EVALUATING EXPERIENTIAL TEACHING METHODS IN A POLICY PRACTICE COURSE: THE CASE FOR SERVICE LEARNING TO INCREASE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION.

EVALUATING EXPERIENTIAL TEACHING METHODS IN A POLICY PRACTICE COURSE: THE CASE FOR SERVICE LEARNING TO INCREASE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION. COMMUNICATING THE GOAL of social justice as part of both the socialwork code of ethics ethics,in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed for themselves or as the body of obligations and duties that a and the profession's person-in-environmentperspective has been a challenge for social work educators in theclassroom. As Gordon (1994) points out, by not taking a leadership rolein the formulation formulation/for��mu��la��tion/ (for?mu-la��shun) the act or product of formulating.American Law Institute Formulation and implementation of policies that affect ourclients, social work's person-in-environment perspective is largelymissing from social welfare programs and services. Teaching studentspolicy practice methods and skills is thus a "necessary means tothe implementation of the neglected' goal of social justice"(Figueira-McDonough, 1993, p. 180). Although many in the profession have disagreed about whatconstitutes policy practice, there is general agreement that socialworkers must begin to assume policy roles and learn to perceive policypractice as among the skills of a practicing social worker and notsimply the purview The part of a statute or a law that delineates its purpose and scope.Purview refers to the enacting part of a statute. It generally begins with the words be it enacted and continues as far as the repealing clause. of a policy expert (Gordon, 1994; Jansson, 1999;Wyers, 1991). As Gordon notes, "students generally see policyskills and policy courses as peripheral to their interests" (p.165). In an attempt to provide a working definition of policy practicethat integrates several of the models in the literature, Wyers (1991)states that "requisite to policy practice behavior is therequirement that direct service practitioners understand and analyze theeffect of extant ex��tant?adj.1. Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct: extant manuscripts.2. Archaic Standing out; projecting. social policy on clients and participate in themodification of social policy that is harmful to clients and in theelimination of policy deficits by working for new policy" (p. 246).Although social workers have been ambivalent am��biv��a��lent?adj.Exhibiting or feeling ambivalence.am��biva��lent��ly adv.Adj. 1. about their role in thepolitical process, their political involvement increased after theReagan years (Ezell, 1993). Even so, most students do not enter programsof social work interested in politics or policy (Wolk, Pray, Weismiller,& Dempsey, 1996). In response to these issues, several textbooksdescribing the role of social workers in policy practice and theintegration of practice and policy in the classroom have been published(Haynes & Mickelson, 1991; Jansson, 1994; McInnis-Dittrich, 1994;Specht & Courtney, 1994). This has also prompted educators to movebeyond simply discussing policy practice in the classroom to movingstudents out into the community to participate in aspects of policypractice as part of their educational experience. Service Learning as a Method to Increase Democratic Participation Service learning, a specific type of experiential ex��pe��ri��en��tial?adj.Relating to or derived from experience.ex��peri��en learning,requires students to participate in a service activity that meetscommunity needs and allows students to reflect on their service to gainfurther understanding of course content. Service learning also enhancesa sense of civic responsibility and increases citizen participation in ademocratic society (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996). Although democraticcitizenship requires that individuals work to create, evaluate,criticize crit��i��cize?v. crit��i��cized, crit��i��ciz��ing, crit��i��ciz��esv.tr.1. To find fault with: criticized the decision as unrealistic.See Usage Note at critique. , and change public policy, public apathy apathy/ap��a��thy/ (ap��ah-the) lack of feeling or emotion; indifference.apathet��ic ap��a��thyn.Lack of interest, concern, or emotion; indifference. and distrust andcontempt toward government have reached unprecedented proportions(Astin, 1997; Kahne & Westheimer, 1996). Given these issues, agrowing body of literature regarding service learning as a method toincrease democratic participation is developing in a variety ofdisciplines, including departments of English, psychology, and politicalscience, schools of medicine, and social work programs (Barber &Battistoni, 1993; Eckenfels, 1997; Leeds, 1996; Novak & Goodman Goodman was a polite term of address, used where Mister (Mr.) would be used today. Compare Goodwife.Goodman refers to:Places goodwife, Mississippi, USA Goodman, Missouri, USA Goodman, Wisconsin, USA ,1997). Increasing citizen participation through service learning is anatural fit for social work education. Social