August - Experiential Gero Learning

Volume 3, Number 1 - August 2007

In This Issue: Experiential Gerontological Learning

As we begin a new year of Aging Times, this issue focuses on some experiential activities and resources to make gerontological social work and its benefits "come alive" for students.

Gerontology as Pedagogy
Nancy R. Hooyman, University of Washington, Seattle
Experiential learning opportunities are central to changing students’ negative attitudes toward older adults. This article presents ways to bring such experiences into your classroom.

Resources

Aging Times is proud to introduce its newest feature - student articles:
Exploring Gerontological Social Work: A Student Perspective
Kathryn MacLean, MSW Student, St. Louis University
"My classmates thought I was having a financial crisis. Why else would a person choose to work with older adults?"

Faculty/Student Opportunities

Gero-Ed Track Events at the 2007 CSWE APM
Don’t miss special Gero-Ed Track events at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting. Register by September 14 for a special Early Bird discount.

$25 Off - Still Time to Save with eLearning Summer Discount
Act now to save $25 off the regular price of our eLearning course! Use the following coupon code at checkout: AGINGTIMES – Discount continues until August 31.

New Gero-Ed Center Curricular Opportunities Coming Soon
The Gero-Ed Center highlights several of its new initiatives. There will be special informational sessions at APM.

Awards Announced for MAC Project Gero Innovations Grant
14 MSW programs were awarded funding for gero innovations.

Gerontology as Pedagogy
By Nancy R. Hooyman

Recruiting students to gerontology field placements, specialized aging courses, and careers in aging is a challenge for most social work programs. Opportunities for personal interaction with older adults are generally found to be both an effective recruitment strategy and teaching tool. One of the Project Directors in the Geriatric Enrichment Project (GeroRich) developed the term Gerontology as Pedagogy, in recognition that experiential learning opportunities are central to changing students’ negative attitudes toward older adults and their subsequent placement and career choices. This concept also articulates the importance of attending to the how of teaching, not just what we teach.

Personal interaction with elders is typically found to be more compelling to students than written documents citing demographics or workforce needs. Experiential opportunities typically include interviewing older adults, oral history projects, service learning, voluntarism, field placements, and joint learning activities for both elders and undergraduates. Effective joint learning activities – or respectful partnerships - encompass lobbying on legislation affecting older adults, intergenerational projects, inviting elders into the classroom as speakers or students, and involving retired social workers in acting out and discussing case studies or participating in classroom simulations and tapings. For students who have had limited opportunities to interact with elders, sensory kits (insert link) can enhance their empathy but should also allow time to debrief the sensory experience and differentiate normal vs. disease-related changes.

Some programs that participated in GeroRich or the Curriculum Development Institute program implemented the expectation that all students interact with at least one older adult before graduation. While this may seem a modest proposal, its implementation could have profound effects. The field of social work will be more inclusive of all groups when opportunities to interact with elders are viewed as normative in the same way as with children and families.

Dr. Nancy R. Hooyman is the co-Principal Investigator of the CSWE Gero-Ed Center and the Hooyman Gerontology Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Exploring Gerontological Social Work: A Student Perspective
By Kathryn MacLean

My classmates thought I was having a financial crisis. Why else would a person choose to work with older adults? I had only worked with youth in the past but I wanted to explore a career path where I could make a difference not just in someone's life, but also in their day.

I began my journey working with older adults at an assisted living facility run by the Catholic Church in Saint Louis, but I wasn't sure what to expect. My first thought was: How fast can I complete my hours and move on to someplace less depressing? I held on to these thoughts for the first few days. Then, something amazing took place. One of the residents' daughters brought her dog to the assisted living facility. I had never seen such a dramatic response. How rewarding, to make someone's entire day, if not week, with one furry guest. My previous ideas about aging were slowly fading into new ones.

I had two additional practicum placements -- the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging (SLAAA) where I organized the local chapter of the Silver Haired Legislature and the St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association where I recognized my macro-level interest and talents.

In addition to working with the Silver Haired Legislature, a group of active, articulate older adults who taught me about the political process, SLAAA was an especially interesting agency to work at during the summer, because St. Louis suffered a storm-related blackout. For a significant part of my practicum experience, I helped triage phone calls and got to be a part of an evacuation of residents to local cooling sites. It was a crash course in collaboration.

At the Alzheimer's Association, I worked on several community projects and initiatives including the Faith Leaders Conference. My other tasks included law enforcement outreach and education, as well as fundraising events. In a burst of good fortune, my practicum at the Alzheimer's Association led to a temporary employment position with the association's Memory Walk.

By the end of these placements, my view of older adults and their needs had dramatically changed. I learned new ways of thinking about aging and the venues in which services are provided and realized that working with older adults can be a dynamic experience. As the aging population increases, so will the opportunity to work with the aging in new ways. My thanks go to the Hartford Foundation for recognizing a need for gerontologically-competent social workers and offering support to bring people into the field.

Kathryn MacLean is an MSW student and Graduate Admissions Assistant at St. Louis University School of Social Work. As part of her Hartford Practicum Partnership Project rotational field work, she spent 10 weeks at each of the three sites discussed in this article. She will graduate in August 2007.

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from the new book, Days in the Lives of Gerontological Social Workers, edited by Linda May Grobman and Dara Bergel Bourassa, and is reprinted with permission from the publisher.

MacLean, K. C. (2007). A graduate student’s experience in the Hartford Practicum Partnership Program. In L. M. Grobman & D. B. Bourassa (Eds.), Days in the lives of gerontological social workers: 44 professionals tell stories from "real-life" social work practice with older adults (pp. 253-256). Harrisburg, PA: White Hat Communications.

