Abstract: Submission #243

Abstract Globally, social work education incorporates theory, skills and field instruction components in the curriculum. Field instruction involves placing social work students in government and non-government organisations to develop and practice social work skills. Since the COVID-19 pivot to emergency remote online learning, many students were left behind, as platforms traditionally used by educators and students to practice social work skills were no longer accessible. As a result, students’ enthusiasm, engagement and participation were disrupted. Using the authentic learning framework, a third-year community work course part of the Bachelor of Social Work qualification at an urban South African university was redesigned to integrate the principles of authentic learning (e.g. authentic context, authentic assessments and collaboration). The purpose of redesigning the community work course was to foreground students’ participation and to foster understanding of course concepts. A qualitative research method was used; two focus group discussions involving eighteen students were conducted to explore the students’ experiences of the redesigned course. The findings illustrated the students’ appreciation of integrating authentic contexts/communities in the course to explain community work processes (e.g. how to conduct a community profile and needs assessment). In line with the principles of authentic learning, students valued group activities, as they felt that group discussions enhanced their understanding of community work and its processes. However, the students also expressed that the use of technology needs to be leveraged in the course to support teaching and learning. Students felt that the instructions on how the university's learning management system would be used to support or complement the module were vague. The findings have implications for the design and delivery of social work education.