Course Descriptions
SWK 101 Introduction to the Profession of Social Work
Social work is a profession in which trained professionals are devoted to helping marginalized and minoritized populations and communities work through challenges they face in everyday life. Social workers practice in a wide variety of settings, united in their commitment to advocating for and improving the lives of individuals, families, groups and societies. This course introduces students to the profession of social work by underscoring the versatility of the profession and how it advances social, economic, and environmental justice. There are often misconceptions of what social work is or what social workers do, and this course will help address the wide range of services and activities that social workers engage in within communities and the broader society.
SWK 102 Ethics, Values, and Experiential Learning in Social Service Settings
This course is designed to prepare students for entering social service settings. Experiential learning is at the core of several professional degrees and complementary fields of study. Understanding the ethics and values associated with working within social service settings, while enriching and exciting, is often challenging and requires advanced preparation. For example, social workers address society’s most pressing social issues such as domestic violence/ community violence, health disparities, family separation/immigration, poverty, etc., which requires being mentally, emotionally, and psychologically prepared. This course will provide students with some insights into working withs social service settings, some of the tasks/responsibilities that they most likely will encounter and support students with strategies to be successful.
SWK 410 Anti- Oppressive Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families
This course is the first in a two-part sequence that introduces students to a generalist practice foundation in working with individuals and families within an anti-oppressive social work framework and human rights approach. Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP) is one of the central social justice-oriented approaches in social work. It recognizes the structural origins of oppression and promotes social transformation by utilizing critical theories including feminist, Marxist, postmodernist, Indigenous, poststructuralist, anti-colonial, and anti-racist theories, while working with minoritized individuals and families. Students will learn and apply the five critical practice principles (Healy, 2014): (1) critical self-reflection on self-in practice; (2) critical assessment of service users’ experiences of oppression; (3) empowering service users; (4) working in partnership; and (5) minimal intervention. Lastly, this course provides students with exposure to beginning-level social work skills for developing professional relationships, engaging system, and assessing problems as they relate to the positionality of the client and the client’s environment.
SWK 411 Social Work Practicum I
This course is the first in a two-part sequence that is taken concurrently with SWK 410 and accompanies students in their placement/field experience. This course begins the student’s journey to becoming an anti- racist professional social worker by developing competencies using reflection and feedback. The course combines guided discussion, personal reflection, and peer feedback as a means for students to integrate social work theory, practice, social welfare policy, human behavior in the social environment, and research in real world experiences. The course uses ethics as a framework for developing practice behavior skills that are grounded in anti- oppressive social work practice. Students in this course are expected to apply the five principles of anti-oppressive social work practice in their placement, linking social work theories and values.
SWK 412 Community Based Participatory Research through a Social Work Perspective
This research course builds on previous foundational knowledge in basic research skills as it expands into community based participatory methods and practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) embraces a collaborative partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives, social workers, other practitioners, and researchers in the research process. This course provides students with the skills to enhance their program evaluation abilities and their abilities to use community data to enhance decision-making in program development and community outreach and practice. The special emphasis on community-based participatory research provides a framework consistent with social work values and ethics and the importance in assisting communities in defining their needs.
SWK 413 Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HBSE I): Decolonizing Critical Life Span Development
This generalist course is the first of two courses that review multidisciplinary theories about human behavior and human development that influence social work. Through the course students will build an understanding of behavior as an interaction between a person and the social environment. A life span development framework will be coupled with a critical theory lens to examine the interrelationship of biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences on human behavior and social environments. Traditional theories of lifespan development such as psychosexual theory, psychosocial theory, social cognitive theory, humanistic theories, sociocultural theories, Piaget's’ theory of cognitive development, and classic and operant conditioning will be examined along with a critical perspective challenging the complex experiences of individuals, families and communities. This course will be divided into three main units: (1) introduces a social work approach to understanding human behavior, including systems and ecological theories and a person-in-environment perspective (2) introduces students to a critical theory lens and to social systems that impact and are impacted by human behavior; (3) explores lifespan development highlighting theories and subtopics that introduce students to the complexity of human behavior across the lifespan. Such content aims to introduce students to a decolonizing approach to human behavior and the social environment and prepares them for the second course in the HBSE sequence where they will apply theories/concepts of intersectionality, racism, diversity, oppression, and change.
