Online and face-to-face role-play simulations in promoting social work students’ argumentative problem-solving

Abstract

This paper reports on a teaching experiment in which social work students (n=38) practiced problem solving through argumentative tasks. A teaching experiment was carried out at a Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences in Finland in connection with a course concerning preventative work against alcohol- and drug abuse. This quasiexperimental study investigated whether role-play simulation conducted either online (15 students) or face-to-face (14 students) improved students’ problem solving on social issues. As a pre-test, the students wrote an essay after having watched a dramatization of problematic cases on elderly people’s use of alcohol. The students also attended lectures (30 x 45 min) on the effect of substance abuse and preventive work, and after the role-play simulation they wrote another essay (post-test). Nine controls wrote an essay without participating in the role-play simulation. Lastly, the students filled out feedback questionnaires.The students in the face-to-face group paid more attention to clients’ close persons’ viewpoints in their second- than in their first essays. In the online group, the students more often justified their behavioral solutions (what to do in the situation) with ethical principles in their second essays than in their first ones. The students in both groups found the role-play simulation to support their team work and communication skills. Role-play simulations as a part of long lasting development processes of argumentative problem solving seem to be beneficial for social work students’ professional development.