Abstract: Submission #141

Abstract This presentation reports on the significance of collaborative, relationship-centered engagement in social work education. It details a project involving South African social work educators, a curriculum specialist, and a postgraduate fellow who worked together to redesign social work courses using authentic, technology-enhanced learning methods. Motivated by a shared commitment to pedagogical innovation, the aim of this project was to develop real-world scenarios, strategies, and guidelines to improve teaching and learning in social work education by using authentic learning principles. The project was grounded in Educational Design Research (EDR) and participatory action research (PAR), emphasizing co-learning and democratic collaboration amongst team members. Aligning with PAR, this presentation reports on thematically analysed reflective accounts from researchers as participants which highlights both the transformative potential and the challenges of PAR in respect of group collaboration, including conflict avoidance and power dynamics. Recommendations centre around consciously harnessing individual academic strengths of the researcher-participants, clearer group communication, creating spaces of trust to enable authentic researcher-participant reflections as well as ethical accountability and consistent contributions towards the project outcomes.