Social Work Curriculum

The social workers of the future will need to be highly skilled generalists who understand the social climate and the situations people find themselves in. Our Upside-Down Curriculum allows you to start taking your Social Work classes in your first semester, so you have more time to practice the work involved.

By the spring semester of your first year, you’ll be engaging with various members of the community through work with services such as family service agencies, after-school activities, the YMCA, justice programs, and the public library.

Learning Outcomes for Social Work

First Year
Fall Semester
- SWK 100 Social Work, Introduction to
- SWK 210 Community Health & Harm Reduction
- MTH XXX Math Elective
- COR 101 Navigating Higher Education
- COR 102 First Year Inquiry: Reading, Writing, &
Spring Semester
- EHS 100 Making Connections
- SWK 140 Empowerment in Action
- XXX Program Elective
- XXX General Elective
- COR 103 Navigating Your Information Landscape
- COR 104 First Year Inquiry: Making, Doing, &
Second Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Third Year
Fall Semester
- SWK 305 Social Justice: Oppression and Empowerment
- SWK 310 Practice Skills 1
- XXX Program Elective
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- SWK 470 Global Social Action
- XXX General Elective
- XXX General Elective
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- SWK 315 Working With Groups & Organizations
- SWK 490 Social Wk Field Experience I Social Work Field Experience II
- SWK 490S Integrated Social Wk Field Seminar I
- XXX Program Elective
- XXX General Elective
Spring Semester
- CCC 410SWK Social Work Capstone
- SWK 495 Social Work Field Experience II
- SWK 495S Integrated Social Wk Field Seminar II
- XXX Program Elective
- XXX Program Elective
- XXX General Elective

This is a foundations course that introduces students to the values and ethics of the profession, the various types of work and settings within which social workers are employed, and the different populations served by social workers. Students will begin to explore client-worker ethical dilemmas and how to solve them. They will learn what distinguishes social work from other helping professions and what credentials are necessary to perform direct social work practice. They will be introduced to the basic principles and codes of the profession, including their impact on the professional relationships that social workers develop.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Engage with the fundamental concepts and principles of community health and harm reduction. This course explores pressing community health challenges and innovative approaches to reducing harm, spanning environmental health, pandemic response, maternal health, and substance use. Students will engage with the nuanced causes and impacts of substance use and co-occurring circumstances, taking a person-centered approach. Students will be exposed to effective, evidence-based strategies, like motivational interviewing and health screening tools, to address health challenges on individual and community levels.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a foundational understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to begin to make connections among the various elements of the Champlain College student-experiences and competencies. Students will take part in a real-world community awareness or service experience as a class and then examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, and psychology.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

This course introduces students to the structure and operation of community organizations. Students will have hands-on practice in service learning settings. Through service learning opportunities grounded in an anti-racist framework, students will engage with the service delivery process and develop action plans informed by community organizational practices and theories surrounding systemic oppression and empowerment.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

A study of the physiological, cognitive, social and emotional development of individuals from infancy through old age. Important milestones during the years of infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and aging are explored. (Spring only)

Prerequisites	Must have completed 26 credits prior to taking this course.
Credits	3

This course provides students with knowledge and training in the concepts and methods used in conducting research about people and communities so they can identify and plan products/interventions/services that enhance the human condition. Students will obtain a foundation in empirically grounded practice, building skills that will enable them to be effective consumers and producers of social research. The course will cover problem formulation, inclusive design, sampling, quantitative, qualitative evaluation measures, data collection, ethical issues and applications to practice.

Prerequisites	Take 24 credits.
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

This course focuses on understanding human behavior from an ecological perspective and covers the physiological, cognitive, social and emotional development of individuals from infancy through old age. Concepts such as social systems theory, human development theory, and human ecology will be introduced. Key concepts covered will include self-perception, family dynamics, moral growth, peer interactions, emotional challenges, and cultural influences applied to varied life experiences and stages. Students will gain practical insights into human development for effective practice in diverse contexts.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Explore the intersection of economic, racial, and social justice in this course by engaging with the systemic structures perpetuating inequality in America. Analyze historical and contemporary issues to gain a critical understanding of the interconnected roots and impacts of economic, racial, environment, and social injustices. Gain foundational knowledge to promote and advance justice in practice settings.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

In this course students will develop social policy expertise relevant to their disciplines and activate learning through development of effective advocacy strategies and leadership skills. Students will engage directly with communities and policymakers, mapping policy matrices and communicating insights to effect change. The course will support students' activation of knowledge into action for lasting social impact.