work's use of fieldplacements, code of ethics, and Council on Social Work Education The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is the national association for social work education in the United States of America.The CSWE sets and maintains standards of courses and accreditation of bachelor's degree's and Master's degree programs in social work. accreditation standards requiring course content on policy all reflectthe profession's commitment to students developing an understandingof one's place in the environment and the political and structuralaspects of how that environment affects clients. Becoming involved inpolitical activity, however, is not a requirement in most fieldpracticum practicum (prak´tikm),n See internship. experience--even if anecdotal evidence anecdotal evidence,n information obtained from personal accounts, examples, and observations. Usually not considered scientifically valid but may indicate areas for further investigation and research. exists that studentsare more likely to become involved in political activity if they havehad some sort of, active participation while in school (Wolk et al.,1996). Evidence on service learning's effectiveness is scarce,especially with regard to its effect on political participation afterstudents graduate. The exploratory study reported here presents data onhow service learning affect political participation. Using informationfrom a service learning-based policy practice course in one MSW (MicroSoft Word) See Microsoft Word. programbetween spring 1995 and summer 1996, the author asked the followingquestions: Do political activities of social work students increaseafter community-based service learning methods are implemented comparedto students in traditional classes? Furthermore, are students who takean experientially-based class more likely than other students to getinvolved in policy practice activities after graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. ? Research on the Effectiveness of Experiential Teaching Techniques Social work programs are now developing educational techniques thatuse active learning methods to teach policy practice, social action, andcommunity practice. However, evaluation of these attempts is still inits infancy infancy,stage of human development lasting from birth to approximately two years of age. The hallmarks of infancy are physical growth, motor development, vocal development, and cognitive and social development. . Most publications outlining experiential policy practiceteaching methods and courses either have no evaluation component, or usestudent evaluations as a first step in analysis. For example, Johnson(1994) used policy practice methods to teach students the task forceapproach. Johnson's review identifies a task force approach as atime-limited, action-oriented group doing policy development work. Whilemost of the work took place in the classroom, students were required tovisit service organizations and interview key stakeholders StakeholdersAll parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. during theinformation gathering phase. Evaluation consisted of papers in whichstudents critiqued their experience and discussed what they learned.Rocha and Johnson (1997) designed a major assignment in their advancedpolicy course requiring students to implement a policy changeintervention strategy at the community or state level. They used bothcourse evaluations and a "critical reflection" component intheir final project report to evaluate the quality of the experience forthe students--how time consuming students felt the project was, and whatstudents had learned from the experience. Powell and Causby (1994) tookthe evaluation approach a step further with their "LegislativeAdvocacy Day" project. Students wrote position papers and visitedlegislators. Some students testified before select committees. At theend of the course students filled out a seven-page, open-endedquestionnaire exploring their feelings about the project and assessingtheir learning. Students reported feeling empowered and that they hadmade a difference. Students also reported that the experience helpedbridge the gap between policy and practice. Other more systematic attempts to assess service learning outcomesinclude pre- and post-test evaluations of students' attitudes andtheir stated commitment to future service. Giles and Eyler (1994) foundthat students who participated in their community service laboratorychanged their views on social service clients and endorsed theimportance of working in the community more after their experience.Forte (1997) found that students in their community service projectsignificantly increased their scores on a self-report altruism altruism(ăl`trĭz`əm), concept in philosophy and psychology that holds that the interests of others, rather than of the self, can motivate an individual. scale andincreased their commitment to volunteerism vol��un��teer��ism?n.Use of or reliance on volunteers, especially to perform social or educational work in communities.volunteerismafter the course was over.Likewise, Batchelder and Root (1994) found