Laurel Hitchcock

Laurel Hitchcock
Associate Professor

Scholar (C), Interprof Sim for Innov Clinical Practice , Office of the Provost
Associate Scientist (C), UAB Center for Study of Community Health , School of Public Health
Scientist (C), Civitan International Research Center , Academic Joint Departments
Associate Professor (P), Social Work , College of Arts and Sciences

Overview

Laurel Iverson Hitchcock is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She completed her Ph.D. in Social Work and MSW at the University of Alabama and has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Hitchcock has over ten years of practice experience in health and behavioral health care settings. Prior to her career in social work, Dr. Hitchcock served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal, West Africa (’91-’93), and as an AmeriCorps Volunteer with the Jefferson County Department of Public Health’s Healthy Start Program in Birmingham, AL (’94-’95). She is the co-director for the Institute for Healthy Engagement and Resilience with Technology (iHeartTech) at the University at Buffalo's School of Social Work, and she writes a blog titled Teaching & Learning in Social Work (www.laureliversonhitchcock.org).

Selected Publications

Academic Article

Year	Title	Altmetric
2021	A heutagogical approach for the assessment of Internet Communication Technology (ICT) assignments in higher education 2021
2021	Why We Want Our Students to Learn about Poverty and Healthcare: Sharing Our Students' Experiences from Poverty Simulations.. Health Communication. 1-5. 2021
2021	Interprofessional Simulation for Understanding Poverty. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. 52:9-16. 2021
2021	Implementing a Large Scale Interprofessional Poverty Simulation 2021
2021	Podcasting as a Pedagogical Tool for Experiential Learning in Social Work Education 2021
2021	Professional Collaboration Networks as a Social Work Research Practice Innovation: Preparing DSW Students for Knowledge Dissemination Roles in a Digital Society. Research on Social Work Practice. 31:42-52. 2021
2021	Social Work Educators’ Opportunities During COVID-19: A Roadmap for Trauma-Informed Teaching During Crisis 2021
2021	Why We Want Our Students to Learn about Poverty and Health Care: Sharing Our Own Experiences from Poverty Simulations. Health Communication. 2021
2020	Using a standardized patient model for interprofessional team training in social work 2020
2020	Selection of Field Education Management Software in Social Work 2020
2020	Promoting an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Obstacles to Success in Re-Entry. 2020
2019	Infographics as an assignment to build digital skills in the social work. Journal of Technology in Human Services. 37:203-225. 2019
2019	Learning Outcomes for Adolescent SBIRT Simulation Training in Social Work and Nursing Education. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions. 19:47-56. 2019
2018	Learning About Poverty Through Simulation: A Pilot Evaluation 2018
2018	Professional Learning Networks for Social Workers in the Digital Age. Social Work Today. 18:22-25. 2018
2017	Using Pinterest in Undergraduate Social Work Education: Assignment Development and Pilot Survey Results 2017
2017	Primary prevention interventions for reducing school violence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017. 2017
2017	Pioneering Health Care for Children with Disabilities: Untold Legacy of the 1916 Polio Epidemic in the United States 2017
2016	Tweet, Tweet!: Using Live Twitter Chats in Social Work Education. Social Work Education. 35:457-468. 2016
2016	“What the Social Worker has done for Public Health”: Homer Folk’s 1917 Speech on the Interdisciplinary Efforts of Public Health Social Workers during the Progressive Era 2016
2015	Teaching Interprofessional Practice: An Exploratory Course Assignment in Social Work and Speech Language Pathology 2015
2014	Multimodal Composition and Social Justice: Videos as a Tool of Advocacy in Social Work Pedagogy. Journal of Technology in Human Services. 32:22-38. 2014
2013	Social Media for Professional Practice: Integrating Twitter with Social Work Pedagogy.. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work Education. 18:33-45. 2013
2011	The early years of title V: Extending and improving care for children with special health care needs, 1935-1941. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 15:139-147. 2011
2010	Social work practitioners and practice evaluation: How are we doing?. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 20:963-973. 2010
2007	Primary prevention interventions for reducing school violence. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007

Book

Year	Title	Altmetric
2019	Teaching Social Work With Digital Technology 2019

Chapter

Year	Title	Altmetric
2018	Community: Using Twitter to develop online community. 216-233. 2018

Research Overview

Dr. Hitchcock’s research and pedagogical interests include social work education, technology, and social media, interprofessional education, social welfare history, and public health social work. Her dissertation research focused on the development of the federal program for children with special health care needs (CSHCN) under the US Children’s Bureau during the 1930s. Her current research projects include an examination of simulation in social work education; the effectiveness of technology-infused assignments in social work courses; and the role of technology in social work education.

Principal Investigator On

Policy Practice in Field Education Application awarded by Council on Social Work Education

Social Work Virtual Pal awarded by KATHERINE A. KENDALL INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Track A: Simulation Training Evaluation Program-University of Alabama at Birmingham awarded by NORC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Track C: Instructor's Toolkit and Simulation Program Implementation awarded by National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago

Investigator On

SHARP: Students Helping At-Risk Patients (Evaluating SHARP Transitional Care: Students Helping "At-Risk" Patients) awarded by UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION

Teaching Overview

Dr. Hitchcock has over ten years of teaching experience in higher education. Over the years, she has taught the following courses: Statistics for Social Work Research, Social Work Research, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Policy, Social Work Values Lab, Social Work Practice with Small Groups, Communities and Organizations, Summer Harvest and Social Work in Public Health. As an early adopter of teaching with technology, in 2012, she received the SAGE Publication/Council on Social Work Education's Award for Innovative Teaching for her work incorporating different social media assignments into her courses.Dr. Hitchcock is an advocate for service learning in higher education, receiving the UAB Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Service Learning in 2018.