Elective Course
This course will expose, explore and examine disparities in health and health care. These two interests are related, but not the same. Resolution of disparities in health insurance and access to adequate and culturally appropriate health care, while vitally important and necessary, cannot resolve the disparity in health. New models are needed and the foundations for them will be explored.
Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
Discussion Board: The entire collection of discussions in the main course room.
Discussion Forum: The individual forum (venue) for each question.
Discussion Question: The actual question within the discussion forum. Each week there are discussion questions within the main classroom discussion board area. The discussion question requires an initial response by the end of Saturday, midnight, ET. However, feel free to post your work earlier in the learning week if you choose. The goal is for everyone to be actively engaged in this conversation and participate over at least three different days during the class-week totaling at least 3 replies or comments in addition to the initial response. This is a minimum requirement and does not mean maximum points will be earned.
Initial responses are those that you post as a direct response to a discussion forum and must include at least 400 words and two integrated/cited sources; one from the text and one from a scholarly journal article. The use of APA style citations is required (6th Edition APA Manual). Note, there are different types of discussion questions each week – these questions are scholarly discussion question(s) where you will focus on demonstrating excellent writing skills, critical thinking, and reflection and integration of course materials. The initial responses are due on Saturdays (on Friday in Week 8).
Remember (Regular Discussion Question)!
Responses are posts that demonstrate that you are responding to another student. These are generally what you think of as “participation” posts. You are expected to actively participate in the forums each week. To actively participate in the forums means to respond to anyone on at least 3 different days per week. You can respond to one student on three different days or 20 students on three different days! You can respond to students in one forum only, or spread out your responses among any forums assigned for the week! However, what is important is that you are actively present in the forums responding to other students on three different days. Your initial posting does not count towards responses to others.
Responses to others must add substantively to the discussion by building upon classmates’ ideas or posing critical questions to further the discussion. For example, a posting of “I agree with what people are saying” is not sufficient. What is considered sufficient is initiating further discussion; promoting further thought; providing critical or integrative dialogue; providing effective support or encouragement; challenging by showing supporting literature or other documentation, and/or self-reflecting regarding the topic.
The weekly points available for the discussion board include participation. Your instructor will review the weekly contributions in the discussion forums by taking note of each of the criteria listed in the “Discussion Forum Rubric” accessible in the course.
For this infographic assignment, build an infographic based on the information learned over the first 4 weeks of the course. An infographic is a visualization of the most important messages you feel the population/client population needs to know about social determinants and the role that these disparities play within the social work profession and the role of a social worker. This can include information on the different health disparities evident in the United States, the different impacts on the population, different roles a social worker plays, ethical guidelines, why the NASW, WHO and continued research is important, etc. This infographic can then be used as an educational tool.
You are welcome to choose one of the tools in the course to build your infographic. These tools are user-friendly and have plenty of user guides to get you started.
Have some fun with this assignment – the focus here is not on your graphic design abilities, but on a different approach to understanding the social determinants of health faced by your target audience. This will assignment will be worth 280 points of your overall grade.
Submission details: Add a discussion post with your infographic (or a link to your infographic as a PDF) in the appropriate discussion forum to share with the class. Submit to this assignment link to the instructor for grading.
For this assignment, you are to identify and describe how social determinants are understood from a social work perspective. You will identify and present a social determinant issue and reflect on how this is similar or different to the text and ideas explored in the course. You will similarly identify the various variables of the social determinant and how those factors impact the client population. You will explain how you as social workers might mitigate the negative effects of your clients’ SDH(s) and the degree to which SDH(s) may limit your success in working with clients (i.e., explore the strengths and limitations of social determinants, social worker roles, ethical guidelines and the significance of or need for continued research).
This paper will be written in APA, thinking critically as a group, in third person, 12pt Times New Roman font and be 10 pages (10 pages of content – exclusive of the title and reference pages), integrating theory learned throughout the program. This assignment will be worth 400 points of your overall grade. Please review the grading rubric in the course for evaluation criteria found in the course.
The group will submit one paper and each person will likely receive the same grade unless the other classmate(s) did not perform or equally contribute. Grading for this paper will be affected by the effort that was put forth in this assignment and individual contributions. The grading is at the discretion of the instructor. The instructor will assign students to groups.
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:
Assignment | Point Value | % of Grade |
---|---|---|
Discussion Questions (Includes weekly participation) | 330 pts (30 pts each discussion X 11 discussion forums) | 33% |
Infographic Assignment | 270 pts | 27% |
SDH and Social Care Assignment | 400 pts | 40% |
Total | 1,000 | 100% |
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 |
All assignments are to be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on the dates listed below. Unless otherwise specified, all module discussions and assignments are due the last day of the module or unit week.
Initial discussion posts are due by 11:59 pm ET Saturday unless specified otherwise and comments due throughout the class week. The goal is for everyone to be actively engaged in conversation and participate over at least three different days during the class-week.
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
ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673
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.
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/
Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements
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.
Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the full attendance 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.
The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.
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.
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:
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.