The goal of our project was to convert the in-person Social Work 385: Introduction to Child Welfare course into an online format to reduce schedule conflicts and waitlists, increase accessibility, and expand student enrollment in child welfare content by providing varied modalities. This project aligns with the growing trend of online learning, especially in higher education, by making child welfare courses more flexible and addressing learning gaps. The method and approach used to transform an in-person course into an online course was to utilize the in-person class format as a template, as well as review faculty evaluations for comments related to content. We explored pedagogy related to best practices in online learning, utilized resources such as CETL, and free and accessible training resources were explored and incorporated to reduce the barriers online learning can create. After successfully transitioning Social Work 385: Introduction to Child Welfare to an asynchronous format, an additional section was added in the first semester of availability demonstrating increased interest and enrollment. An online offering is allowing students to participate from three time zones, three different states, and one student internationally, which may lead to higher enrollment in other child welfare-related courses and will increase understanding on this prominent and relevant topic.
