Simulation Gets Real

When Kenta Asakura, M.S.W. ’07, Ph.D., joined the SSW faculty in 2022, he came with a national reputation for expertise in simulation-based clinical education—and eager to collaborate with SSW faculty and staff to put simulation to use. In a simulation, students interact with trained actors who play clients. Used for years in medical schools, this form of experiential learning has been more recently adopted by social work programs. “The world is more complex, client issues more complicated than in the past,” said Asakura. “You can’t continue to do what worked in the last century.”

When he broached the idea of using simulation in the Practicum Sequence to Senior Director of Practicum Learning Katya Cerar, Ph.D. ’13, she recalls, “It seemed like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we do it?”

Issues facing behavioral health providers—increased staff turnover, more demand, higher acuity, greater caseloads and added responsibilities for clinicians—may result in students getting less supervision, training and mentoring. “Students are being asked to hit the ground running versus learning on the scene,” said Cerar. “Simulation can fill these gaps.”

A year ago, Asakura, Cerar and Director of M.S.W. Practicum Learning Arianne Napier-White, M.S.W. ’15 teamed up to include simulation in the practicum seminar. Adjunct assessing, interviewing and getting to know a client.

It may also help them develop the sensitivity needed to navigate differences related to race, class, gender and identity. Carefully created simulations encourage students to consider how their values, attitudes, backgrounds and identities influence their interactions with clients and how structural racism, for instance, affects a client’s “everyday realities,” in Asakura’s words. It’s a good fit with what SSW students want, Hawkins believes. “They tend to be passionate about recognizing the nuances of life for all types of people. They understand that these are things to think about and wrestle with.”

Napier-White facilitated a series of simulation trainings for the practicum seminar instructors. “I was excited to see how the instructors came alive,” she said. “They engaged with the material, they asked thoughtful questions. It’s a pedagogical tool instructors can make their own.” Feedback, noted Napier-White, is a key part of the process, with instructors encouraging students to reflect on how it went, then offering their thoughts on the students’ reflections.

Assistant Professor Huey Hawkins, M.S.W., Ph.D., wrote the case study and worked with the actors (sourced from UMass Chan Medical School). Starting in January, simulation will give students opportunities to safely practice

Like Cerar and Napier-White, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Megan Harding, M.S.W. ’07, jumped at the chance to work with Asakura. “We share an interest in extending the use of simulation into ongoing professional learning,” she said. “It was a very exciting process—it’s not as simple as it looks. There could be no better source than Kenta. He supplied the tools, the materials, the process, even the ‘pro tips,’ to get us started on thinking about integrating simulation into faculty support.”

They added simulation to the pre-summer orientation for SSW instructors to give them practice using an accountability process for handling ruptures that arise in class.

The designers of the process, SSW’s Anti-Racism Planning Group, provided two classroom conflict scenarios for the simulation. ARPG facilitators Adjunct Assistant Professor Janae Peters, M.S.W. ’15 and Lecturer and Chair of the Social Welfare Policy and Service Sequence, JaLisa Williams, M.S.W., coached the Smith undergrad actors, who drew on recent classroom experience.

Harding was impressed by simulation’s advantages over role playing: “It’s cleaner. The actor has been prepared beforehand, and classroom dynamics are less of an influence.” Unlike the student who may hesitate to offer candid feedback to a classmate, an actor can speak freely.

“I want to optimize simulation’s use to strengthen faculty’s pedagogical practice,” said Harding. “I can see so many ways to apply it—to practice giving more useful feedback in the moment or engage students with different learning styles. I’m a huge fan of simulation.”—Faye S. Wolfe