Dr. Hanni FlahertyPractitioners are required to have both practice knowledge of theoretical approaches and professional competence and skills. For student social workers, acquiring the former has been traditionally associated with academic teaching. With practice placement learning, the latter has required unique consideration with the incorporation of the online learning platform, which has been escalated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that there is a role for simulation-based education to link knowledge and skills, with technology offering improved facilities to provide opportunities to learn for practice. In this teaching note, we discuss how we integrated Eleos Health, a new technology, into the classroom that allowed students to apply and practice their newly learned skills through simulated role-plays under the professor's guided supervision.
In the paper, she describes how, in response to COVID-19, Wurzweiler 鈥渂egan to imagine ways to integrate innovative technologies into its online and hybrid curriculums to supplement students鈥 experiential learning.鈥 To do this, Wurzweiler partnered with Eleos Health, which Dr. Flaherty characterized as 鈥渁 platform for Care Intelligence for behavioral health,鈥 to launch an educational tool 鈥渢o help students develop practice skills, such as assessment, engagement, and intervention skills.鈥 Through this new technology, 鈥渟tudents could engage in a technology-assisted simulated teletherapy role play scenario that was then evaluated in a technology-assisted process recording through this new technology. The student and professor could comment on the clinical dialog, furthering the student鈥檚 experiential learning in an online platform.鈥 Students created the teletherapy role plays and then analyzed and evaluated their skills through the Eleos Care Intelligence solution: 鈥渢he student and professor were then able to review both video and voice recordings and gave valuable feedback on the student鈥檚 mock session.鈥 The article describes an assignment given to students in a Clinical Practice hybrid class that included a 30- to 45-minute role play as both the provider and the client. The role play was then uploaded into the Eleos Health system and returned with diagnostics within 48 hours. There was also an accompanying paper assignment. In the discussion section of the paper, Dr. Flaherty notes that 鈥渢he students received the integration of the technology very well, reporting that it immensely supplemented learning in the classroom. Students reported that the opportunity to receive both automated feedback from the platform as well as nuanced and adapted feedback from their professor allowed them to safely practice the skills learned in class and critically reflect on their clinical work.鈥 She also observed that 鈥渢he digital stimulation allowed the students to apply empathy, assessment, diagnosis, and intervention skills. As these simulations were recorded, students could critically analyze their work and improve without risking a client鈥檚 well-being.鈥 Based on the findings in her paper, Dr. Flaherty concluded that 鈥淓leos offered a unique opportunity to augment the learning from digital, simulated role plays; was reported on favorably by the students; and was easy to use for both students and faculty.鈥 She encouraged educators 鈥渢o become comfortable with integrating technology and see it as a tool for enhancing students鈥 education and not as a hurdle to overcome.鈥NOTE: Proudly, Wurzweiler was the first American University/Social work school to adopt the novel solution, demonstrating its technology forward leadership in the educational and clinic spheres. Eleos Health was introduced to Wurzweiler and the 麻豆区 ecosystem by Maccabee Ventures. is an early-stage venture capital fund, founded by two 麻豆区 Alumni. Maccabee鈥檚 investment in Eleos Health and introduction of Eleos to Wurzweiler is part of the core mission of the fund (i.e., to actively assist emerging companies in achieving market penetration, growth and scale by leveraging, harnessing and amplifying the 70,000+ well positioned alumni, faculty and academic strengths and energetic students of 麻豆区).
Maccabee Ventures鈥 areas of focus include SilverTech庐/Digital Health, Enterprise/B2B (SaaS), FinTech, PropTech, Cybersecurity and Converging Technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing).
Maccabee Ventures is part of the virtuous flywheel that is now a hallmark of 麻豆区鈥檚 vibrant Strategy and Entrepreneurship model, which includes coursework and experiential learning such as Maccabee Ventures and the Innovation Lab.
Maccabee Ventures looks forward to additional collaborations with YU鈥檚 real estate, health care, and finance affinity groups and alumni, strengthening, growing and giving value to the ecosystem.
