Using tablet PCs in social work practice education

Within social work practice courses, video recording has been used to record and evaluate the clinical practice skills of students. This process has been limited by labor-intensive, tape-based video equipment, non-digital means of organizing and assessing specific scenes and events within the video, and paper evaluation forms. As an interdisciplinary project, professors from professional disciplines (education, social work, and counseling) worked with information technology students from computer science to design and develop Table PC-based One-Note EVAs (Extended Video Application) that would provide a more effective way of evaluating clinical practice skills for professional program students. This case study presents how one interdisciplinary team was able to create an EVA for use with digital recordings of clinical practice skills so that these demonstrations could be recorded, organized, and evaluated more effectively. The issues of working through communication differences, design difficulties, and the additional steps toward implementation are explored. The lessons learned from working as an interdisciplinary team and the impact of Tablet PCs in social work practice courses is also presented.