building a framework for student learning: helping others to benefit from your experience doreen...

Building a Framework for Student Learning: Helping Others to

Benefit from Your ExperienceDoreen Klee, LCSW, MAJCS

UCLA Field Faculty Specializing in Macro Practice in Health and Aging

[email protected]

Erecting the Scaffold* Essential Elements of Good Supervision

www.socialworkleadership.org

*Scaffolding is the process that makes it possible for a novice to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal which would be beyond his/her unassisted efforts. Scaffolding is usually conceived as the ‘teacher’s actions’ as a kind of social architecture and as a temporary support that is removed when no longer necessary. (Newman, Griffin & Cole, 1989) ((Newman, Griffin & CNewman, Griffin & Cole, 1989)

Opening the Door


Prior to the Student’s Arrival be Aware of Your Role in Relation to:• Your Student• Student’s university• Your agency• Student’s clients and families• Social Work Community

Agency Introduction:• Explain the organizational context and the student’s social work role• Provide information about the agency, expectations, policies and procedures• Introduce the student to all the “players”• Make sure that the student has adequate work space and access to whatever will

be needed to insure success

Student-Field Instructor Orientation:• Set the stage for the field experience• Learn about, and respect, the cultural differences between you and your student• Explore your student’s learning style • Compare and acknowledge your style differences

Building a Learning Environment: Become your student’s architect

and create a learning environment together


Establish Your Role as Both Supervisor and Teacher Early in the Relationship:

• Adhere to regularly scheduled field instruction conferences, provide assignments, and utilize process recordings early in the relationship

• Focus on process, not content• Balance performance monitoring with positive supportive feedback and

genuine praise• Build in opportunities for self-assessment and “reflecting in action”• Deal with the student’s feelings through cases; if personal therapy is needed,

refer out• Help the student focus on the learning cycle, modeling the problem-solving

cycle in work with clients; errors are opportunities to learn• Most importantly, create a supportive environment in a climate of mutual

respect

Fostering Student-Field Instructor Affectional Bonds

Attachment is:• Biological process that describes bonding between infant and caregiver• Types: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized• Secure attachment forms a secure base for exploration, creativity and

successfully regulating emotions• Quality of early interpersonal experience is a template for later relationship

formationAffectional Bonds:• Are attachment-type behaviors that are to a specific person who has

emotional significance and creates a sense of security and comfort• Supervisor who is dependable, available, supportive, open and trusting activates affectional bonds and creates a secure baseA Secure Base is:• Freeing, fosters creativity, allows exploration, and promotes professional identity formation • Promoted by agreed upon goals, tasks and regular meeting times• When a student has a secure base with his/her supervisor, it increases the

likelihood of creating a secure base for the client

“A supervisory relationship is a relationship about a relationship about other relationships.”


Watch Out for Bumps in the Road

Your Self-Awareness:• Examine the impact of your own student experiences• Acknowledge Parallel Process between you and your student• Be aware that you are the model for your student’s interactions and relationship-building with his/her clients

“It’s tough to learn from mistakes you never made.”

Listen and Reflect:Good reflection is NOT a mirror (a mirror gives only what it gets) ; it is getting our own experience back through another set of lenses

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.”—Wilson Mizner

Feedback:Good feedback is concrete, specific, detailed

“I love feedback. I just don’t want to get any of it on me.” –Woody Allen


A Supervisor Asks for Feedback. . .AAAA Supervisor Asks for Feedback. . .


Building a Bridge

Understanding Learning Styles to Help Your Student Move from Beginner to Competent Practitioner

Adult Learning Needs & Learning Styles


Conditions Needed for Lasting Learning Learning Styles• Goals that clarify the knowledge,

skills and attitudes one needs• Ownership of one’s goals and tasks• Access to information and resources• Repeated sequential practice• Opportunities to reflect• Constructive feedback• Trust-based environment with field

instructors who are advocates

“The enemy of learning is thinkingthat you already know.”

