Track B1 - Readiness for Direct Practice’: Using Video as a Tool to Assess Social Work Students

Helen Hingley-Jones, Middlesex University, School of Health and Education

Angus Macdonald, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)

This session explored the ways in which video could be used as an assessment tool in evaluating the skills of social work students. We began by watching a video in which Helen Hingley-Jones described the context within which the project fits. Social work education has been under scrutiny and reform in recent years, leading to the development of the Professional Capabilities Framework.

This represents nine different domains of practice for social workers, at all stages of their career, from pre-training through to continuing professional development in advanced roles. Students undergoing training are required to reach a basic level of competence in these domains in a short, intensive period of time.

The need to evaluate students’ communication skills and demonstrate basic social work knowledge led to the development of a video interview process as part of the assessment of their readiness for direct practice. Students interact with actors based on a particular scenario and are assessed on different criteria using a rating scale. The criteria include building a rapport with the actor, evidencing good listening skills and acknowledging any potential risks raised during the interview.

Angus then talked to us about the use of video in e-learning, mentioning that Kay (2012) identifies the main areas in which it is often used, including lecture capture, supplementary materials, and worked examples - crucially, video for assessment was not identified. Angus argues that video can be used effectively for student presentations or recorded submissions, digital storytelling, and providing feedback. With regard to the video interview process, Cartney (2006) says that “Recording and playing back interviews with students has the potential to generate powerful learning experiences”, and suggests that video feedback is the most effective method for improving oral communication skills. The method was compared to the OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations) which have been used since the 1970s and involve a similar kind of interview process; it is argued that the addition of recorded video makes this even more effective.

The interview day itself was described as very intense for both students and staff, and it was difficult to manage the sheer numbers of students. Emphasis was placed on the importance of supporting and communicating with students both inside and outside the room, and making sure that video equipment was setup correctly to ensure the process went as smoothly as possible, with as little distraction for the students as possible. That said, some students found being in front of a camera perturbing and it was suggested that students be given more opportunities to practice in this kind of environment before the event. Ultimately the session was a success and only four students failed on the day and three of these passed at re-sit.

In the tutors’ opinion the exercise was challenging but a realistic form of preparation for social work practice and there was evidence of students’ deep learning. They concluded that video is a meaningful and highly effective tool for teaching and assessment of practice skills.

Report by Paul Smith, Senior Educational Technologist, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement (CAPE)