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SW 460
Social Policy

Overview: This writing-intensive course builds on foundational Dragon Core curricula in its study of the development of social policies, various political and economic views, policy analysis and change methods, policy evaluation, and relationship of social policy to social work practice. 

Prerequisite: ECON 100, POL 120, Para 470, HIST 241, SW 330admission.

Things to do before our first class meeting: Before our fist class meeting, please identify a social problem that you will study in-depth this term. Then, identify an agency that you want to explore that addresses this social problem as this organization will be the basis for your term project. Then, visit your selected agency and get brochures and other reading materials that discuss its mission, goals, objectives, clients, etc. for use in class.

Email:
Email is consuming increasingly more of our professional time. Unfortunately, while this communication modality seems quick and easy, I believe it is also highly impersonal and does not allow me to get to know you as my SW460 student. Further, it does not allow me to fully respond to your questions and ensure that you understand my responses. Moreover, responding to your question(s) in a single email message addressed only to you may be an inefficient use of time since your question(s) may also be on the minds of others. So, to maximize the utility of our communication outside of class, and allow me to work with each of you more closely, please adhere to the following things concerning all correspondence with me regarding SW460:

Please:
-Join the class listserv (see below) to participate in important class discussions;
-Avoid phone calls,but visit during office hours (see web page) to see me.

Please do not:
-Email me when you will be missing class;
-Email me asking what you missed in the event of your absence;
-Email me to ask class -related questions, rather, drop by my office in person
.


Academic Honesty and Student Conduct
Attendance
Curricular Context
Description
Goal
Grading Policy
Late Assignments
Library Literature Search Link 1
Library Literature Search Link 2
Listserv
Logistics
Policy Roundtable
Principal Reading Materials
Professional Expectations
Resources
Requirements 
Teaching Methods
Writing Intensive Orientation


Academic Honesty and Student Conduct:
Each student will be held to MSUM's high standards regarding academic honesty and student conduct. Therefore, each student is expected to review MSUM's policy on each: Academic Honesty. and Student Conduct. Violations of these standards will be addressed according to procedures outlined by MSUM. Each student will also be held to our profession's behavioral standards as outlined in the NASW Code of Ethics and the School of Social Work's Student Handbook. Please carefully review these professionals standards and note their role in your formative evaluation while in our program.
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Attendance:
To perform well in SW460, attendance is crucial. Because you are becoming human service professionals, however, attendance is expected but will also not tracked. Please note, though, that ample experience shows that students who do not attend class also do not perform as well on class assignments. To be sure, professionals who routinely miss appointments do not remain employed!
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Professional Expectation:

Just as licensed professionals must meet various professional expectations in their practice settings, Social Work 460 places professional expectations on both the instructor and students.
 
INSTRUCTOR: The instructor pledges to come to class prepared to study with students the materials for each week. The instructor also pledges to provide materials that are professional in quality (i.e., content and appearance). And the professor pledges to conduct himself professionally at all times.
 
STUDENTS: Students must ready themselves for competent and critical discourse of assigned materials prior to each class meeting.* Students must submit professional quality work (i.e., content and appearance) at all times. Submitted work that is less than professional quality will not be graded and cannot be rewritten. As this is a university setting, students must not hold independent and/or personal conversations during class sessions as these are very disruptive to class processes. Students must respect those who hold the floor at any given time in order to ensure a safe learning environment that promotes interaction. No cell phones are permitted in class. Finally, the instructor will expel from class any student chronically violating the above policies. 

(See also student professional conduct expectations outlined in the Social Work Department Student Handbook), as well as the Formative Evaluation Process used in the School of Social Work.)

(*Students must read all materials listed for a given week read prior to that week in anticipation of critical, in-depth discussions of that material, and other classwork. Critical thinking is defined in Social Work 460 as the careful examination of beliefs and actions that ideally leads to creative opinions or conclusions that form the basis for professional action. Critical thinking skills are developed via the deliberate, judicious, and methodical evaluation -- both verbally ( class discussions ) and in writing ( research report & examination ) -- of our class material's logic, assumptions, stated conclusions, and practice relevance. To assist students in meeting these expectations, Social Work 460 enables students to develop their critical thinking skills and writing ability since both are germane to social work research and professional social work practice in formal institutional and community-based settings.)

