Rethinking Reliance Upon Written Assignments

Written assignments in social work education are often relied upon as tools to demonstrate knowledge gained in coursework, although evidence of their effectiveness is inconsistent. While more institutional effort and resources are being poured into detecting plagiarism on written assignments, especially in the era of artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, educators could consider whether there are alternative assignments that could be more meaningful in preparing social work students for practice. In this conceptual paper, a collective of social work students and an educator from a Human Behavior in the Social Environment BSW course share their experiences with switching from written to alternative assignments during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—a change made from necessity and curiosity. Reflections about the meaning of alternative assignments are discussed from a student and educator standpoint. Topics addressed include: 1) promoting creativity as self-care in potentially triggering educational environments, 2) redefining rigor, 3) promoting social justice, and 4) increasing relevance with implications for the field of social work education.