thai students in theirservice learning course increased their resolve to act in uncertainsituations and had a greater awareness of the complexity of socialproblems, compared to a control group. These studies suggest that service learning changes attitudes ofcollege students. Whether these attitudes translate into action andcarry on after graduation are important outcomes to assess. Butler andColeman (1997) probably have the most comprehensive evaluation of apolicy practice course in social work over a seven-year period. Theytaught a macro practice course that introduced important advocacy skillsfocusing on media campaigns, political advocacy, social actioncampaigns, coalition building, resource mobilization Resource mobilization is a social theory related to the study of social movements. It focuses on the ability of the members of the movement to acquire resources and mobilize people in order to advance their goals. , and community andeconomic development. Butler and Coleman designed a mail survey andanalyzed an��a��lyze?tr.v. an��a��lyzed, an��a��lyz��ing, an��a��lyz��es1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations.2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of.3. 48 questionnaires from graduates who had taken the policycourse between 1985 and 1992. The graduates were asked to recall theirmacro practice activities before and after taking the class. Theresponses were compared with t tests. Twenty respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. were not usedin the analysis because they were still in school and their activitylevels were very low. The other 28 respondents had increased activitylevels in case advocacy, lobbying, community education, media campaigns,participating in a direct social action, and working in communityeconomic development. This is an important first step in a systematic evaluation of thesetypes of experiential courses. Without a comparison group, however,there is no way of knowing if students who had not had the communityexperience would have been just as likely to increase their politicalactivity. Butler and Coleman also reported that in their sample of 28,there were not enough men and racial minorities to look at variations byrace and gender. The present exploratory study builds on this researchby comparing race and gender within a multivariate model; it alsoincludes a comparison group of graduates who had not taken the course. About the Course An advanced policy course that focused on experiential learning ofpolicy practice concepts in the field of child and family policy wasoffered five times from spring 1995 through summer 1996 at theUniversity of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system in the American state of Tennessee. , Knoxville. Both clinical and administration andplanning students were required to take advanced policy content.Students had the option of taking this course or two other advancedpolicy courses in another substantive area which used a more traditionallecture format. All of the students had previous policy practice contentin their foundation policy class. No other experientially based courseswere offered during this time, although students could obtain theexperience through independent study, working with professors onprojects, or potentially through their field experience if they wereadministration and planning students. The course focused on developing persuasion PERSUASION. The act of influencing by expostulation or request. While the persuasion is confined within those limits which leave the mind free, it may be used to induce another to make his will, or even to make it in his own favor; but if such persuasion should so far operate on the mind skills, building taskgroups and coalitions, using the media, testifying before committees,organizing letter-writing and phone campaigns, and developing computerskills for policy practice. Class writing assignments includedcommentaries, letters to the editor of newspapers, or testimony for alegislative or planning committee planning committeen (in local government) → comit�� m de planificaci��n. Students were also required to createbrochures and fact sheets on the computer and be able to use theInternet for research and advocacy efforts, as well as perform a needsassessment of an issue of importance to them. Students were asked todesign and implement a change effort using some or all of these skillsas part of their intervention. Student projects have been diverse,including planning change at the organizational, community, and statelevels; policy development and implementation projects; and increasingpublic awareness of political issues. For an in-depth description andanalysis of the specific components of the course, refer to Rocha andJohnson (1997). Methods This study assesses three issues related to policy practice: (1)how graduates value the importance of policy-related tasks; (2)perceptions of competency to perform selected policy-related tasks; and(3) actual political activity levels. Recent graduates who hadcommunity-based experiential learning opportunities are compared tothose who were educated