Snapshot from Social Work 470/570 – A Writing-Dedicated Course

By: Dr. Susan Sarnoff

SW 470/570:  Writing for Social Work (4/5 credits)

This course is an elective course double-listed for delivery to both undergraduate and graduate students.  It is also a discipline-specific dedicated writing course.

 

The class meets five times.  At each meeting, class discussion focuses on the skills needed to create a set of documents commonly produced by social workers in the course of their work.  Students can select between Clinical and Administrative assignments; some assignments are required of all students in the class.  For example, after the first week, clinical students are required to create progress notes and case summaries; administrative students are required to create flyers and public service announcements, and all students are required to write press releases.

 

Students have one week following each class to post draft versions of each assignments.  These are posted to a course discussion board, where they are visible to all class participants.  Then, during the second week, they are required to peer critique their colleagues’ work, and may revise their own drafts for further peer critique.  Whenever they are ready, they may submit their drafts to me for comments and/or Virtual Grades.  The students’ grades are not formalized until the end of the quarter, when they submit a printed portfolio of all their work; the Virtual Grades are simply a means by which they can determine whether the quality of their work at any stage will earn them the grade they seek, of whether further revision is needed.

 

Initial student drafts average 27 pages; their peer critiques constitute several more pages of work.  I would guess that most students generate at least 60 pages of work for this quarter, but again, the best students require the least revision, presumably because they did not show their peers or me their first drafts, but honed before posting.