Browsing by Author "McCarthy, Katherine"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Navigating Identity Changes Through the Digital Migration: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Social Work Educators
    (Taylor & Francis, 2024) Glassburn, Susan; Dennis, Sheila; McCarthy, Katherine; School of Social Work
    Online educational delivery is reconstituting educator roles, functions, and expectations, and with that, each educator’s sense of identity as a teacher. This collaborative autoethnography (CAE) explores the experience of three social work educators and the ways in which their identities have shifted as a result of teaching online. CAE provides a qualitative analysis framework which allows for an in-depth exploration of personal meaning-making and the commonalities and differences in the narratives of the authors, while making connections to the literature and the larger context of online education. Four themes emerged in our autoethnographic collaboration as being an integral part of our online educator identities and satisfactions in teaching: (1) the centrality of connection with students, (2) values and beliefs about quality teaching and learning, (3) sense of agency and creativity, and (4) modeling the professional use of self. Synthesizing our findings with the extant literature, we discuss how online teaching shapes educators’ identities, including their sense of self, satisfaction, and motivations. Humanizing educators by acknowledging identity changes in online delivery is an important investment in the sustainability of the academic workforce.
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    Reconceptualizing the Role of Identity in Social Work Education Through Liberation Pedagogy
    (2023-08) Fultz, Andrew James; Gentle-Gennitty, Carolyn; Kyere, Eric; McCarthy, Katherine; Treff, Marjorie
    In response to social developments and the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the social work profession began to develop a formal identity which included a commitment to social justice. Today, that concept of social justice includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in education and practice. Teachers and researchers have rarely assessed the use of teaching pedagogy and student experiences in diversity courses via the social work education curriculum from the lens of White students developing an understanding of social justice. A mixed method study was designed and implemented to reconceptualize the role of White identity in social work education with social work undergraduate students. Hypothesizing that identity is influenced by both pedagogy and life experiences, social work students took part in a classroom intervention to understand how White racial identity development occurs and the role that emotional regulation has in difficult conversations which shapes behavior and action. Findings: quantitative analysis using both linear mixed models and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a lack of statistical significance between groups due to unexpected sampling issues and possible social desirability bias. Surprising findings from the qualitative portion of the study, a phenomenology, provided surprising support of the intervention and the utility of the teaching model. Modifications to the study design and broader intervention application for future replication are explored. The full findings of this study are presented in three manuscripts, the first theoretical, exploring the early conceptualizations of identity in social work with particular attention to social justice and White Racial Identity Development theory. The second manuscript explores using liberation pedagogy in the classroom to quantitatively assess for change in White racial identity status and frequency of anti-racist behavior with 17 undergraduate students. The third manuscript shares results of a hermetical phenomenology to understand student's life experiences and how those experiences contributed to their overall development as social workers. In sum, the role of values, dissonance, relationships, and curiosity emerged as important to understanding the overall development of students. Implications for education and practice are provided.
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    Supports and Barriers: Social Work Educators Addressing Student Wellness Needs
    (Taylor & Francis, 2024) McCarthy, Katherine; Kondrat, David; Johnson, Nina; School of Social Work
    While the years spent in college or graduate school have traditionally been viewed as demanding, current students face financial, emotional, and mental health stressors that interfere with their success at alarming rates. Undoubtedly social issues, cultural challenges, and economic realities complicate these experiences for students. At the same time, the negative effects of stress on learning capacity can prompt a blurring of the traditional line between educator and supporter, especially for social work educators. One hundred twenty-eight social work educators responded to a survey questionnaire about what helps or hinders their efforts to support student wellness. Inductive content analyses were conducted with seven themes identified around what supports educators and five themes identified around barriers that interfere with educators in their efforts to address student wellness needs. Major factors influencing educator effects include resource availability, educator-student partnerships, wellness-centered pedagogy, environmental culture, and oppressive forces. Implications for social work educators and administrators are explored.