Concrete: Experience and feeling based; people orientedActive: Doing based; involved with activities that test abilitiesReflective: Tentative, impartial, observerAbstract: Analytic; logical; rationalActive and Concrete (Accommodator): Action oriented; likes new experiences; risk-takerConcrete and Reflective (Diverger): brainstormer; imaginative; can see many perspectivesReflective and Abstract (Assimilator): able to create theoretical models; Inductive reasonerAbstract and Active (Converger): Practical application of ideas; does well when there is one correct answer to a problem

Determining your student’s learning style…

Learning Styles Profile


Examining the Adult Learner

Stages of Learning for Student and Field Instructor:1. Acquiring information: Student acutely conscious of self—Field instructor’s role is

“security giving” and providing learning tools2. Practicing new skills: Student in “sink-or-swim” adaptation—Field instructor links

past experiences with new learning 3. Reconfiguring and expanding on what is already known: Student attains some

knowledge and skill, but mastery lags—Field instructor pushes to link current experiences with new intellectual knowledge and skill development

4. Stimulating learning in new areas: Student achieves relative mastery—Field instructor acts as consultant and guide

5. Supporting colleague: Student achieves mastery and begins to teach others—Field instructor mentors and consults, as requested

Learning can be: ○ Intentional ○ Incidental ○ Serendipitous ○ Step-by-step progression ○ Trial and error ○ Spontaneous ○ By accident ○ By mistakes

“To know without doing is not to know. To do without knowing is not to do.The future belongs to the learners, not the doers.”


Stages in the Building of an Internship

1 Anticipation

What if. . .?

2 Disillusionment

What’s wrong is. . .

3 Confrontation

The only way around is to go

through. . .

4 Confidence

The emerging professional. . .

5 Culmination

Good-byes are never easy!

Field Instructor’s Blue Prints

Issues and Feelings TasksAnticipation: Hope mixed with anxiety about role, responsibilities and competence

Disillusionment: Gap between anticipation and reality causes frustration, discourage- ment, dip in morale

Confrontation: Resolving issues raised in previous stage increases self-empowerment, independence, effectiveness

Competence: Transition from apprentice to professional stimulates morale, sense of accomplishment, and investment

Culmination: Endings marked by sadness, pride, guilt, anxiety and avoidance

• Define goals clearly and specifically• Develop realistic set of expectations• Explicate, examine, critique assumptions

• Feel the impact of presenting issues• Identify feelings and their results• Work through issues

• Re-examine expectations, goals and skills• Keep working through issues

• Focus on excellence, not perfection• Manage surfacing conflicts between home, school, internship, job, friends

• Focus on feelings and express them• Find satisfying ways to say good-bye


Assembling the Edifice

Infusing Knowledge about Aging Skills and Competencies into Practice


Laying a Good FoundationSuggestions at the Placement Site for Helping the Student to Gain

Knowledge about the Agency and Community Resources for Older Adults

• Agency/Community Scavenger Hunto Create questionnaire that must be completed by student to introduce him/her to staff and their responsibilitieso Arrange visits to nearby resources that are peopled by older adults

• Interview staff and volunteers to understand why they choose to work with older adults

• Allow student to spend time at the front desk to experience how older adults are welcomed and processed

• Student can call Area Agency on Aging and/or Dept. of Aging and study the Agency’s Resource Directory to become familiar with resources in the community that offer similar or related services

• Have student interview older adult consumers to learn about the services received and their satisfaction levels• Offer shadowing opportunities with other members of the staff• Give student intake responsibilities early in his/her field experience• In lieu of one process recording, have student interview and journal about the life experience of one consumer/client

The Right Tools: Competency Driven Field Education

A competency-driven field education program for geriatric social work is one where field experiences are based on standards, or competencies, that are informed by values and knowledge, specifically related to geriatrics and social work. It requires the following elements:

• Adoption of a defined set of specific skill competencies for geriatric social work

• Identification of student learning goals based on the competencies• Use of competencies to plan student learning, including selection of site,

rotations and assignments• Integration of class and field work through a competency-based curriculum

and didactic seminars that integrate classroom learning with learning in the field

• Assessment of student progress by measuring skills at the beginning of field and upon completion of field

• Consideration of rotations, either within an agency or between agencies to enhance student learning and experiencesProvision of interdisciplinary opportunities, when possible

Field Instructor as Contractor: Competency Skills Supported

by the Field ExperienceCompetency Domain

I. Values and Ethics

II. Assessment Individual and Family

Programs and Policies

III. Practice and InterventionTheory and Knowledge

Individual and Family

Programs and Policies

IV. Interdisciplinary Collaboration

V. Evaluation and Research

Skill ExampleAssess personal bias/values regarding agingRespect diversity among older adult clients

Adapt interviewing methods to older adult needsAssess functional needs of family/caregiver

Assess organization effectivenessIdentify gaps/barriers in service delivery systems

Apply bio-psycho-social theories in practice with clientsUnderstand laws and policies related to clients

Set realistic/mutual goals sensitive to individual capacityDevelop clear, timely appropriate service plansIncorporate a full continuum of servicesUse strategies that empower older adult, family, community

Collaborate with other health/allied professionsAdvocate on behalf of client

Evaluate practice/programs for effective outcomesIncorporate evaluation outcomes into programs/policies


Establishing a Partnership Between the University as Architect

and the Agency as ContractorUniversity-Community Partnerships:• Reduce “disconnect” between practice and education communities

Universities bring expertise in theory, educational methods, and research to the agencyAgencies contribute knowledge about realities of practice, skills needed, and educational opportunities and methods at the school

• Field instructor and student share student’s curriculum, searching for opportunities to connect classroom learning with field experience

• Field instructors serve as adjunct instructors and/or guest speakers in the classroom, sharing real scenarios that bring theories to life

• Field instructors participate in integrative seminars, give talks at brown bag lunches and provide consultation and training at allied field agencies

• Consortiums of community institutions, field agencies, and university faculty meet around a common goal of educating future practitioners, resulting in: Curricular improvements Greater faculty understanding of service delivery systems, resources, and needs Increased agency practitioner knowledge of aging and assessment and intervention skills Heightened awareness of service gaps and strengthening of services across agency boundaries through increased collaboration among agencies


Ensuring a Structure that LastsAn Example of an Aging Partnership:

Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium(The GSWEC Model)

Graduate Social Work Programs: USC, UCLA, CSULB, CSUN, DSDH, CSF, CSULA

Centers of Excellence: Alzheimer’s Assn, Beach Cities HD, Chinatown Svs. Ctr, HSCN, JFSLA, MPTF, Pacific Clinics, Partners, SCAN, VA

Service Providers: Adult Day Care, Advocacy, Care Management, Caregiver Support, Dementia Services, Home Health, Hospitals, Mental Health Services, Skilled Nursing

GSWEC: Conceptual Framework for Geriatric Social Work Practice

Required Best Practices: Functional Geriatric Assessment, Interdisciplinary Teamwork,

Case Management, End of Life Care

Psychological: Late Life

Development, Mental Illness, Adaptation to

LossSocial: Role

Changes, Socio-Economic

Problems, Support

Biological: Normal Aging,

Chronic Illness, Functional limits


GSWEC Examples of Didactic Learning Seminars

Group Opportunities for Integrating Theory and Practice

Clinical Seminars• Biological/Physical Perspectives on Aging• Psychological Considerations in Work with Older Adults• Social Issues when Working with Aging Adults and their Families• Understanding Diverse Populations• End of Life Issues

Macro Seminars• Program Planning, Development and Evaluation• Organization Administration• Community Organization

GSWEC Graduation Celebration• Poster Presentations Highlighting Student Macro Capstone Projects

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