Visit the book's Web site.

Gero-Ed Track Events at the 2007 CSWE APM

With the new Gero-Ed Track, gerontological sessions are now formalized in the APM and open to all participants. The new Track structure ensures that aging content will be ongoing at future APMs. Over 75 paper, poster, workshop and roundtable presentations on research and curricular gerontological issues. Popular events from past gero sessions include a Film Festival, the Kick-Off, and a joint event with AGE-SW.

The second annual Gero-Ed Film Festival will feature films on aging issues appropriate for the classroom. The schedule of films will be listed in the APM Final Program.

Another Track event not to be missed is the Gero-Ed Track Kick-Off on Sunday morning, October 28. This year’s featured keynote speaker is Marc Freedman, a leader in the field of civic engagement and older adults. Mr. Freedman will have his latest book Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life available for purchase and signing after the event.

The fourth annual Gero-Ed Center/AGE-SW joint event will continue the discussion on civic engagement with a hot topic panel on Sunday evening, October 28. Panelists include Drs. Nancy Morrow-Howell, Washington University, and Carmen Morano, Hunter College. The AGE-SW meeting, announcement of the Anita Rosen Student Poster Award, and reception will follow the panel discussion.

Register today for the CSWE Annual Program Meeting (APM) to participate in Gero-Ed Track events and sessions. Early Bird registration ends September 14; there’s still time to take advantage of this discount and save on registration. We also encourage you to reserve your room at the conference hotel, the Hilton San Francisco, before it sells out. For more information on the CSWE Annual Program Meeting, please visit www.cswe.org/apm.

Informational sessions on the Gero-Ed Center’s new programs will also be held at APM. Read the article on new programs in this issue for more information.

$25 Off – Still Time to Save with eLearning Summer Discount

Purchase A Planned Change Model: Preparing Gerontologically-Competent Graduates today and save $25 off the regular price. Our special eLearning summer discount ends August 31.

This user-friendly course gives you the tools to infuse gerontology throughout your curriculum. As one social work faculty member commented, the resources are "helpful and focused," allowing users "to customize this work immediately"– and to develop competency-based courses individualized for your program.

There’s still time to take advantage of this great opportunity! Simply purchase this course and enter the following coupon code at checkout:

Coupon Code: AGINGTIMES (case-sensitive; expires 8/31/07)
Price with code:
CSWE Members: $50 (regularly $75)
Non-CSWE Members: $70 (regularly $95)

New Gero-Ed Center Curricular Opportunities Coming Soon

With its recent five-year renewal grant from the Hartford Foundation, the CSWE Gero-Ed Center will be launching several new initiatives, which we highlight here. Several of these programs will have informational sessions at APM, and we encourage you to join us in San Francisco for more details on how you can become involved.

Curriculum Development Institute Program (Cycle 2 CDI)
The Cycle 2 Curriculum Development Institute Program (CDI) will start in 2008 with a new blended learning format (a combination of face-to-face training and eLearning). The CDI Program is an opportunity for approximately 55 funded BSW, MSW or joint BSW/MSW programs to work together in infusing aging throughout their curriculum. An informational session will be held at APM, and the RFP will be released early this fall.

BSW Experiential Learning Opportunities Program
Approximately 20 BSW programs will be funded to develop innovative experiential student learning experiences to recruit students into gerontological social work early in their academic careers. An informational session will be held at APM, and the RFP will be released early in 2008.

Expanded eLearning Courses
Four more eLearning courses will be offered to expand on our eLearning initiative that began with our first course A Planned Change Model. Course topics will include: implementing specialized aging content; one of the three specialty areas of the MAC Project (mental health, substance use, or health); strategies to prepare culturally and gerontologically-competent social workers; and cross-generational approaches in child welfare courses.

Specialized Gero Content Program
Our curriculum infusion approach in foundation courses has been so successful that many faculty have asked how to expand into specialized gerontology courses. With the new Specialized Program, beginning in 2009, approximately 35 BSW and MSW programs will receive funding and curricular resources to develop specialized gerontological content. More information will be available in late 2008.

We invite you to attend the informational sessions at APM in San Francisco on the Cycle 2 CDI Program and the new BSW Experiential Learning Opportunities Program (see tote bag insert for times and rooms). As always, continue to check www.Gero-EdCenter.org for more information on all Gero-Ed Center programs.

Awards Announced for MAC Project Gero Innovations Grant

We are pleased to announce the 14 recipients of the Masters Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project’s Gero Innovations Grant. The RFP generated 50 highly competitive proposals which points to a growing interest in increasing the gerontological competencies of all MSW students regardless of their intent to specialize in aging. Each of the selected programs will develop, implement, and evaluate different methods to infuse gerontological competencies into classes and related field opportunities for one or more of the three specialty areas - mental health, substance use and health

Programs were funded based on 1) the quality of the innovation in addressing the specialty areas and aging; 2) how well the innovation reaches students specializing in areas other than aging; 3) the utility of the deliverables to other social work programs nationally; and 4) commitment to the innovation and its infusion as evidenced by faculty leadership in the specialty area of health, mental health or substance abuse, the administrative support and the budget match. Each proposal was reviewed by two reviewers.

We encourage all programs to continue with infusion of gerontology into other substantive areas and to watch the Gero-Ed Web site for resources developed by these funded programs. More information on the MAC Project is available www.Gero-EdCenter.org/mac.

The Grant awardees are as follows (Institution, Project Director):