Using SSD for R in the classroom

Here at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, we have a summer program designed for long-distance students.  Some live in the US, but many come from other countries.  Our students spend seven weeks living and studying for their MSW degree in New York City over the course of three consecutive summers.

During their third summer, our students are required to take a course in Social Work Practice and Evaluation Research.  This class teaches students to empirically evaluate their clients' progress so the students' can adapt their work according to the needs of each client.  During the course of the semester, students are taught how to do this regardless of whether their clients are individuals, couples, families, groups, or communities.This semester, we will be using SSD for R in this class for the students' projects, which will be a semester-long evaluation of one of their clients.

We thought it would be interesting to use this blog to share with you how we are using SSD for R in this course and what our experiences are.

We just finished the second of fourteen classes of the semester and we are already using SSD for R! During the first class, we had the students become oriented to the package by opening RStudio and giving them a "tour" of the interface.  We explained how to install SSD for R (only once) and how to require it (every session).  We also encouraged all the students to follow the instructions on our website to download R, RStudio, and SSD for R on their own computers at home.  We showed them how to view our tutorial videos on our website, in case they needed extra help.

I can't tell you how delighted we were this morning when we found out that all the students who attempted to install everything, did so successfully!  This is great because, like many social workers, many of our students are a little reticent about computer usage, in general.  I think this bodes well for the semester, and we are hoping that the students feel that they can use the skills we teach them in class at their own agencies.

Today's lesson was also interesting. We started out by creating a fictional client whose problems we plan to measure.  We showed the students how to create an Excel file to track client data and save it as a .csv file.  We then opened the file in SSD for R and created simple line graphs for each of the behaviors we were tracking. A couple of students had minor difficulties.  These included people forgetting to attach the file they had opened or in mistakes in entering the command for the simple line graphs.  However, between the instructor and our trusty teaching assistant, each student was able to create two different line graphs.  We concluded this lesson by showing the students how to cut and paste their graphs into Word.

We are already hearing sighs of relief.

For more information about SSD for R, visit our website.  You can also reach us by e-mail.