Making ideas “app”-en: the creation and evolution of a digital mobile resource to teach social work interviewing skills

Abstract

This paper describes the processes involved in the design, delivery, and evolution of a mobile app.' The initial app' was funded by an institutional Teaching Award to update the delivery of Egan interviewing skills to social work students. The article charts the progress of development, beginning with the initial rationale for the app' and its subsequent evolution into a Motivational Interviewing resource for social workers within a designated local authority. Arguing for the increasing importance of digital resources, within social work training and practice, the article draws from theories of digital pedagogy, as well as highlighting the work of some prominent figures within this emerging field. The article is written as a collaboration between the lead author and the app' developers, who have contributed technical detail and emphasized the need for collaboration. Whilst the article touches briefly on the mechanics involved with app creation, its chief aim is to act as a guide to the practical, financial and relational aspects of development-in order that other social work practitioners and educators are inspired to progress their own ideas into innovative digital resources. To facilitate this, the article concludes with a practical list of suggestions for successful digital development

Mutual ‘App’reciation: Co-production as a model for delivering digital capability within social work education

“…Social work education specifically has been particularly slow to adopt digital technologies (Taylor, 2019;Rafferty, 2014). Cartwright (2017), identified a "gap that may exist between teaching staff and the students they work with" (p. 887), whilst the lead author also found it difficult to engage social work faculty with a previous app development (Turner, 2019). In social work specifically, this hesitance can partly be explained by the profession's vigilant attitude to any form of risk.…”

“…Difficulties with definition in a rapidly changing landscape, pose another issue with integrating digital technology into social work education, as what constitutes 'the digital' has consequent implications for the skills and knowledge which social work students need to acquire. The meaning of 'Digital' in social work has been diversely adopted to cover social media use (Westwood, 2019); online safeguarding (Megele, 2018), through to online book groups (Taylor, 2014) and bespoke app development (Turner, 2019;Cooner, 2016) In the national Digital Capabilities for Social work project (SCIE, 2019) 'digital capabilities' are defined as part of the Professional Capabilities Framework and the Social Work England Professional standards of practice for social work (2019). At post qualifying level, 'Digital capabilities' are contained within the Knowledge and Skills Statements for Adults and Children.…”

“…Following the initial focus group, a further two core groups informed the initial appearance and content of the app. The focus group format had been utilised in previous app development by the author, proving highly effective at inviting lived experience from participants (Turner, 2019;Cartwright, 2017). As in the previous app development a core group of students from different levels of social work education attended, with key points recorded and transcribed in order to inform the practicalities of development (Turner et al, 2019).…”

“…The focus group format had been utilised in previous app development by the author, proving highly effective at inviting lived experience from participants (Turner, 2019;Cartwright, 2017). As in the previous app development a core group of students from different levels of social work education attended, with key points recorded and transcribed in order to inform the practicalities of development (Turner et al, 2019). In addition to the focus groups, feedback was also sought from representatives of the service user and carer network at the host institution and from practitioners within the local authorities.…”

“…The completed mobile app is cited as one of eight practice examples within the Digital Capabilities for Social Work initial Stakeholder Report, which also emphasises the values which underpinned this app design and delivery. The article is linked to a previous paper (Turner et al, 2019) which described the creation and evolution of a different digital mobile app within social work education. Together, both papers form part of a rapidly growing body of work within social work education, which attempts to address the issues highlighted within the Digital Capabilities project.…”