If you are studying for a master’s of social work or already work in the field, you know how important the right tools can be. One of the best new tools the age of technology has given us is software that can be programmed to suit just about any profession, and social work is no exception. And with clients, notes, outcomes, and loads of responsibilities on the line, having the right tools is very important.

To help give you an idea of what’s out there, we have collected 25 essential software applications for social workers below. They include everything from widely used social work software to some specialty ones and even a few free options anyone looking to get more stuff done can use. (more…)

One of the most rewarding and interested career fields is social work. You have an opportunity to understand people, and help therm, every single day. If you have a Masters in Social Work, you can do even more, specializing in certain areas. For those who are interested in learning more about social work, here are 50 blogs by social work professionals:

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Social work often is demanding, thankless and heartbreaking — but it appears that many professors from large and small colleges and universities are making a difference. The following top 20 most influential social work professors have made headlines recently with their social work and comments. They may also head up influential groups that help people transition into healthier and happier lifestyles. (more…)

There are several avenues of education you can pursue toward a career in a field of social work. One of the best ways to determine if social work is for you is to take some open courseware classes. They are free and can give you a good feel as to whether social work is the right field for you. Open courseware classes in social work are also great for those who are already employed in the social work field, because it allows them to add to their knowledge for free and in the privacy of their homes. Check out these 21 open courseware classes that are geared toward those in the field of social work.

1. Introducing Social Work Practice: This is a great course for those who are trying to decide if social work is the right field for them. It looks at different approaches to social work and the skills involved.
2. Aging and Disability: Transitions into Residential Care: This course, designed for social workers working with the elderly teaches students about the issues involved in transitioning elderly patients from their homes into residential care facilities.
3. The Limits of Primary Care: This class explores the access to community services for those that need them.
4. Community Care: This course explores how language nuances affect attitudes toward social services. It helps social workers learn to communicate appropriately with clients about the community care resources.
5. Becoming a Critical Social Work PractitionerThe unit explores what it means to become a critical social work practitioner by using a series of activities and readings to guide you through some new and important concepts.
6. Diversity and Difference in Communication: This course teaches students to understand and use different communication strategies in order to help them work with a diverse audience.
7. Living with Death and Dying: This course explores how people’s knowledge and beliefs about death and dying affect their lives and how it changes the way they deal with their own death.
8. Homelessness and Need: In this course, you will hear the stories of people who have experienced homelessness.
9. Caring: A Family Affair: This course focuses on care relationships within the family structure.
10. Care Transactions: This course examines the care arrangements people make and the kinds of transactions these arrangements involve.
11. Remaking the Relations of Work and Welfare: This course examines how personal lives intersect with social policies, and the issues that arise from it.
12. Managing to Meet Service Users’ Needs: This course helps the students understand and be aware of the service users needs and use this information to manage those services.
13. Social Work Learning Practice: Eight audio tapes help you to understand the importance of people’s backgrounds and how they affect the relationship between the social worker and client.
14. The Medicalized Context of Bereavement: This course explores the medical aspects of death, dying and bereavement and how medicine is used within these contexts.
15. The Meaning of Home: This course looks at how people become emotionally attached to houses, buildings and other places, and how environment can become a resource for caring.
16. Care Relationships: This course focuses on setting up care relationships that work well.
17. Social Psychology: This class from MIT explores social communities and how they use and share resources and relate to each other.
18. Changing the Face of American Healthcare: This course from Notre Dame explores the strengths and weaknesses of our healthcare system and how changes might help our society.
19. Foundations of Public Health: This course from the University of California at Irvine: This course presents the overarching framework, principles, and core responsibilities of public health research and practice from a multidisciplinary perspective.
20. Social Attitudes and Public Opinion: This course from the University of Massachusetts in Boston explores the nature of attitudes, beliefs, and values, and the influences which individuals’ attitudes have upon their behavior.
21. Substance Abuse and the Family: This course from the University of Massachusetts in Boston explores substance abuse and how it affects the functioning of the family.

These classes can help up and coming social workers or those who want to hone their skills a simple way to learn more about the many areas of human life addressed in the field of social work.