in more traditional classroom environments. Sample In the fall of 1996, mail surveys were sent to all 119 students whograduated from the program between May 1995 and August 1996. Seventy-twosurveys were returned, a 60.5% response rate. Thirty-three students hadnot taken the course, 30 had taken the course, and 9 had not taken thecourse but indicated they had received experiential learning throughother means, including independent studies with faculty, working on apolitical campaign in their field experience, and working on communityprojects through a community organization. These 9 respondents wereincluded with the experiential group by virtue of their experiences fora total of 39. Measurement and Analysis Four levels of policy-related values and activities were measured:(1) the value placed on policy-related activities by the respondent In Equity practice, the party who answers a bill or other proceeding in equity. The party against whom an appeal or motion, an application for a court order, is instituted and who is required to answer in order to protect his or her interests. , (2)self-reported competency levels in policy-related skills, (3)policy-related activity levels performed in respondents'professional role and (4) policy-related activity levels performed intheir personal lives. Eight indicators for each construct were developedand then summed into an overall scale. The comparison of mean scores foreach indicators is represented in Figures 1 through 4. [Figure 1-4 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The indicators for the construct of valuing policy-relatedactivities are the importance of: * Voting; * Being a member of a professional organization; * Keeping up with issues that affect clients; * Keeping up with issues that affect neighborhoods; * Keeping up with issues that affect school districts; * Keeping up with issues that affect one's city; * Keeping up with issues that affect one's state; * Keeping up with issues that affect the nation. The indicators were measured on a 5-point scale (1=veryunimportant un��im��por��tant?adj.Not important; petty.unim��portance n. , 5=very important). The summed scale produced aCronbach's alpha Cronbach's (alpha) has an important use as a measure of the reliability of a psychometric instrument. It was first named as alpha by Cronbach (1951), as he had intended to continue with further instruments. reliability score of .82. The indicators for the construct of self-reported competency arethe ability to: * Interpret major federal legislation; * Understand how social problems are addressed through socialpolicy; * Use the media to communicate ideas to the public; * Create computer-generated media information; * Plan and implement a change effort; * Organize a task force; * Use the Internet to find information about controversial issues; * Understand the policy formulation process; The indicators were measured on a 5-point scale (1=not competent,5=very competent). The summated scale produced a Cronbach's alphareliability score of .85. In addition to assessing competency, the two activity scales alsoassessed the number of times graduates had actually performed policyrelated tasks since graduating from the program. The eight indicatorsused to measure professional and personal activities asked, "Howmany times since graduating have you ...": * Sent a letter to the editor or written an opinion/editorialpiece; * Called, e-mailed, or written a public official; * Worked on a specific change effort; * Met with public official(s); * Participated as a member of a coalition or committee working onan issue; * Been active in a coalition; * Been instrumental in organizing an activity; * Used the Internet to obtain policy-related information. Mean scores were calculated from the responses. The professionalactivity scale and the personal activity scale both yielded aCronbach's alpha score of .75. The individual scores were analyzed on a bivariate bi��var��i��ate?adj.Mathematics Having two variables: bivariate binomial distribution.Adj. 1. level, using ttests. The scores were then summed and the scales analyzed in multipleregression models, simultaneously controlling for other extraneous ex��tra��ne��ous?adj.1. Not constituting a vital element or part.2. Inessential or unrelated to the topic or matter at hand; irrelevant. See Synonyms at irrelevant.3. characteristics that may have contributed to the differences in scores.These included whether the student was in the administration andplanning or the clinical concentration, the year graduated, age, gender,and race. The student's concentration was included as a controlbecause there is a greater likelihood that students will performpolicy-related tasks in their field placements if they areadministration and planning students. Age is included to help controlfor previous years of experience, assuming that social workers with moreexperience are also more likely to have greater experience in politicalactivity. Results The returned sample closely represented the overall population ofgraduates who were mailed surveys. The population was 80.7% female and84.9% white, with