Electronic Tools for Social Work Practice and Education

Specific applications of electronic technology--computer games, computer simulations, and interactive videodisc programs--have distinct contributions to make in furthering human service education and practice. With user-friendly software more available, human service professionals can readily use this technology in their work and teaching. Electronic Tools for Social Work Practice and Education brings human service professionals a basic understanding of the field and also of specific individual software programs. The book stimulates thinking about possible uses of electronic technology, inspires designers of electronic programs, and helps decisionmakers allocate funding for such programs more wisely.This is an ideal guide for human service professionals and educators interested in the impact of electronic technology on social work practice and education. Electronic technology resources are often used only for development and research purposes with little or no impact on teaching or service delivery. Electronic Tools for Social Work Practice and Education describes computer games and simulations for use in practice with youth, adults and the elderly, as well as interactive videodisc programs designed and developed by human service faculty for education. Readers will find ideas for new methods to meet the needs of clients more effectively. The book shows readers skeptical of this new field just what these programs can do, and in some case what they have done, to benefit clients and students.The book?s many informative chapters are of interest to: human service professionals, practitioners, and scholars who have experimented with electronic devices for practice and education faculty, practitioners, and students in the human service professions who are computer literate but have used computers strictly for number and word processing human service professionals ready to engage in the continual process of discovering new methods to improve their work electronically oriented individuals outside the human services seeking another exciting application of computersThe book is divided into four sections. Electronic Technology for Human Service Practice explores computer applications for use in working with youth, adults, and the elderly. It informs readers about the kinds of electronic programs scholars and practitioners are designing and producing today. Section two, Electronic Technology for Education in Human Services, describes computer simulations and interactive videodisc programs for human service instruction. Next, Electronic Tools for Education and Training identifies and describes leading edge computer games, computer simulations, and interactive videodisc programs designed by practitioners and scholars as aids for human service education. The last section, Practical Issues, addresses a range of issues that faces designers and users of electronic tools in human services.