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Curricular Context:

Generalist social work practice is the critical application of an eclectic knowledge base, professional values, and a wide range of culturally competent skills to a planned change process at any system level. Social Work 460 enables generalist social work majors to understand the relationship between policy and professional generalist social work practice. This course teaches the role of the generalist baccalaureate practitioner in the development, implementation, and monitoring of local, regional, and federal social welfare policies and programs (i.e., policy practice ). SW460 is taken with the practice sequence (SW420, SW430, SW440, SW450), as the last class of the policy sequence (i.e., Hist 241; PARA 370; Pol Sci 120; Econ 100), and before field (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470).
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Description:

Professional generalist social work practice is performed in the context of social welfare policy; therefore, policy practice is increasingly required of the generalist practitioner. Effective generalist practitioners must be able to historically, structurally, and critically analyze social policies and their effects on individuals' / society's biological, psychological, social, spiritual growth, health, and well-being. Competent generalist practitioners must also be able to influence policy's development, implementation, and post-implementation evaluation. Thus, as a required foundation course, Social Work 460 builds on the liberal arts perspective by helping students integrate social science (e.g., economics, history, political, sociological, psychological) and social work knowledge in order to understand the culture, mission, theoretical and values basis for, and philosophy of social welfare policy. Social Work 460 also explores policy's impact on contemporary professional social work, its effect on various beneficiaries, and its growing global context. Further, this course will enable students to analyze local, regional, national, and global issues regarding social welfare institutions and their constituent programs and agencies; and help students understand how to begin to influence policy development and implementation. Analytic frameworks are used to critically analyze social problems (e.g., their genesis, definition, nature, and scope), societal responses (e.g., policy formulation, implementation, programmatic areas, and service delivery structures), and salient political processes and forces. Social work values and ethics, human diversity, populations-at-risk, the systems / ecological perspectives, and issues of social and economic justice are all continuously examined in the context of social welfare policy and how policy can help or hinder people in their quest for growth and well-being.
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Goal:

The goal in Social Work 460 is to enable students to use knowledge gained in prior coursework (i.e., social work history, economics, political science, and social work) to critically analyze the role of contemporary social welfare policy , and then ultimately influence its development, implementation, evaluation, and revision.
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Curricular Context:

Generalist social work practice is the critical application of an eclectic knowledge base, professional values, and a wide range of culturally competent skills to a planned change process at any system level. Social Work 460 enables generalist social work majors to understand the relationship between policy and professional generalist social work practice. This course teaches the role of the generalist baccalaureate practitioner in the development, implementation, and monitoring of local, regional, and federal social welfare policies and programs (i.e., policy practice ). SW460 is taken with the practice sequence (SW420, SW430, SW440, SW450), as the last class of the policy sequence (i.e., Hist 241; PARA 370; Pol Sci 120; Econ 100), and before field (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470).
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Description:

Professional generalist social work practice is performed in the context of social welfare policy; therefore, policy practice is increasingly required of the generalist practitioner. Effective generalist practitioners must be able to historically, structurally, and critically analyze social policies and their effects on individuals' / society's biological, psychological, social, spiritual growth, health, and well-being. Competent generalist practitioners must also be able to influence policy's development, implementation, and post-implementation evaluation. Thus, as a required foundation course, Social Work 460 builds on the liberal arts perspective by helping students integrate social science (e.g., economics, history, political, sociological, psychological) and social work knowledge in order to understand the culture, mission, theoretical and values basis for, and philosophy of social welfare policy. Social Work 460 also explores policy's impact on contemporary professional social work, its effect on various beneficiaries, and its growing global context. Further, this course will enable students to analyze local, regional, national, and global issues regarding social welfare institutions and their constituent programs and agencies; and help students understand how to begin to influence policy development and implementation. Analytic frameworks are used to critically analyze social problems (e.g., their genesis, definition, nature, and scope), societal responses (e.g., policy formulation, implementation, programmatic areas, and service delivery structures), and salient political processes and forces. Social work values and ethics, human diversity, populations-at-risk, the systems / ecological perspectives, and issues of social and economic justice are all continuously examined in the context of social welfare policy and how policy can help or hinder people in their quest for growth and well-being.
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Goal:

