Doctoral School of Sociology announces publication of the article ”Research competencies of social work students during remote learning” in Revista Românească pentru Educație Multidimensională (Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index) authored by Assoc. prof. Mihai-Bogdan Iovu, PhD and PhD. student Alina Bărbuță. 

Acquiring research competencies is an important output for the evidence-based social work practice. During the last two years, the switch to a fully remote educational paradigm has greatly impacted programs in developing appropriate solutions for teaching and learning. The article studies how a sample of social work students succeeded to adapt to this „new” pedagogical approach and how their research competencies were affected. It was concluded that the experience of a fully remote learning of research methods during their bachelor program did not have any significant impact on the level of required research competencies.

However, the level of digital skills that students already had influences their research skills. Having a high level of operational skills (e.g. technical skills when using the internet) is associated to a higher level of research inquiry and usage of both quantitative and qualitative methods. A high level of navigation skills (e.g. finding, choosing, and evaluating information available on the internet) positively impacts their creative and dissemination competencies. Although subject to a series of limitation, it was concluded that developing digital skills is important as these will further mediate student’s success in any study program, regardless of the manner of attending the education process (face-to-face or remote). Moreover, the digitalisation of teaching and learning is pressuring higher education programs to adapt their content and methods in order to assure the transferability of skills into the practice. 

The research was carried as part of the Erasmus+ project: Navigating Social Worlds: Toolbox for Social Inquiry (2020-1-PL01-KA226-HE-096356) where the Doctoral School of Sociology and Social Work is a partner. The article can be freely accessed at: https://lumenpublishing.com/journals/index.php/rrem/article/view/4618/3683