Online Bachelor's in Social Work Curriculum

Social workers do much more than help people in need. They are advocates for the vulnerable and marginalized; passionate professionals who speak up for those who have no voice; tireless champions who research and provide answers to lift the underserved.

By guiding individuals and groups toward services that can minimize the struggles of everyday life, social workers can shine the spotlight on crucial issues in a community that may otherwise be ignored. This can lead to action that can bring about social and socioeconomic change.

For individuals who want to make a positive impact on society, becoming a social worker can be an immensely rewarding career. Success in the role takes more than a heart to help others — it requires a set of skills and knowledge to provide people with the targeted service and care they need to thrive. A career as a social worker begins by enrolling in an online Bachelor of Social Work program.

Social Work Core Courses (24 Credit Hours)

Show / Hide Course Descriptions

SWRK 101	Introduction to Social Work: Professionalism and Ethics	3 Credits
This introduction to social work course focuses on understanding the values and ethical standards of social work practice using the NASW Code of Ethics. Ethical decision making frameworks and critical thinking are emphasized. The historical foundations of social work, the professional mission of social work and the responsibilities of the profession are explored. Emphasis is also placed on navigating personal and professional values and successfully collaborating with related professions.
SWRK 102	Human Behavior in Context: Social Work Theories	3 Credits
This course reviews social work theories, with an emphasis on the person-in-environment and strengths perspectives. Human behavior is explored through developmental models and the importance of context, including the social environment. The importance of human relationships, culture and identity development are examined from a behavioral perspective.
SWRK 201	Social, Economic & Environmental Justice: Advancing Human Rights	3 Credits
This course explores social justice strategies in order to promote human rights. Human rights related to freedom, safety, privacy, an adequate standard of living, health care and education are explored throughout the past with a look towards preventing future struggles. The systems of oppression and privilege are explored and practices that aim to dismantle structural barriers are applied.
SWRK 202	Professional Practice: Boundaries, Ethics, Legalities and Self Care in the Field	3 Credits
This course examines the professional code of ethics and laws pertaining to the profession of social work. Students will be introduced to boundaries and self-care as they begin the process of exploring field education opportunities.

SWRK 300	Cultural Competency Practice: Diversity	3 Credits
This course explores the dimensions and intersectionality of diversity and identity, including but not limited to age, class, color, culture, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, marital status, political ideology, race, religion/spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, and tribal sovereign status. The individual and systematic forms of oppression and discrimination impacting the individual will be examined in relation to power and privilege on the micro, mezzo and macro-levels.
SWRK 301	Policies and Policy Reform: The Laws of Change	3 Credits
This course further explores human rights and social justice from a policy perspective. Policies that impact social welfare funding, practices and services are examined from the past through current. Policy implementation is studied at federal, state and local levels in order to promote general well-being and advance human rights. Current, social work advocacy work will be explored to understand how policy initiation and reform processes operate on a local, state and federal level.
SWRK 302	Research: What Do the Numbers Really Mean?	3 Credits
This research methods course covers basic concepts including problem formulation, ethics, study design, measurement, sampling, data collection & analysis, and dissemination. Research procedures will be explored from the past to the present from a human rights perspective. Emphasis is placed on understanding the dynamic processes between scientific research and the field and how that translates to social work practice.
SWRK 303	Financial Social Work: Asset Management and Education	3 Credits
This course introduces students to Financial Social Work including knowledge about issues in daily financial life, such as budgeting, debt, credit and working towards identified financial goals. Students will learn how complex financial struggles intersect with other psychosocial stressors and develop skills to directly and effectively address financial issues at multiple system levels. From a macro perspective student will learn about policy issues that influence and affect people’s goals for financial stability.

Social Work Practice Courses (12 Credit Hours)

Show / Hide Course Descriptions

SWRK 310	Social Work Practice: Engagement	3 Credits
This course focuses on social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Theories and practices surrounding engagement, rapport building, and the importance of human relationships are analyzed and implemented to build foundational social work practice skills. This is the first social work practice course in sequence. Generalist practice skills will be applied through projects and assignments. Engagement learning dimensions will be explored, including identifying personal competence, approaching clients, interviewing, resource referral, communication and documentation. Social work practice frameworks will be implemented, including strengths based, empowerment, person-in-environment, ecosystems and evidence-based perspectives.
SWRK 320	Social Work Practice: Assessment	3 Credits
This course focuses on social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Theories and practices surrounding assessment are analyzed and implemented. Where the first practice course focuses more on engagement skills at the individual, family and group level, this second practice course the focus is more balanced. On the micro-level, various common generalist social work practice measures and assessment practices are explored from a strengths-based perspective, recognizing the client as expert and cultural competence is emphasized. On the macro level with organizations and communities, local community needs assessment project is at the core of this course, where individuals explore their residing community from social work generalist practice perspective.

SWRK 330	Social Work Practice: Interventions	3 Credits
This course focuses on social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. This is the third course in the practice series. Theories and practices surrounding interventions are analyzed and implemented. Interventions are explored and evaluated in a generalist practice strengths-based perspective, understanding the impact of cultural competence with working with diverse at-risk client populations.
SWRK 340	Social Work Practice: Evaluation	3 Credits
This course focuses on social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. This is the fourth course in the practice series. Theories and practices surrounding evaluation are analyzed and implemented from a social work generalist practice perspective. Emphasis is placed on life-long learning, accountability and practice improvement.

Social Work Field Education (18 Credit Hours)

Show / Hide Course Descriptions

SWRK 401	Social Work Application: Trends in the Field: Survey of Field	3 Credits
This course focuses on current and future trends in the profession of social work. Students will be introduced to social work professionals, groups and organizations. Students will have the opportunity to observe firsthand social work practice in a variety of contexts. Students will research and study the numerous opportunities in social work and begin to develop their professional and occupational goals.
SWRK 402	Capstone: Nine Competencies	3 Credits
This Capstone course is an opportunity for students to reflect on and integrate social work holistic competencies and skills acquired during their foundation and practice coursework. Through the process of reflective projects students will demonstrate conceptualization of core social work knowledge, values and professional skills. The capstone is intended to assist students with moving forward in their careers or applying for Master level social work programs. This course introduces students to the process of life-long learning and reflection on social work practice.
SWRK 450	Practicum I	3 Credits
This experiential course is completing 200 supervised-hours in the field of social work; this translates into 12.5 hours per week over two back-to-back 8-week sessions. This course is introductory experiential learning in the field of social work. Placements are found through the self-selection process. Students are now performing the duties and responsibilities of a social worker at a distinct placement site, therefore expanding their knowledge, skills, abilities and cognitive affective processes of the human service field through direct practice. This application course allows students to practice in the field of social work under the supervision of a trained field instructor. Requires 200 hours of field education at placement site.

SWRK 455	Concurrent Seminar I	3 Credits
This course is designed to initiate students into social work. It focuses on applying theory directly in the field. This is an interactive seminar course to be taken concurrently with field placement. The course will cover various topics and issues that arise in the field of social work. Students will be responsible for facilitating discussions. They will discuss challenges they experience, ethical concerns, social justice and diversity issues as well as questions related to self-discovery. This course will encourage you to think creatively, consider contextual influences, and apply theory and research in the field. Although you will be applying all 9 competencies within the field of social work, this seminar will focus on your knowledge of Competency 6 engagement and Competency 7 assessment with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Field education is quintessential to social work and this course will help acclimate students to the field of social work.
SWRK 460	Practicum II	3 Credits
This second experiential course involves completing another 200 supervised-hours in the field of social work, again translating into 12.5 hours per week over two back-to-back 8-week sessions. This course is experiential learning in the field of social work. Placements are found through the self-selection process. Students are now building upon previous skills achieved in field placement one and performing the duties and responsibilities of a social worker at a distinct placement site, therefore expanding their knowledge, skills, abilities and cognitive affective processes of the human service field through direct practice. This application course allows students to practice in the field of social work under the supervision of a trained field instructor. Requires 200 hours of field education at placement site.
SWRK 465	Concurrent Seminar II	3 Credits
This course is designed to academically and professionally support students advancing in their field placement. It focuses on applying theory directly in the field. This is an interactive seminar course to be taken concurrently with field placement. The course will cover various topics and issues that arise in the field of social work. Students will be responsible for facilitating discussions. They will discuss challenges they experience, ethical concerns, social justice and diversity issues as well as questions related to self-discovery. This course will encourage you to think creatively, consider contextual influences, and apply theory and research in the field. Although you will be applying all 9 competencies within the field of social work, this seminar will focus on your knowledge of Competency 8 intervention and Competency 9 evaluation with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Field education is quintessential to social work and this course will help acclimate students to the field of social work.

Want to learn how to get started?

Get Admission Requirements

To ensure the best possible educational experience for our students, we may update our curriculum to reflect emerging and changing employer and industry trends.

Social Work Defined

The fundamental goal of social work is to help individuals cope with issues that disrupt daily living. These challenges cover a wide range of social or socioeconomic issues, such as unemployment, child welfare, substance abuse, mental health, and public education. Social workers meet this objective by connecting people and families to community services that are designed to provide aid.

Social work also functions beyond these person-to-person relationships. Social workers research and detect underserved community issues, such as homelessness or public healthcare deficiencies. Once these are identified, they advocate to create or improve services that are designed to combat the issues.

While social work serves as the bridge that brings people and services together, effective social work requires a deep knowledge of essential, multifaceted concepts such as human behavior, social welfare policy, population diversity, and ethics. In light of this, the best way to launch a career as a social worker is to gain an undergraduate education, such as the one offered through Maryville University’s Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree.

In addition to helping build skills and expertise, a BSW can prepare students to pursue advanced education in the field, such as a master’s degree in social work (MSW). This advanced degree can serve as a springboard to other career opportunities, such as clinical social work.

Skills Gained with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Degree

A BSW enables students to build the knowledge base to understand the broad impact that effective social work has on a community. Just as importantly, it helps students cultivate several core competencies to apply their knowledge toward real-life situations. This may include developing and executing strategies that can help vulnerable individuals overcome a wide range of challenges, such as unemployment, long-term care for a loved one, or access to child care services.

For instance, a BSW can help students develop strong interpersonal skills. It’s imperative for social workers to understand how to approach each individual as a unique personality with unique needs, so that solid client relationships may be forged.

A BSW can also help individuals develop solid critical thinking and organizational skills. Critical thinking is vital because it helps social workers make clear decisions regarding an individual’s service strategy.

Social workers have caseloads with numerous clients who are dealing with situations pertaining to sudden economic crises, like the loss of a job, instances of child endangerment or abuse, healthcare concerns, and more. Strong organizational skills enable social work professionals to keep each client’s information complete and easily accessible, which makes it possible to more efficiently and effectively connect individuals with the services they need.

Finally, a BSW degree can help students develop strong emotional intelligence. This enables social workers to cultivate an optimal level of empathy for their clients, which can foster a sense of trust. Emotional intelligence can also enable social workers to step away from their caseload when their workday is over. This form of self-care is becoming increasingly important in the social work field, as it protects professionals from experiencing burnout, which is an emerging and unfortunate trend.

Common Courses in the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Curriculum

A BSW curriculum, such as the one offered through Maryville University’s Bachelor of Social Work, is commonly designed to cultivate specific competencies. The online Bachelor of Social Work curriculum at Maryville University enables students to develop vital insight into critical social work concepts and strategies.

Courses offered in Maryville’s BSW curriculum include the following.

Human Behavior in Context: Social Work Theories — This core course explores various social work theories relating to human behavior in different social environments, breaking down how behavior relates to culture, identity, and relationships.

Cultural Competency Practice: Diversity — Students enrolled in this core course examine how demographic elements such as age, ethnicity, gender, and spirituality help forge identity in a societal context.

Research: What Do the Numbers Really Mean? — This core course explores how essential research methods are explored from a human rights perspective to understand the process between scientific research and the field to help social workers develop effective social work strategies.

Social Work Practice Courses — These courses guide students through the theories and practice elements behind a social work case. They are divided into four course components:

Engagement: This component highlights theories and practices concerning the importance of building relationships and rapport with individuals.

Assessment: Theories and practices surrounding the determination of potential client needs are emphasized in this component.

Interventions: This component breaks down the theories and practices regarding the role that elements such as diversity and cultural competence play in establishing intercession strategies.

Evaluation: With an emphasis on lifelong learning and practice improvement, this component focuses on evaluation analysis from a social work generalist perspective.

A Career That Makes a Substantial Difference

Social work is about change. It could mean large scale change; creating a paradigm shift in the way a community handles social issues such as homelessness or public health. On a more intimate level, change could translate to helping a struggling family obtain the services to overcome the challenges that are holding them down. Either way, social work can have a lasting, positive impact on society — making it one of the most rewarding careers an individual can pursue.

Discover how Maryville University’s online Bachelor of Social Work program can help prepare you to pursue this life-changing career.

Sources:
Houston Chronicle, What Does a Social Worker Do?
Houston Chronicle, What Is Critical Thinking in Social Work?
National Association of Social Workers, Advocacy
National Association of Social Workers, Types of Social Work
National Association of Social Workers, Why Choose the Social Work Profession?
National Education Association, Diversity Toolkit: Social Justice
Psychology Today, 3 Ways to Explain Human Behavior
Social Work Policy Institute, Research
Social Work Today, Case Management at the Intersection of Social Work and Health Care
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Workers