SWK 414 Introduction to Social Work, Social Justice and Advocacy
This is an introductory course into the complex history of the profession of social work, principles of social justice and advocacy. Students will be introduced to the NASW code of ethics as a guiding principle of how social workers maintain professional identity. The birth of social work in the progressive era through the Charity Organization Society (COS) and the Settlement house Movement (SHM) will be examined as the professions’ roots in the attempts of society at large to deal with the problem of poverty, inequality and supporting immigrants. This course will problematize the traditional narrative of the profession and include how social work reinforced the status quo and failed opportunities to support certain immigrant populations, Indigenous peoples and other minoritized communities. For the second part of this course, advocacy as a core function of the profession will be discussed and further contextualized through the discussion of both historic and current examples of community action practice in Chicago and nationally. The course emphasizes political and economic conditions and events that shape, constrain, and enable community action and social change.
SWK 415 National and Global Perspectives of Social Welfare Policy in a Globalized Society: A Human Rights Perspective
This course explores public policy in a national and a global context using a human rights framework that can be applied to identify and understand some of the influences of globalization on public policy needs and choices. The social work profession shares a close relationship with human rights, because it adheres to values such as respect, dignity, and self-determination - values that are strongly embedded in the code of ethics for all practitioners. Centering the universal declaration of human rights, students will be introduced to social welfare policy in the U.S. and globally to provide a comparative look at social issues and how they are addressed nationally and globally. Specifically, this course addresses how social and public policies affect transnational families and other families of diverse structures, socio-economic statuses, political ideologies and racial and ethnic backgrounds, and their impact on global social problems such as enduring and absolute poverty, food insecurity, human rights violations against vulnerable populations, civil conflict and legacies of colonialism. In a globalized society, it is imperative that U.S. based social workers stay abreast of international social issues, and the historical and contemporary legacies of colonialism on public and social policy nationally and globally.
SWK 420 Anti- Oppressive Social Work Practice with Groups and Communities
This is the second course in the practice sequence that focuses on anti-oppressive social work practice. Building on the foundational knowledge and skills learned in SWK 410, social work practice with groups and communities describes the history of group and community work, and concepts and theories of group and community processes. Special attention will be given to human rights, social and economic justice, diversity, multicultural and global issues related to social work practice with minoritized groups and communities.
SWK 441 Social Work Practicum II
This course is the second in a two-part sequence that is taken concurrently with SWK 420 and accompanies students in their placement/field experience. This course continues the student’s journey to becoming an anti- racist professional social worker by developing competencies using reflection and feedback. The course combines guided discussion, personal reflection, and peer feedback as a means for students to integrate social work theory, practice, social welfare policy, human behavior in the social environment, and research in real world experiences. The course uses ethics as a framework for developing practice behavior skills that are grounded in anti- oppressive social work practice. Students in this course are expected to continue to critically apply the five principles of anti-oppressive social work practice in their placement and work towards becoming an ethical, culturally responsive, and innovative social worker by developing competencies using reflection and feedback.
SWK 424 Social Work Professional Development and Social Entrepreneurship for Social Change
Recent studies have identified social entrepreneurship as a critical component of social work education to promote critical thinking and a commitment to social change and innovation. This course prepares students for entering the social work workforce in a globalized society by supporting development in professional identity and broadening a skillset of ethical and sustainable problem solving. This course will also focus on social entrepreneurship- social innovation and social enterprise as an approach to addressing social problems. By identifying and understanding root causes of social problems and applying entrepreneurial practices to social ventures, students will broaden their skills and perspectives in being agents of change. Using the Social Work Code of Ethics as a guide to accompany students in their work in identifying long term, sustainable solutions for minoritized and disenfranchised communities.
SWK 453 Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HBSE II)
Topics on Anti- Racism, Oppression, Power, and Privilege: This generalist course is the second in a series of two and examines issues of diversity, anti- racism, oppression, power and privilege. Social workers are at the forefront of society's most pressing challenges, one that has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, historical and current incidence of racial inequities/injustices, and political campaigns that promote hate rhetoric and dangerous political discourse. This course considers the social, political, environmental and economic context in which we continue to live and work within, accompanying clients through an asset and strength base perspective. Before students engage in a deeper understanding of this work, critical self-reflection and positionality will be addressed as they identify their own areas of power and privilege and understand the intersectionality of those identities. White privilege as a major underlying force in maintaining the status quo and what it means to be an anti-racist social worker leading the charge in social, economic and. environmental justice issues will be evaluated.