Online seminar provides insights into fields of social work in the USA

Publishing Date: 20.11.2019

The aim of social work around the world is to bridge gaps between people and different cultures. At HAWK's Faculty of Social Work and Health in Hildesheim, Prof. Dr. Oliver Kestel contributes to this idea by offering an online seminar that explores social work in the United States. The webinar is part of the Master’s course "Soziale Arbeit im internationalen und interkulturellen Kontext". In this seminar, lecturers from the United States join in using a web conference and explain the specifics of US social work.
Using a webcam and conferencing software, the students in Hildesheim could directly interact with the lecturers from the United States
The students in Germany at HAWK followed the presentation carefully
HAWK Professor Dr. Oliver Kestel organizes the online seminar since 2014
Dr. Denise Ellis and Heather Rizzo discussed the main fields of social work in the US through a web conferencing setup

In this year's seminar, Dr. Denise Ellis, Professor emeritus at Kean University (New Jersey), and social worker Heather Rizzo discussed human rights, social rights and social work. Dr. Ellis gave an overview over fields of social work in the USA.

 

Among other topics, Dr. Ellis discussed the healthcare system, migration, gun control laws as well as racism and the opinion-formation process in the United States. Heather Rizzo provided additional insights into the topics. Both lecturers also entered into dialogue with the German students. To make the interaction between the US east coast and Hildesheim across thousands of kilometers and across a time difference of six hours seamless, the HAWK and the US lecturers used cameras, microphones and the web conferencing software Adobe Connect.

The online seminar premiered in 2014 – Prof. Dr. Kestel concluded the cooperation a year earlier. Back then, as part of his course preparations, he discovered that Kean University also offers an international Master's course in social work. It was also during that time that Prof. Dr. Kestel and Kean University's Dr. Ellis first got in touch with each other. At first, they merely communicated via e-mail, but eventually, they met each other personally in New Jersey and in Hildesheim.

After this year's seminar, both the students and the US lecturers, were pleased with the lively exchange. Prof. Dr. Kestel eagerly awaits the next collaboration with colleagues from the USA. Dr. Kestel will organize further online seminars in the framework of the course in collaboration with Omsk State University (Russian Federation), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania) and the University of Trieste (Italy).

Weitere Informationen