Peer Review

Issue Brief Guide for Social Work Course

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Apr 16, 2019 by Sociology

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is an assignment worksheet wiki for a social work course in social welfare policy. It includes the instructions, a template and a grading rubric. As the student looks through the example briefs, the student would get a good idea as to how to connect with resources that would yield information and community organizations that could inform a brief. So, by using this webpage, the students will teach themselves how to go about constructing such a meaningful brief. This page is particularly suited for students in New York, Washington D.C., and New Jersey where current briefs are being used in government and nongovernment organizations.

For instructors and students, there are clear assignments for each step of writing the briefs and grading rubrics.

Type of Material:

Assignment, explanatory materials and grading rubrics to help guide the students in completion of the assignment.

Recommended Uses:

Social work classes primarily - homework or as the basis for class discussion.

Technical Requirements:

Will have to download assignment instructions, rubric, template, etc.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The student will use the materials to develop skills in the development of a policy brief:

-The policy brief’s first section is the goal of the brief.

-The problem section discusses the history of the problem of concern and how it came to be defined as a social problem; the present status of the problem as evidences by reference to published literature; the nature of the populations affected or disproportionately affected by the problem; and the work of organizations currently researching or advocating related to the problem.

-The past policy section, there are subsections on the origins of social policies addressing the problem and on the evolution of these policies over time.

-The current policy section, discusses current law, regulations, rules, funding sources or organizational policies related to the problem. Next the extant social services and social welfare benefits are each given attention. The pros and cons of current policies, including how well they involve prevention of the problem are analyzed.

-The proposed policy section, students are to outline a pending policy proposal (legislation; best practices; regulations) which the brief supports or oppose including specifying the proposed policy; explaining who is proposing it and why; outlining who supports and opposes it and why, and ending with discussion of the pros and cons of the proposed policy, including how well it involves prevention.

Target Student Population:

College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

In order to understand the importance of both social welfare and the use of briefs, the student should have at least the Introduction of Social Work course completed.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

There are clear instructions on how to construct a brief.

There is ample explanation as to how the above construction makes a clear case for support of the brief.

Many resources for specific causes are supplied on the internet.

Many examples of briefs are supplied in various social service issues.

Student needs to use analytical thought process to come to conclusions about the subject material to write the proposed brief.

Concerns:

Somewhat confusing and difficult to follow what should be done.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Teaching and learning goals are clearly specified on the homepage.

Many examples.

Clear rubrics to guide student on assignment expectations.

The steps to writing clearly guide the student to learn how to construct and assess the existing data leading to critical thought process on the part of the student.

Can be used by individuals, teams and in a virtual environment.

Open site that encourages sharing of ideas. Nice set of examples.

Concerns:

It is possible to insert some immediate feedback to the student built into the webpage and to connect to the instructor or monitor with comments or questions.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The Wiki is a familiar format for use.

There is clear explanation of the resource and assignment expectations on the home page.

On the right column there are key links to:

-Information sources

-Research guidelines

Example briefs- extensive selection

-Contact information for the author

-There are also clear instructions on how to use the Wiki

Concerns:

Would require a lot of work to bring this into the classroom.

It is a bit difficult to go from one section back to the homepage as well as between sections. This may cause the student to have to go back to the original URL to get to the homepage. Links back to that page would be helpful.

At the present, many of the links to the pages for the examples are not operable. Either the links are boken or these pages have not yet been developed.

Other Issues and Comments:

There may be an issue of how permission needs to be obtained to be able to add to or alter this resource.

Due to above, there may be some changes in content which are not properly authorized

It looks like this was last updated over a year ago- raises the question of whether it is still monitored.

Creative Commons: