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One goal of the Social Work Grand Challenge is to positively influence the applications of technology. Nowhere is the challenge of integrating innovative technology more apparent than in field education settings. However, current technology trends, challenges, as well as interns' use of technology, which is often used in field education settings, particularly after the major shift to virtual platforms due to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, are not well documented. During Fall 2021, the authors sought to evaluate field educators' (1) current use of technology in social service agencies, (2) perceptions and concerns about technology, and (3) plans for training and engaging student interns with technology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen field educators recruited from one social work program. A rigorous thematic analysis approach then was used among six coders to report thematic findings. In this study, we report (1) benefits and limitations of using technology, (2) informal and formal technology training offered to student interns in social service agencies, and (3) recommendations for engaging and training students with technology. Two emerging themes were consistent: (1) generational differences related to technology perspectives of student interns and clients and (2) that the benefits and limitations of technology often are mixed.

This article describes one school of social work's innovative online elective course to prepare Masters of Social Work (MSW) students for practice with the military, veterans and their families. Developed as part of a university-wide Veterans Initiative, this online course keeps the focus on the student veteran and uses the best practices of online education. The authors share their strategies and make recommendations for future trainings.

E-book devices (and devices that support e-books) are increasingly being integrated into the working lives of students and teachers. We discuss our pedagogical and institutional experiences with the Sony Reader in composition courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level, reporting on dynamics and challenges associated with three key literacy tasks: accessing texts, operating texts, and marking texts. We conclude with a heuristic that can help teachers and administrators adopt and design an e-book initiative. (Contains 1 note.)

This descriptive article explores a collaborative model that blends the dual missions of training social work students to work with military personnel, veterans, and their families while serving student veterans on campus. The model consists of 2 main components: (1) a nationally recognized service component for providing academic, health and behavioral health, career, and research and technical assistance services for student veterans as they transition into, through, and out of higher education; and (2) a training component for social work students that includes a campus-based field unit that trains social work students to work with student veterans, a course on helping troops and veterans transition, and a federal grant designed to produce social work graduates for working with veterans.

Academic institutions mediate online literacy practices in meaningful and significant ways. This essay explores the nature of that mediational process, using a visual-spatial method to map out and conceptualize dynamics and structures that have a bearing on the work of composition. A key argument is that composition teachers are intellectually positioned to influence institutional approaches to academic computing. (Contains 3 figures and 2 notes.)

Although computer literacy amounts to a complex set of interconnected capacities, teachers of writing and communication have tended to ignore functional issues, which are crucial to many aspects of online work. This essay reimagines the functional side of computer literacy, arguing for an approach that is both effective and professionally responsible.

The conceptualization and empirical assessment of service quality in juvenile justice remains limited. There are few reports on programmatic attempts to assess satisfaction in juvenile justice programs or attempts to include what constitutes quality of service from multiple customer perspectives. This article describes a potential model, the Gap Model, for measuring quality from the customers' perspective. Empirical findings from a study utilizing the model to examine the nature of service quality as perceived by customers of 6 juvenile justice programs are presented. Implications for adapting the model are also addressed. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Case studies of three kindergarten students with social difficulties illustrate an intervention program emphasizing a sequential peer-entry hierarchy in which children move from low-risk strategies to high-risk strategies and use props to facilitate the production of high-risk verbal statements. Increases were found in use of props and verbal statements, cooperative play, and time spent interacting with peers. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Describes a successful effort to develop services for ex-offenders and their children and families that enhance community integration, build social support networks, and assist community institutions in mobilizing services for this population. Considers program components, the development of the program through a school of social work, and innovative program activities. (JPB)

Examines one online forum conventionally defined as open, the discussion list TECHWR-L, and considers some positionings and restrictions that both validate and invalidate participants' conversational topics. Considers the question of democracy as it relates to electronic conversations. Suggests that a wide range of discursive conditions, not just software and hardware features, delimit the boundaries of appropriate discussion. (RS)