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Online Task Groups and Social Work Education: Lessons Learned
... However, group work educators are utilizing Web 2.0 strategies in other ways. Jacinto and Hong (2011) describe an online task assignment for students working in groups and synchronous and asynchronous distance learning to teach group work is proving equally effective as face-to-face learning in the classroom (Cummings,Foels,Downloaded by [92.222.45.88] (Edwards & Hoefer, 2010). Clearly, technology is a growing part of the arsenal available to social work educators today. ...
Virtual communities of practice are an international phenomenon in social work around the world. However, they are rare in social work in the United States. This article describes an online community, the Social Group Work Commons, designed to complement courses in social group work. Using Web 2.0 Internet tools, such as blogs, discussion boards, and chats, the developers employed group work skills to help students establish a vehicle for mutual support as students struggled to integrate course content in their field placements. Examples from course blogs indicate students became increasingly intimate in their online exchanges over time and readily provided each other support in applying course content in their practice.
Can trust evolve on the Internet between virtual strangers? Recently, Pettit answered this question in the negative. Focusing
on trust in the sense of ‘dynamic, interactive, and trusting’ reliance on other people, he distinguishes between two forms
of trust: primary trust rests on the belief that the other is trustworthy, while the more subtle secondary kind of trust is
premised on the belief that the other cherishes one’s esteem, and will, therefore, reply to an act of trust in kind (‘trust-responsiveness’).
Based on this theory Pettit argues that trust between virtual strangers is impossible: they lack all evidence about one another,
which prevents the imputation of trustworthiness and renders the reliance on trust-responsiveness ridiculous. I argue that
this argument is flawed, both empirically and theoretically. In several virtual communities amazing acts of trust between
pure virtuals have been observed. I propose that these can be explained as follows. On the one hand, social cues, reputation,
reliance on third parties, and participation in (quasi-) institutions allow imputing trustworthiness to varying degrees. On
the other, precisely trust-responsiveness is also relied upon, as a necessary supplement to primary trust. In virtual markets,
esteem as a fair trader is coveted while it contributes to building up one’s reputation. In task groups, a hyperactive style
of action may be adopted which amounts to assuming (not: inferring) trust. Trustors expect that their virtual co-workers will
reply in kind while such an approach is to be considered the most appropriate in cyberspace. In non-task groups, finally,
members often display intimacies while they are confident someone else ‘out there’ will return them. This is facilitated by
the one-to-many, asynchronous mode of communication within mailing lists.
In the last two decades, new communication technologies have dramatically changed the world in which mental health professionals and their patients live. Developments such as e-mail, online chat groups, Web pages, search engines, and electronic databases are directly or indirectly affecting most people's routines and expectations. Other developments are poised to do so in the near future. Already, for example, patients are acquiring both good and bad advice and information on the Web; many expect to be able to reach their therapists by e-mail. And already there is pressure from third party payers for providers to submit claims electronically. These technological breakthroughs have the potential to make mental health care more widely available and accessible, affordable, acceptable to patients, and adaptable to special needs. But many mental health professionals, as well as those who train them, are skeptical about integrating the new capabilities into their services and question the ethical and legal appropriateness of doing so. Those unfamiliar with the technologies tend to be particularly doubtful. How much e-mail contact with patients should I encourage or permit, and for what purposes? Why should I set up a Web site and how do I do so and what should I put on it? Should I refer patients to chat groups or Web-based discussion forums? Could video-conferencing be a helpful tool in some cases and what is involved? How do I avoid trouble if I dare to experiment with innovations? And last but not least, will the results of my experimentation be cost-effective? The book includes: • an extensive overview of legal and regulatory issues, such as those raised by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); • concrete technical, ethical, and managerial suggestions summarized in a seven-step Online Consultation Risk Management model; and • how to" resource lists and sample documents of use to beginners and experienced professionals alike. For better or worse, no mental health professional today can avoid confronting the issues presented by the new technologies. The Mental Health Professional and the New Technologies: A Handbook for Practice Today will enormously simplify the job of thinking through the issues and making clinically, ethically, and legally prudent decisions.
