מגפת הקורונה והשפעותיה על הוראת העבודה הסוציאלית: חוויית המעבר ללמידה מרחוק של סטודנטים.יות לעבודה סוציאלית בישראל

During the Covid-19 pandemic, academic studies worldwide transitioned to remote learning, the impact of which is still being felt. The challenges of teaching therapeutic professions, such as social work, remotely became particularly apparent in the transition’s impact on students’ learning experiences. Since research exploring the impact of the transition to remote learning on social work studies is nascent, the current study examines the influence of the switch to remote learning on the emotional and cognitive experiences of social work students and how they perceived the quality of the teaching they received. The study observed 150 Israeli social work students who participated in a survey based on a questionnaire designed in the United States, which included demographic queries, statements, and open-ended questions.The findings highlight students’ mixed emotions. Although more than half reported a negative impact on the teaching quality (64.6%) and had difficulty achieving the same intimacy as in frontal practice classes (77.4%), most participants recognized the advantages of remote learning (71.3%) and were open to this option in the future (76%). In addition, in response to questions regarding the first stage of the pandemic, 52% of the participants positioned themselves in the “experimentation and adaptation” stage of the Kübler-Ross (1969) change curve. However, 62.6% reported that this period had an unsettling emotional impact on them, and 68% experienced feelings of confusion and helplessness. The current study perceives remote learning as a new phenomenon influencing the future of social work teaching policies.The findings provide the foundation for understanding the complexity of remote learning in the social work profession and offer opportunities to learn from experience and pursue further research in the field.