Features and Press Releases
Simucase + Missouri State University
Fully online MSW program expands experiential learning with Simucase
Posted March 15, 2024
Missouri State University’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program offers an advanced generalist practice framework, which prepares students for a variety of roles in the field.
As a 100% online program, they’re always seeking ways to grow students’ clinical skills and apply what they’re learning in courses to various clients and settings.
The program, which already uses role-play, incorporated Simucase into a course to see if it enhanced and expanded students’ experiential learning.
“Using Simucase went over better with students than the role-plays we incorporate into the class,” said MSW Program Coordinator Michele Brown, PhD, MSW, LMSW. “The feedback I got from students was very positive.”
Brown said that while they still incorporated role-play into the course curriculum, she felt that Simucase better enabled the students to apply their knowledge and further develop and demonstrate clinical skills they should be learning throughout their time in the program. She also felt that simulations made her students feel less vulnerable than role-playing with peers.
It was also helpful for Brown and her students to review completed cases to see the thought processes and decisions used in various scenarios. Brown said her students appreciated the direct feedback that Simucase provides and also the ability to practice in a low-stakes setting.
“Because we are fully online and have students in all different locations, Simucase adds an exciting element to our program and enhances the learning opportunities we provide to students,” Brown said.
“Students in master’s-level social work programs are hungry and eager to develop and start practicing clinical skills. Simucase gives them that opportunity. It may be humbling at first, but it’s an experiential component that they very much want, and they really enjoyed this extra addition within their course.”
After seeing the benefits of Simucase for her students, Brown hopes to incorporate it into more social work courses in the future.