The goal in Social Work 460 is to enable students to use knowledge gained in prior coursework (i.e., social work history, economics, political science, and social work) to critically analyze the role of contemporary social welfare policy , and then ultimately influence its development, implementation, evaluation, and revision.
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Writing Intensive Orientation:
Social work professionals must write clearly, precisely, succinctly, and technically. Thus, SW460 is a required writing-intensive course that uses "writing-to-learn" processes to help you become a professional writer, a competent consumer and purveyor of social policy research, and a competent policy practitioner. SW460 informally and formally integrates technical human service writing with course content to advance your knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from Dragon Core curricula and other social work courses and prerequisites, and develop your understanding of social problems, social policy, and policy practice. Throughout the semester you will complete short, unscheduled, and ungraded writing assignments to advance learning and professional self-expression. You will also complete 5 separate series of WI worksheets that sequentially integrate unit-specific class materials. From these, you will complete 5 separate writing assignments (Total: 23 pages) where each is uniquely organized, drafted, revised, peer edited, re-revised, then graded.  You must use and provide peer consultation via a dyadic "editing buddy" system. Each assignment requires that you locate, read, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and appropriately and ethically integrate into your written products diverse primary and secondary professional human service literatures using the APA formatting system (25 references). These 5 individual assignments must be logical, engaging, grammatically and mechanically sound, and professional in appearance. As the 6th writing assignment (Total: 22 pages), you will integrate learning from the above work into a comprehensive policy analysis paper grounded in an actual human service agency. This final analysis is summative as it unifies the prior 5 independent projects into a meaningful term policy analysis. This assignment requires additional writing, editing, reorganization, etc., and is the basis for an organizational analysis you will independently complete during practicum (SW469) and senior seminar (SW470). In every instance you must consult frequently with this instructor during the semester. NOTE: All writing will be processed in this class in various ways. For example, students will share their work with their individual colleagues, in small cooperative learning groups, and with the entire class at various times this semester for learning purposes.
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Logistics:

Course ID:  1366
Meetings:
Tuesday Evening: 3:00-5:30
Room:
Lommen 78

Faculty:
S. D. Ginther, M.S.W., Ph.D .
Department Web Page
Office Hours

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Requirements:

To accomplish the course goal, formal class requirements are:

• In-Class Writing Assignments;
• Worksheets;

• Student Editing Assignments; and
Term Paper.
Your final semester grade will be your percentage of the above summed scores.
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Late Assignments:

As a pre-professional university student in a CSWE-accredited social work program, it is imperative to be on time when submitting work. For example, imagine being negligent in providing court reports, administrative documents, case notes, progress reports, grant applications, etc. Indeed, each of these documents will have strict submission deadlines, and employees who do not meet these deadlines will not remain employed. Moreover, not meeting deadlines on behalf of clients who depend on us has serious ethical implications! Therefore, as part of your professional training the following pertain:

•  A late assignment is one that is provided after it is officially due and collected;
•  No l
ate assignment will be accepted for review or credit -no exceptions; and
•  No FAXED or mailed assignments will be accepted for any reason!

In case of university closure due to weather, the due date will become the next official business day. To avoid penalty under this policy, please Print out completed assignments well before the due date!! This will allow you time to attend to emergencies
!
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Grading Policy:
The following grading scheme will be used for all students seeking academic credit:

A = 90 - 100
B = 80 - 89
C = 70 - 79
D = 60 - 69
F = 00 - 59

REMEMBER: Poorly written and unprofessional work will not be graded!
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Listserv:
A Listserv called "sw460" is available. Students may join this list to talk with class members and the instructor about class materials and class-related questions! To subscribe, send Email to "majordomo@mnstate.edu"; the "subject" line must be blank; and the message should read "SUBSCRIBE sw460". To unsubscribe, do this in reverse (i.e., "unsubscribe SW460")! To send your message to the Listserv, just transmit an email note to "SW400" with some "subject" noted, and message content suitable for public consumption. Remember, all your colleagues can read its content as well as all responses.
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Principal Reading Materials:

•  APA. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
•  Avner, M. (2002). The lobbying and Advocacy handbook. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Council of Non-Profits. (Reserve)
•  Caputo, R. (1991). Welfare & freedom American style: The role of the federal government, 1900-1940. Lanham, MD: Univ. Press of America. (Reserve)
•  Day, P. J. (2000). A new history of social welfare (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. (Reserve)
•  Jansson, B. (2003). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice. Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Learning. (Reserve)
•  Karger, J., & Stoesz, D. (2002). American Social Welfare Policy: A pluralist Approach (4 th Ed.). New York, NY: Longman. (Purchase)
•  Minnesota legislature (2005-2006). Members Directory: 84th Session. (House & Senate) (Reserve)
•  NASW Code of Ethics . ( Available on the NASW Web Page )
•  NASW (1995). Encyclopedia of social work & supplement (19th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW. (library, department, or on the NASW Web Page)
•  NASW (2003). Social work dictionary (5th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW. (Available in the library, in the department, or on the NASW Web Page)
•  NASW (2003-2006). Social work speaks: NASW policy statements (6th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW. (Reserve)
•  Norlin, J. M., & Chess, W. A. (1997). Human behavior and the social environment (3rd rd.). Moston, MA: Allyn & bacon. (Reserve)
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Teaching Methods:

Social Work 460 will utilize lectures, readings, cooperative learning group work, videos, music, class/group discussions, experiential exercises, speakers, classroom assessment methods, and a policy research paper with worksheets to achieve the course goals and objectives listed above. Social Work 460 then uses the policy/program research paper to measure student learner outcom
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