Online Education in Social Work, Effectiveness, Benefits, and Challenges: A Scoping Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Online education has long been a controversial issue within the Australian social work community. Although technological advances have improved the quality of teaching substantially, scepticism and disbelief continue to exist. Despite the growing evidence base as to the effectiveness of online teaching, this tends to be overlooked. A scoping review of the literature was conducted to synthesise research conducted on online social work education to identify its effectiveness, potential, and challenges and to show whether online social work education will effectively prepare qualified social workers. This revealed that online education enhanced diversity and equity among social work students and students’ performances and satisfaction were similar for both online and on-campus students. Nevertheless, communication and engagement continue to be a challenge. IMPLICATIONS Decisions on online education should be based on evidence of effectiveness rather than on the assumption that face-to-face teaching is superior. Further research is needed to explore effectiveness of online education for different groups of students. Employers’ experiences with social work graduates from online courses need further research. Academics require support to tailor courses interactively and suitably for online education.