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Syllabus

Master of Social Work

SSWO 602 – Empowering Cultural Education

Credits - 3

Description

This course includes some intense content, and students should expect to engage in difficult conversations.

This course focuses on preparing social workers for practice with people from diverse backgrounds: refugees, immigrants, and historically oppressed groups such as Native and African Americans. Students will learn about the experiences of immigration, assimilation, forced enslavement, and historical trauma in partnership with members of these diverse communities who will provide instruction and first-hand knowledge.

Additionally, this course will examine the adaptive capabilities and resiliency of marginalized groups and how such capabilities and strengths can be used in effective social work practice. Students will explore personal values, beliefs, behaviors, micro-aggressions, and biases that limit their ability to practice effectively and investigate the influence of dominant culture on diverse and marginalized groups.

Materials

Textbook: Potocky, M., & Naseh, M. (2019). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. Columbia University Press.

Fadiman, A. (1998) The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. Noonday Press.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

School of Social Work Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:

  1. Demonstrates ethical and professional behavior.
  2. Advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.
  3. Engage in anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in practice.
  4. Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice.
  5. Engage in policy practice.
  6. Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  7. Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  8. Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  9. Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  1. Practice self-reflection, and self-assessment, and utilize consultation to deepen their understanding of their personal social, cultural, and spiritual identities and biases and how they relate to clients of similar and different social locations. (EPAS 2 & 3- 2022 standards)
  2. Identify how cultural perspectives and practices influence practice frameworks and behaviors. (EPAS 4- 2022 standards)
  3. Identify how cultural perspectives and practices relate to human rights in a global context. (EPAS 3- 2022 standards)
  4. Recognize dilemmas arising from potential conflicts between social work professional ethics and particular cultural values, beliefs, and practices. (EPAS 1 & 2- 2022 standards)
  5. Recognize how policies and laws impact migrants, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and historically oppressed people and the systems that serve them.  (EPAS 3- 2022 standards)
  6. Recognize advocacy skills that enhance social justice for migrants, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and historically oppressed people. (EPAS 2- 2022 standards)

Assignments

Discussions

Discussions are an important part of the learning process in this course. In typical weeks, students are expected to post an initial response to the weekly discussion questions by Saturday, adhering to the requirements outlined in the prompt and Discussion Rubric. Most discussion activities also require you to respond to a minimum of 2 classmates in meaningful and substantive ways.

Final Assignment: Cultural Leader Interview

For this assignment, you will identify a leader in your community who works with and represents one of the communities discussed in this course, i.e. migrant (refugee), Indigenous, Black, AANHPI. This leader should be someone who serves in a formal or informal leadership capacity.

If you are unsure if an individual meets the criteria or have concerns about identifying the person, please reach out to the instructor. Ultimately you want to interview someone who is well connected to the community, who can answer your questions, and provide you with first-hand insight that would not otherwise be gleaned from the readings or videos, and who can be a resource to you and your others in your social work career.

Complete assignment prompt can be found in the course in Brightspace.

Grading Policy

The School of Social Work uses the following grading system for all courses with the exception of field education courses. Students are expected to maintain a “B” (3.0) average over the course of their study. Students with less than a GPA of 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. Students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 in order to receive their Master’s Degree.

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

AssignmentsPoint ValuePercentage of the Final Grade
Acknowledgement of Academic Engagement1 point1%
Weekly Discussions 8 points each64%
Week 4 Assignment: Community needs assessment15 points15%
Week 7 Assignment: Cultural Leader Interview20 points20%
Total100 points100%

Grade Scale

Grade Points Grade Point Average (GPA)
A 94 – 100% 4.00
A- 90 – 93% 3.75
B+ 87 – 89% 3.50
B 84 – 86% 3.00
B- 80 – 83% 2.75
C+ 77 – 79% 2.50
C 74 – 76% 2.00
C- 70 – 73% 1.75
D 64 – 69% 1.00
F 00 – 63% 0.00

Schedule

Course Weeks

Week 1: Mar 1 – Mar 7
Week 2: Mar 8 – Mar 14
Week 3: Mar 15 – Mar 21
Week 4: Mar 22 – Mar 28
Week 5: Mar 29 – Apr 4
Week 6: Apr 5 – Apr 11
Week 7: Apr 12 – Apr 18
Week 8: Apr 19 – Apr 23

Unless otherwise specified, all assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on the last day of the module or unit week, as listed.

Discussions: Initial posts are due by 11:59 PM ET on Saturday, except in Week 8 – the initial post is due by 11:59 PM ET on Friday; responses are due by the end of the course week in every week.

ALL TIMES ARE IN THE EASTERN STANDARD TIME ZONE. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Week 1: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • NASW Code of Ethics (2021). National Association of Social Workers
  • NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. National Association of Social Workers
  • National CLAS Standards. (n.d.). US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Think Cultural Health.
  • Singleton, G. E. (2021). Courageous Conversations About Race: A field guide for achieving equity in schools and beyond. Corwin Press.
    • Chapters 2 and 4 (there are QR codes in the chapters. Check them out! Great short videos from Dr. Singleton).

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 1 Discussion: Introductions
  • Week 1 Discussion

Week 2: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Required Readings/Viewings:

    • Textbook: Potocky, M., & Naseh, M. (2019). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. Columbia University Press.

      • Part 2 Chapter 5

    • Video: In All Fairness explaining ACES and Health for Native People. Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership.

