Activity 1.1 - Creating a course description

Creating a course description

Creating a course description

by Alexander Ndibalema -
Number of replies: 3

OSP 101: Introduction to Social Work

Course Description
This is the foundation course in social work. It is intended to provide students with a basic understanding of the meaning of social work practice from different perspectives. It exposes students to the historical background and context of social work in Europe, America and Tanzania in particular. It also provides an analysis of the helping process in social work. Different aspects of social work will be introduced to the student, including social work values & ethics, social justice and human rights, as well as social work professionals working with different social settings.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Know the history and development of social work in Europe, America and Tanzania;
  • Know the concept of social justice and its impacts to social work;
  • Understand and introduction Social work practice with the individuals, families, groups, organizations and community;
  • Differentiate between social work profession with other professions/disciplines;
  • Understand the roles and functions of social work;
  • Examine the knowledge, skills, values, and ethics and its implications to social work;
  • *Differentiate personal self from professional self for improving professionalism
  • *Conduct research based on professional ethical standards for enhancing professionalism
  • *Demonstrate professional communication skills across intervention strategies
  • *Affirm gender, ethnic, tribal and regional, disability, age, migration and religious diversity for effective practice
  • *Engage all population groups by using work values and ethics to implement services
  • *Apply technology to facilitate evidence-based-practice

The target Audience
The course is intended for all students pursuing social work and sociology undergraduate degrees and postgraduate diploma programmes at the Open University of Tanzania. It is also recommendable for students from other Universities and Institutes providing programmes of the same.

Duration of the Course
The course is expected to be covered in two years (2) as maximum learning duration time

Creative Commons License
OSP 101: Introduction to Social Work by Alexander Ndibalema is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

In reply to Alexander Ndibalema

Re: Creating a course description

by Deleted user -

The course description are clear to me. I doubt the duration of 2years to be covered for just a course. I think two years could be the duration of the whole programme, for example a certificate course, or a diploma course.

In reply to Deleted user

Re: Creating a course description

by Alexander Ndibalema -

I agree with you Josta in one aspect but regarding the course duration I beg to differ and stick to two years for the course not a programme. This is because for the students learning on a distant mode need more time to acquire knowledge and skills as opposed to those in conventional institutions. This is why at Open University of Tanzania the duration time for the total completion of the degree program starts from 3 years minimum to 6 years maximum.

In reply to Alexander Ndibalema

Re: Creating a course description

by Regina Monyemangene -

Dear Alex this is an excellent point.  ODL learners need to be afforded more flexibility in terms of time in order for them to learn at their own pace.

Thank you for sharing your course description. I see that you have covered all the key areas. It is recommended that when you target ODL learners then you should use a language that addresses them personally in order to try and close up the distance or gap that exists between the facilitator and the students.