July/August 2019Vol. 20, No. 6Evidence-Based Training That Improves Practice
The Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence's suite of courses was designed around research- and evidence-based findings about how adults learn. The courses emphasize the importance of adaptive transfer, which is the appropriate adaptation of knowledge and skills into new situations.
The Alliance curricula center on the following components of adult learning:
- Active involvement—Providing activities that require students to work with, process, and make meaning of knowledge
- Contextualization—Practicing, learning, and processing within the context of situations and problems found on the job
- Mastery—Making an assessment according to external criteria and practicing until criteria are met
- Feedback—Giving students feedback on their thinking or performance within a meaningful context
- Reflection and self-evaluation—Practicing self-assessment of acquisition of knowledge and skills and identifying next steps
Courses are offered for caregivers (e.g., "ABCs of Autism, Behaviors, and Coping Strategies," "Advanced Adoption Training"), social workers (e.g., "Assessing Child Abuse and Neglect in Afterhours," "Assessing Child Safety in the Context of Domestic Violence," "Case Consultation"), and supervisors (e.g., "Assessing Safety Throughout the Life of the Case - CPS," "Child Protective Services In-Service," "Decision to Place").
To learn more about the Alliance for Child Welfare's courses, visit https://allianceforchildwelfare.org/our-impact/evidence-based-training-improves-transfer.