an average age of 35.2 years, ranging from 24 to 56years. The respondents were 84.7% female, 86.1% white, with an averageage of 34.7 years. Respondents from both the study and comparison group did not differsignificantly in how they valued policy-related activities on any of theeight indicators (see Figure 1). Regardless of whether they hadexperienced policy-related activities in their graduate education, theyall thought that voting, being a member of an organization, and keepingabreast of developments in client issues through national issues wereequally important. Interestingly, students on average thought that beinga member of an organization (3.9 for traditional learning and 4.1 forexperiential learning) and keeping up with issues affecting schools (3.9for traditional learning and 4.0 for experiential learning) were theleast important, averaging between neutral (3) and somewhat important(4). There were four areas of perceived competence where respondentsdiffered significantly by whether they had experienced policy-relatedactivities in their graduate education (see Figure 2). Those withpolicy-related educational experiences were significantly more likely tofeel competent using the media to communicate ideas to the public(t=2.09, p [is less than] .05), plan and implement a change effort(t=3.61, p [is less than] .001), use the Internet to find policy-relatedinformation (t=2.68, p [is less than] .01), and createcomputer-generated informational literature (t=3.07, p [is less than].01). Although students with experiential learning felt more competent todo policy-related activities, the real question is whether they actuallydo these activities. Figures 3 and 4 deal with whether students havedone specific policy-related activities both at work and on their ownpersonal time since graduation. There were four variables thatsignificantly differed between the two groups for personalpolicy-related activities (Figure 3). Students with experientialeducation The perspective and/or examples in this article do not represent a world-wide view. Please [ edit] this page to improve its geographical balance. were more likely to have worked on a specific changeeffort(t=2.50, p [is less than] .05), become a member of a committee orcoalition (t=3.69, p [is less than] .001), been active in a committee orcoalition (t=2.45, p [is less than] .05), and been instrumental inorganizing an activity in a committee or coalition (t=2.21, p [is lessthan] .05). Professionally, students with experiential education weresignificantly more likely to be a member of a coalition (t=3.07, p [isless than] .01) and have been instrumental in organizing activitiessponsored by the committee or coalition (t=2.69, p [is less than] .01,Figure 4). Table 1 provides the means and standard deviations ofcompetency and activity levels between traditional and experientialteaching methods for the significant variables at the bivariate level. Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of Significantly DifferentCompetency and Activity Levels between Traditional and ExperientialMethods Traditional Experiential (N=33) (N=39)Variable Mean SD Mean SDCompetency Using media 3.51 1.09 4.00 0.83 Computer skills 2.93 1.41 3.92 1.28 Planning skills 2.81 1.10 3.69 0.95 Internet research 2.51 1.56 3.44 1.35Personal Activity Change effort 0.21 0.65 0.93 1.62 Committee/coalition member 0.16 0.52 0.89 1.11 Active in committee/coalition 0.00 0.00 0.21 0.52 Organizing committee/coalition 0.00 0.00 0.17 0.51Professional Activity Committee/coalition member 0.36 0.55 1.51 2.26 Organizing committee/coalition 0.00 0.00 0.25 0.59 To control for differences in the results that could be attributedto extraneous influences, the individual variables in each of thefigures were summated into scales for the constructs of competency andactivity levels and used as dependent variables in three multipleregression models. The scale for valuing the importance of policy issueswas not included, since there were no significant relationships on thebivariate level. Table 2 shows the result of the experiential learning class on eachdependent variable, competency, professional activity and personalactivity, simultaneously controlling for differences inexperimental/control group, race, age, year of graduation, andconcentration. Experiential learning was significantly associated withall three dependent variables--competency, professional activity, andpersonal activity--while controlling for other variables in the model.African Americans and administration and planning students were alsomore likely to perform policy-related activities in their professionalroles, while older graduates and administration and planning studentswere more likely to perform policy-related activities in their personallives. Table 2. Summary of Simultaneous Regression Analysis In statistics, a mathematical method of modeling the relationships among three or more variables. It is used to predict the value of one variable given the values of the others. For example, a model might estimate sales based on age and gender. for VariablesPredicting Dependent VariablesVariable