This course serves as an introduction to the profession of social work, the values of the profession, and the social problems it addresses. Content will focus on current social issues of the day within a social work context. The course provides a sound basis for considering social work as a possible career choice, and serves as a foundational understanding of the field for students majoring in other disciplines. No background knowledge of social work is necessary for this course.

This is an online and asynchronous course that requires students to independently work on written assignments whilst also engaging online with instructor and peers in discussion board posts. There are no live sessions and the entire course is facilitated asynchronously. Since the course covers a number of social problems, some of the content covered in this course is upsetting.

This is an online course that scaffolds the assessments, it is not possible to wait until the end of the course to complete all assignments. Students are tasked with weekly written assignments and discussion board posts. There are no quizzes or exams in this course, assessment is based off of student engagement online and with written assignments completed on time. There is no textbook required, all materials are available on Blackboard. Students *must* have consistent access to Blackboard and their UVM email throughout duration of the course.