ABSTRACT
The social work classroom is in transition. After a slow start, social work education is cautiously engaging with technology and is being ‘digitalised’ in two respects. Firstly the curriculum is being redesigned around new digital knowledge and skills increasingly seen as essential for practice and secondly, innovative digital pedagogies are being used to achieve this. These two aspects support each other as how students learn can reinforce what they learn. The adoption of digital pedagogies in social work education lays a strong foundation for digital social work practice by developing digital literacy and shaping the professional identity of the social worker as one that is technologically competent.
However, there are aspects of the social work curriculum that are difficult to reimagine in fully online or blended learning formats. The asynchronous and remote dimensions of such formats can undermine the relationship base of the profession and its inter and intra-personal nature. While many educators are innovating the social work pedagogy with considerable success, this digital transformation is uneven. It requires institutional change and ongoing professional development for social work educators. This chapter looks at the social work classroom in transition and highlights the potential and pitfalls of the digitalisation of social work education.