B SE B [Beta] TCompetency(1) (n=55) Concentration 3.36 2.34 .17 1.43 Year graduated 2.44 1.61 .18 1.51 Age .15 .08 .22 1.81 Gender .73 2.26 .04 .33 Race -4.50 -2.52 -2.10 -1.78 Experiential learning 3.75 1.68 .28 2.23(*)Professional Activity(2) (n=66) Concentration 6.37 2.90 .26 2.19(*) Year graduated -1.45 1.92 .09 .76 Age .19 .10 .20 1.81 Gender .42 2.67 .01 .16 Race -6.96 3.02 .25 -2.30(*) Experiential learning 4.79 1.98 .28 2.41Personal Activity(3) (n=66) Concentration 6.68 2.76 .28 2.41(*) Year graduated -1.75 1.83 -.11 .96 Age .26 .10 .29 2.61(*) Gender .93 2.55 .04 .37 Race -3.55 2.88 -.14 -1.23 Experiential learning 4.20 1.88 .26 2.23(*) (*) p<.05 (1) Adjusted [R.sup.2]=.24, overall model F=3.88, p<.01. (2) Adjusted [R.sup.2]=.26, overall model F=3.64, p<.01. (3) Adjusted [R.sup.3]=.19, overall model F=3.55, p<.01. Discussion and Implications The ability to carry out policy-related tasks is an important partof social work practice, and as educators we must find the mostefficient and effective way to teach skills of advocacy and policychange to our students. It is important to know if experientially basedmethods actually translate into increased skills and proficiencies inour students after graduation, because these methods are very laborintensive Labor IntensiveA process or industry that requires large amounts of human effort to produce goods.Notes:A good example is the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants, etc), they are considered to be very people-oriented.See also: Capital Intensive, Trading Dollars for students and instructors. All of the students in the study valued policy-related activitiessimilarly. Likewise, students were similar in their self-reportedcompetency levels related to "understanding" or"interpreting" policy, pointing to the positive, albeitpassive, attributes of the traditional curriculum focus. When it came tothe specific action-oriented competencies, such as "organize,""implement change," or "create information," theresponses varied by group. Because in experiential learning these taskswere first taught and then put into practice within the classroomenvironment, students felt more competent to do them. The research alsoprovides evidence that perceptions of competence in policy-relatedskills translate into action for the group of students who hadpolicy-related activities required in the classroom. The fact that the community-based experience was significantly morelikely to result in policy-related activity, even after controlling forolder students and those whose concentration was administration andplanning, is an important finding. Given the absence of policy-relatedactivities by direct practice social workers in the past(Figueira-McDonough, 1993), the results point to a possible integrationof teaching direct practice and policy practice by using experientialmethods. This comes at a time when smaller, community-basedorganizations are likely to require the social worker to perform bothdirect and community practice activities in the workplace (Johnson,1998). Two findings in the study require further investigation. Olderstudents were more likely to be active on a personal level, whileAfrican Americans were more likely to be active on a professional level.Further research is needed to investigate these issues and determine ifthis was an artifact A distortion in an image or sound caused by a limitation or malfunction in the hardware or software. Artifacts may or may not be easily detectable. Under intense inspection, one might find artifacts all the time, but a few pixels out of balance or a few milliseconds of abnormal sound of the sample, or if in fact replication would findsimilar results. Another issue for future research is the lack ofpre-tests. Although the results are made more sound with a comparisongroup, and some extraneous influences were controlled through multipleregression analysis, the lack of pre-test information is clearly alimitation. The addition of baseline data are needed to further controlthe experiences and competencies that students have upon entering theprogram. While all the policy courses and related curricula appear toinstill in��stillv.To pour in drop by drop.instil��lation n. positive values regarding the need to be active in policypractice, actual work in the community clearly makes a difference in howmuch policy-related activity students perform after graduation. 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Journal of Social Work Education, 27, 241-250. Accepted 8/99. Address correspondence to: Cynthia J. Rocha, University ofTennessee, College of Social Work, 219 Henson Hall, Knoxville, TN37996-3333; e-mail: crocha@utk.edu. CYNTHIA J. ROCHA is assistant professor, College of Social Work,University of Tennessee. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Council onSocial Work Education's 44th Annual Program Meeting, March 1998,Orlando, Florida The city of Orlando is a major city in central Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 185,951. A 2006 U.S. . This study was funded by a grant from the Universityof Tennessee, Learning Research Center.