Prerequisites	Must complete 45 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students explore the origins and dynamics of discrimination and prejudice against certain racial, ethnic, age, and sexual orientation groups in American society and how power, influence, economic status and social policy contribute to and reinforce oppression against such groups. Such information will form the basis for understanding one's own values, attitudes and beliefs about others. The course will also explore our changing population and celebrate the contributions and uniqueness that diversity brings to American social order.

Prerequisites	Complete 45 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

This course covers fundamental principles and values of social work practice. Using constructs from ecological and systems theories, and the strengths, resiliency, and empowerment perspectives, students will learn the process of engagement, assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, and relationship closure. Students will practice and role play active listening, building and strengthening rapport, ethical relationship building, assessing needs and strengths, exploring feelings, identifying and setting goals and expectations, and establishing boundaries applied in a diverse range of contexts.

Prerequisites	Complete 48 credits.
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

With a focus on international awareness, students will optimize their field experience abroad by developing an understanding of the respective cultural, community, economic, social, and political forces that impact on their interactions with professionals, clients, and community members in the local environment. In addition to incorporating the core concepts of social work practice, students will use the international arena to integrate into their field experience the values and ethics of the profession as it is practiced in their host society, the relevant social issues and policies of the region, and the cultural forces of the surrounding community.

Prerequisites	Take SWK-300
Credits	3

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

This skills-based course covers the dynamics of working with groups, organizations, and communities. Students will explore theories, models, and methods to develop effective engagement, evaluation, assessment, and intervention tools for larger client systems. Students will develop essential skills for facilitating group processes, managing group dynamics, and promoting positive change within organizations and communities.

Prerequisites	Take 48 credits.
Credits	3

Students integrate classroom theory with practical experience at local social service agencies, under the supervision of approved field instructors and a College liaison. This advanced field placement helps students apply ethical assessment, planning and intervention, and case management skills with a variety of populations. They also incorporate the roles and values of professional social work practice in their daily interactions with clients, agency personnel, and community members.

Prerequisites	Complete SWK-300, SWK-310 and SWK-315. Must also enroll in?SWK-490S. Social Work majors only. Take SWK-490S
Credits	4

This course occurs concurrently with the first senior practicum and provides a forum for students to explore professional development and practice issues that arise within the auspices of the sponsoring agency, its staff and the clients served. Students develop skills based on the knowledge, values and ethics of the profession; practice peer supervision; monitor and evaluate their own and others' practice skills; integrate classroom and field learning; and develop professional identities and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Prerequisites	Take SWK-490
Credits	1

The Social Work college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue individualized self-directed learning activities that occur concurrent to their field practicum experience intentionally integrating their interdisciplinary learning in the Core curriculum. Students will focus on professional ethics and generalist practice skills using self-reflection and self-evaluation components.

Prerequisites	Complete COR-310, COR-320?Complete 6 credits of COR-330 Complete SWK-495
Credits	3

Students continue to integrate classroom theory with practical experience at local social service agencies, under the supervision of approved field instructors and a College liaison. This advanced field placement helps students apply ethical assessment, planning and intervention, and case management skills with a variety of populations. They also incorporate the roles and values of professional social work practice in their daily interactions with clients, agency personnel, and community members.

Prerequisites	Complete SWK-490 and SWK-490S with a minimum grade of B.?Must also enroll in SWK-495S. Social Work majors only. Take SWK-495S
Credits	4

This course occurs concurrently with the second senior practicum and provides a continuing forum for students to explore professional development and practice issues that arise within the auspices of the sponsoring agency, its staff and the clients served. Students continue to develop skills based on the knowledge, values, and ethics of the profession; practice peer supervision; monitor and evaluate their own and others' practice skills; integrate classroom and field learning, and develop professional identities and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320 and two sections of COR-330.? Must enroll in SWK-495 concurrently. Take SWK-495 Take SWK-490 and SWK-490S. SWK-495
Credits	1

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Curriculum for Social Work Major

Social Work Curriculum

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