Comparing Skill Development Between

Online and F2F Students

Dina J. Wilke, PhD, MSWErin A. King, MSW, LCSW

Margaret Ashmore, MSW, LCSWB. Craig Stanley, PhD, MSW, LCSW

Purpose• Lots of evidence of no differences

between asynchronous online and F2F outcomes like satisfaction, grades, etc. o True for single classes and overall programs

• Few studies examine skill development• Interested in assessing if clinical

intervention skills can be taught in an asynchronous format

Course Design

• Utilized the advanced MSW practice course from the clinical concentrationo Theory & Practice of Crisis Intervention

• All sections taught by the same instructoro Online = Blackboard platform, asynchronouso F2F = Bb assisted, met 1x/week for 2h 45m

• Same course objectives, readings, and major assignments

Sample & Measures

• Three semesters of both F2F (n=74) and online (n=74) classeso Instructor taught F2F and online

simultaneously in a given semester

• Discrete cohortso Student were either all online or all F2F

Measures• Assessment/treatment plan

o Written on a fictional client case (video)o Graded by the course instructor (unblinded)

• Digitally recorded role-playo Capstone assignmento Graded by a doctoral student (blinded)

• Quality points o E.g., A = 4.0, A- = 3.75, etc.

Assessment/Treatment Plan

• Observed video of an initial interview with a fictional client

• Developed written assessment and recommended intervention plan

• Evaluation:o Insight into the client situationo Application of the course contento Identification of evidence-based strategies

Digital Role-Play• Students selected 1 of 4 scenarios provided

by instructoro Identified their own role-play partnero 30 minute expectation

• Evaluation:o Ability to establish rapporto Rapidly establishing a relationshipo Assessing for lethalityo Conducting a crisis assessmento General interviewing skills

Blinded Reviews• Assignments uploaded to Bb with IDs• Program assistant downloaded videos and

burned to a CDo Associated name with student ID in a

separate datafile

• CDs were provided to a doctoral student grader who was blinded to course delivery mechanismo Same grader for all 6 classes

Additional Info

• Demographics were retrieved from University databaseo Age, gender, race

• t-test and chi-square tests were usedo Post-hoc test used one-way ANCOVA

Sample CharacteristicsItem F2F

(n=74)Online(n=78)

p-value

Race (%)WhiteBlackHispanicAll Else

 74.314.96.84.0

 66.720.510.32.5

.559

Gender (%)MaleFemale

 16.283.8

 10.389.7

 .340

 

Age 28.3

(8.68)36.2

(10.5)p<.001

ResultsItem F2F

(n=74)Online(n=78)

p-value

Assessment/Tx Plan

84.2(14.6)

Range 0-100

81.6(9.5)

Range 49-98

t(150)=1.349 p=.180

Role-Play91.6(5.7)

Range 70-100

91.0(5.7)

Range 77-99.5

t(150)=.651 p=.516

Quality Points3.83(.50)

3.34(.45)

t(149.59)=4.84 p<.001

ANCOVA – Assmt/Tx PlanSource SS df MS F p-value

Course Delivery Type

354.73 1 354.73 2.36 .13

Age 88.18 1 88.18 .59 .45

Error 22394.62 149 150.30    

Total 1066566 152      

ANCOVA – Role-Play

Source SS df MS F p-value

Course Delivery Type

53.90 1 53.90 1.69 .20

Age 106.73 1 106.73 3.33 .07

Error 4770.40 149 32.02    

Total 1272262.75 152      

Strengths

• Significant effort to control for instructor effects

• Skills-based assignment reviewed by an experienced, blinded grader who was not part of the instructional teamo Same grader each semestero Reduced bias associated with expectancies

around student performance

• Fairly large sample size

Limitations

• Generalizability?o Students may have been typical but was the

instructor?

• Role-play was an artificial environmento May have been recorded multiple timeso Could have strengthened findings by including

field data

Discussion• Appears that clinical skills can be

acquired in an asynchronous learning environment

• Future Research?o Is the opportunity to self-assess key rather

than instructor observation and feedback in class?

o Can similar conclusions be drawn about foundation skill development?

• All students in this study have had a foundation field placement

Forthcoming

Wilke, D.J., King, E. A., Ashmore, M., & Stanley, B. C., (in press) Teaching clinical skills online: Comparing skill development between online and F2F students using a blinded review. Journal of Social Work Education.