The question of whether men and women communicate differently using computer mediated communication (CMC) was examined in a series of four studies. Although there were some overall differences between men and women, the variable with the strongest relationship to communication style was the gender composition of the groups within which the communi- cation took place. Women using CMC with other women in small task groups developed a significantly different style of communication than did men using CMC with other men. Mixed gender groups fell between the single gender groups and had their own special fea- tures. There is some evidence that gender norms were developed and "gendered" patterns of communication predominated. These findings are explained from the point of view of social presence; that is, the ability to make one's self known under conditions of low media rich- ness. Women in female-only (FO) groups were able to overcome the limitations of the text- only format of CMC; they established an online presence through use of self-disclosure, use of "I" statements and through directly addressing their messages to other group members. On the other hand, men in male-only groups (MO), ignored the socioemotional aspects of group functioning and were more likely to engage in a collective monologue approach to dis- cussion with the addition of mild flaming. Men in MO groups were less satisfied with the CMC experience and showed lower levels of group development. However, a fifth study on identification of communicator gender by message content alone provides a caution con- cerning becoming stereotyped in expectations concerning CMC by men and women. There is variability beyond the averages.
Proportions, that is, relative numbers of socially and culturally different people in a group, are seen as critical in shaping interaction dinamics, and four group types are identified in the basis of varying proportional compositions. "Skewed" groups contain a large preponderance of one type (the numerical "dominants") over another (the rare "tokens"). A framework is developed for conceptualizing the processes that occur between dominants and tokens. Three perceptual phenomena are associated with tokens: visibility (tokens capture a disproportionate awareness share), polarization (differences between tokens and dominants are exaggerated), and assimilation (tokens' attributes are distorted to fit preexisting generalizations about their social type). Visibility generates performance pressures; polarization leads dominants to heighten their group boundaries; and assimilation leads to the tokens' role entrapment. Illustrations are drawn from a field study in a large industrial corporation. Concepts are exten...
The main purpose of this article is to discuss possibilities and concerns associated with building online communication into on-campus and online distance education courses. This article presents guidelines related to teaching strategies and procedures that maximize the integration of online communication in higher education. A sample of feedback regarding students' experiences with online communication is presented. Application to higher education is explored. This article is based on personal experience of the author in using a constructivist model to build online communication into 61 graduate and undergraduate courses since 1995.
In 2002, in the course of a substantial reorganisation of its membership and activities, the Dundee Business School (DBS) at the University of Abertay Dundee (UAD) comprehensively redesigned its provision of undergraduate business education, with the primary aim of refreshing its curriculum in the context of changing requirements posed both by labour markets and within the HE sector. One feature of the programmes that emerged through the review and redesign process to form the Business portfolio (first operated in 2004-05) is the inclusion throughout those programmes of virtual group working. Skills associated with this theme were embedded in modules core to all programmes within the portfolio (a total of four programmes, one of which incorporates eight pathway variants).
This study focuses on group gender composition and the seeming relatedness between gender roles and group process functions described as task and maintenance, as found on the Internet. The sample was drawn from randomly selected set of 27 online discussion groups from both the Internet and from commercial information services (e.g. Compuserv) using the ProjectH dataset. The 2692 valid messages were coded for language content (fact, apology, first person flaming, status, etc.) that has been related to gender role in other research. Each message was also coded regarding the gender of its author. Results held with the conventional impression that men far outnumber women as participants in online discussion groups. However, results were mixed in regard to the relation of language patterns and group gender composition. Gender composition was related to patterns of computer mediated communication in this context. However, there were an unexpectedly high proportion of participants of indeterminate gender in this dataset, it is difficult to test the hypotheses with precision. However, the sample is comprised of “real-life” groups, so what is lost in experimental control is compensated for in generalization to other uncontrolled settings.
Previous studies by the current authors have indicated that group gender composition can be linked to particular communication styles in small task groups involved in computer-mediated communication. Female only groups were more likely to engage in a pattern that emphasized self-disclosure, statements of personal opinion, “I” statements and coalition language. This “High Communication Style”(HCS) was linked to high group satisfaction, and high group development. The present study attempts to train small task groups in the use of HCS. Experimental groups (Female Only, Male Only, and Mixed) were actively trained in computer-mediated communication and the use of the HCS style. The Control Groups of similar composition were actively trained in the use of e-mail etiquette guidelines that focused on using or avoiding specific formats in their messages. Results indicated that the Experimental Groups had significantly higher levels of self-disclosure and of opinion. Male Only groups showed significantly lower participation than did either Mixed or Female Only groups. Female Only groups scored higher in Group Development than either Mixed or Male Only groups. Contrary to previous studies, however, there were no significant relationships between group development or satisfaction and language content variables. The authors call for further research in the area of communication training for on-line task groups.
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PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Arkansas State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr
- George A Jacinto
George A. Jacinto, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at
Saint Leo University. Young Joon Hong, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Social Work at Arkansas State University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Young Joon Hong,
Department of Social Work, Arkansas State University, P.O. Box 2460, State University, AR
72467, yhong@astate.edu.