    • Article: Murray, T.M. (2015) Trust in African American Americans’ Healthcare Experience. Nursing Forum 50 (4), 285-292.

    • Article: Taylor, R. E., & Kuo, B. C. H. (2019). Black American psychological help-seeking intention: An integrated literature review with recommendations for clinical practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 29(4), 325–337.

       

  • Recommended:

    • Stress & Trauma Toolkit for Treating African Americans in a Changing Political and Social Environment

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 2 Discussion

Week 3: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Required Readings/Viewings:
    • Textbook: Potocky, M., & Naseh, M. (2019). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. Columbia University Press.
      • Chapters 1, 2, and 3
    • Website: MIPEX. Migrant Integration Policy Index. Measuring policies to integrate migrants across six continents.
    • Video: I Come From Away (2022, 57 minutes). Maine Public.

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 3 Discussion

Week 4: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Required Readings/Viewings:

     

    • Textbook: Potocky, M., & Naseh, M. (2019). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. Columbia University Press.

      • Part 2 Chapter 6 & 7

    • Article: Donnelly, T., Hwang, J., Este, D., Ewashen, C., Adair, C., & Clinton, M. (2011). If I Was Going to Kill Myself, I Wouldn’t Be Calling You. I am Asking for Help: Challenges Influencing Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Mental Health. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 32(5), 279-290.

    • Website: Longley, R. (2021). The Bracero Program: When the U.S. looked to Mexico for labor. ThoughtCo.

    • Video: Clinica de Migrantes (2016, 39 minutes)

      • Summary: ‘Clínica de Migrantes’ goes beyond the politicized rhetoric to show the faces of real people in the middle of the immigration debate, asking if America can continue withholding basic necessities from an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. Underserved, undocumented immigrants with medical issues often end up in emergency rooms as a costly last resort and can be charged thousands of dollars for little more than an aspirin. Puentes de Salud and similar health clinics across the country are trying to address this issue and provide care for these men, women, and children.

    • Website: Puentes de Salud The clinic featured in the documentary Clinica de Migrantes. You can check out the website to find out more about their services and progress.

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 4 Discussion
  • Week 4 Assignment: Community needs assessment

Week 5: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Op Ed: Perez, A and Phillips, R. (2022). Opinion: Promoting health equity by preserving Maine’s health care safety net. Beacon.
  • Website: Health Centers History:
  • Health Centers Then & Now. The George Washington University.
  • About Health Centers. National Association of Community Health Centers.

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 6 Discussion

Week 6: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Textbook: Potocky, M., & Naseh, M. (2019). Best practices for social work with refugees and immigrants. Columbia University Press.
    • Part 2 Chapters 8, 9, & 11
  • Website: Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS) (for discussion reference)
  • Website: LGBTIQ+ persons. The UN Refugee Agency. (for discussion reference)

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 6 Discussion

Week 7: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Video: Not Your Model Minority (2021, 30 minutes)
  • Website: Health Outcomes. AAPI Data. (for discussion reference)
  • Article: Litam, S. D. A. (2020). “Take Your Kung-Flu Back to Wuhan”: Counseling Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders with Race-Based Trauma Related to COVID-19. Professional Counselor, 10(2), 144–156.

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 7 Discussion
  • Week 7 Assignment: Cultural Leader Interview

Week 8: 

Required Readings and Multimedia

  • Book: The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down (the book should be read by this week) Week 8’s discussion will be a book club style discussion. You will respond to the questions provided to you in the discussion post. Please make sure to stay on top of the reading.

Assignments and Discussions

  • Week 8 Discussion

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Social Work page

UNE Libraries:

Information Technology Services (ITS)

ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Online Peer Support

Togetherall is a 24/7 communication and emotional support platform monitored by trained clinicians. It’s a safe place online to get things off your chest, have conversations, express yourself creatively, and learn how to manage your mental health. If sharing isn’t your thing, Togetherall has other tools and courses to help you look after yourself with plenty of resources to explore. Whether you’re struggling to cope, feeling low, or just need a place to talk, Togetherall can help you explore your feelings in a safe supportive environment. You can join Togetherall using your UNE email address.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

Students should notify their Student Support Specialist and instructor in the event of a problem relating to a course. This notification should occur promptly and proactively to support timely resolution.

ITS Contact: Toll-Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673.

Career Ready Program

The College of Professional Studies supports its online students and alumni in their career journey!

The Career Ready Program provides tools and resources to help students explore and hone in on their career goals, search for jobs, create and improve professional documents, build professional network, learn interview skills, grow as a professional, and more. Come back often, at any time, as you move through your journey from career readiness as a student to career growth, satisfaction, and success as alumni.

Policies

Essential Academic and Technical Standards

Please review the essential academic and technical standards of the University of New England School Social Work (SSW): https://online.une.edu/social-work/academic-and-technical-standards-une-online-ssw/

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the guide on how to navigate your Similarity Report.

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Confidentiality Statement

Student and faculty participation in this course will be governed by standards in the NASW Code of Ethics relating to confidentiality in sharing information from their placement sites and practice experiences. Students should be aware that personal information they choose to share in class, class assignments or conversations with faculty does not have the status of privileged information.

Late Policy

Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Attendance Policy

8 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Sunday at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

16 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Friday at 11:59 pm ET of the second week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

UNE Online Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
  2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
  3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
  4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
  5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations. Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final. Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.