can be explained in part by the use of education to colonize and force the assimilation of Native Peoples. The end result of centuries of dehumanization and marginalization is invisibility, “the modern form of racism used against Native Americans” (the American Indian College Fund, 2019, p. 5). Educators are challenged to identify institutional inequities and redress barriers to promote social justice through informed and genuine practice, indigenization, …

“No Justice, No Peace”: Yard Signs As Public Pedagogy And Community Engagement At The Intersection Of Public Health Crises, Brigitte Mussack

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This paper examines yard signs as a site for public pedagogy that engages two concurrent, and comorbid, public health crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and racism. Specifically, I reflect on how yard signs responding to the George Floyd murder in my own Minneapolis neighborhood exist during a kairotic moment; as myself and my students are increasingly confined to our own homes, and as the boundaries between school and home are blurred, the public health crisis of racism and the specific community response of yard signs present opportunities for examining how these signs can act as entry points into difficult conversations among …

Pedagogy, Protests, And Moving Toward Progress, Nannetta Durnell-Uwechue, Deandre J. Poole, Felton O. Best

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Our world is in constant flux and educators are at the ship’s helm steering toward what former U.S. Representative John Lewis called “good trouble.” However, in many cases, educators lack the training required to be most effective in doing so. As instructors face student demands to address topics on race and social justice, many educators are unsure about how to respond appropriately to the chants of “No Justice, No Peace!” Thus, this essay explores humanistic and pragmatic approaches for doing so in terms of fostering cultural communication competence when incorporating topics on race and social justice issues in the classroom.

Connection Over Correction: Engaging Students In Conversational Commitments For Effective Communication Across Difference And Difficulty, Jennifer Sandoval

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

In light of a national reckoning with racism in the U.S., many instructors are assessing their own pedagogical practices with regard to handling these topics in their classrooms. In developing my authentic teaching philosophy over the course of 18 years, I have adapted many practices I used in my prior career in dispute resolution. To clarify, I center classroom engagement around what Hart (2007) describes as “a pedagogy of interiority.” Classroom engagement focuses on connection rather than correction as we help students develop their “authentic inner potentials” (p. 2). I regularly challenge myself to invite students to develop their authentic …

Unpacking Privilege In Pandemic Pedagogy: Social Media Debates On Power Dynamics Of Online Education, Roy Schwartzman

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

As one of the world’s major social media hubs dedicated to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Facebook mega-group Pandemic Pedagogy provides a panoramic perspective of the key concerns educators and students face amid a public health crisis that forces redefinition of what constitutes effective education. After several months of instruction under pandemic conditions, two central themes emerged as the most extensively discussed and the most intensively contested: (1) rigor versus accommodation in calibrating standards for students, and (2) ways to improve engagement during classes conducted through videoconferencing, especially via Zoom. Both themes reveal deeply embedded systems of privilege …

What Covid-19 Taught Us About Pedagogy And Social Justice—Pandemic Or Not, Brandi Lawless, Yea-Wen Chen

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

The COVID-19 pandemic (in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter Movement) exposed pervasive inequities, challenges, and opportunities to explore and implement “best” pedagogical practices to improve how we address social justice issues. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified intergenerational gaps for the already vulnerable, under-resourced, and marginalized in our society. In response, we propose four “best practices” to embrace in our classrooms. These are: (a) fostering flexibility to bridge equity gaps; (b) rethinking the pedagogical panopticon; (c) emphasizing listening to and affirming students’ struggles; and (d) employing student-centered accountability. The authors detail some specific inequalities that were brought to the surface …

Community Colleges And Covid-19: An Exploration Of Challenges And Inequities, Tammy Bosley, Holly R. Custer

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

COVID-19 drastically changed many aspects of life in the U.S. and most certainly changed standard operating procedures in higher education. Moving all classes completely online created numerous challenges not only for students, but also for faculty. For students, these challenges included issues related to physical and mental health, job loss, and caregiving, as well as access to internet and even access to a home computer. Faculty also faced challenges. For example, many colleges and universities rely on adjunct faculty who are compensated on a course-by-course basis. Although most institutions provided faculty development sessions to make a smooth transition to online …

Editor's Note: The Year 2020: Crisis And Opportunity, Deanna D. Sellnow

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This volume features foci on teaching J.E.D.I (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) principles, pandemic pedagogy challenges and opportunities, as well as thought-provoking essays on invitational andragogy, transdisciplinary deliberation, and reflexivity.

Systematic Review Of Transition Assessments For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder From Early Intervention To Special Education, Akrum Hassan Eidelsafy, Katherine Lalonde, Starla Scott

The Hilltop Review

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), their families, and teachers face many challenges during the transition from early intervention into public education. One tool that may facilitate and streamline this transition is the use of a comprehensive transition assessment. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic literature review on peer-reviewed kindergarten transition assessments for children with ASD. The systematic literature review yielded six studies that met inclusion criterion. Within those six studies, 20 assessments were analyzed by reviewing the (1) type of assessment, (2) assessment timeline, and (3) use of assessment results. The results of this …

Delusional Mitigation In Religious And Psychological Forms Of Self-Cultivation: Buddhist And Clinical Insight On Delusional Symptomatology, Austin J. Avison

The Hilltop Review

This essay examines Buddhist forms of self-cultivation and development that enable a psychosocial capacity for emotional, cognitive, and behavioral adjustment by improving an individual's characteristic mode of interaction within the world. First, we will consider the religious form of self-cultivation seen in the context of Buddhism and its desire to remove delusional perspectives through developmental practices. In this, we will consider the cultivating function of clinical psychology through the therapeutic application of cognitive restructuring techniques as a form of cultivation. Next, considering psychological self-cultivation, training, development, and education concerning the treatment of schizophrenia and its characteristic criterion of delusions. Further, …

The Macroeconomic Impacts Of Entitlements, Ateeb Akhter Shah Syed, Kaneez Fatima, Riffat Naseer

The Hilltop Review

The worries expressed by Alan Greenspan that the long run economic growth of the United States will fade away due to increasing burden of entitlements motivated us to empirically investigate the impact of entitlements of key macroeconomic variables. To examine this contemporary issue, we estimate a vector error-correction model to analyze the impact of entitlements on the price level, real output, and the long-term interest rate. The results show that a shock to entitlements leads to decrease in output and lends support to the assertion made by Alan Greenspan. Several robustness checks verify that the results remain unchanged qualitatively.

The Effect Of Respondent Race And Sex On Police Use Or Threatened Use Of Force, Viola L. Sawyer

The Hilltop Review

This study examines the interacting effects of race and sex on police use of force. Survey data drawn from the Police-Public Contact Survey were used to conduct a binary logistic regression to assess effects of different configurations of self-reported race and sex identities, respondents age, and absence of deference to authority on self-reported police use or threatened use of force in interactions with police officers. Results indicate that the multiplicative effect of respondents’ race and sex overall, had a statistically significant relationship with the likelihood of reporting police use or threatened use of force in police-public contacts. Additionally, age, overall, …

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume 4, 2021

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This is the complete volume 4 of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.