ELearning has become an academic tool used to provide access to education for multiple segments of the population, which otherwise would have little to no access to it. While other academic disciplines integrated it into their curricula early in the digital revolution, in many countries, social work education is just beginning to address the opportunities and challenges web-based learning may bring to these programmes [Blackmon, 2013. Social work and online education with all deliberate speed. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 10(5), 509–521. doi:10.1080/15433714.2012.663672; Phelan, 2015. The use of eLearning in social work education. Social Work, 60(3), 257–264. doi:10.1093/sw/swv010]. This international collaborative research study seeks to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by social work educators teaching at universities who are already using some form of eLearning in the United States and in Spain. A quantitative, non-experimental research design was employed. Results show that there are similarities as well as differences in the ways the two subsamples perceive the challenges and opportunities of eLearning. Findings reveal that there are some significant differences between the way the two subsample respondents perceived challenges and opportunities to eLearning. Recommendations for online social work educators and administrators are provided regarding overcoming challenges and capitalizing on opportunities applicable to the US, Spain, and the larger European and global contexts. Recommendations for further research and practice are also included.

The educational needs of current social work students have transitioned in time from fully face-to-face to hybrid and for some, to fully online instruction. This helps to address students’ need to save time and money, as well as it assists the higher education institutions to provide easier and more efficient access to education. The use of technology in educational instruction has a positive impact on the future social workers who have to address the needs of technologically savvy younger clients. This is due to parallels related to the access and the use of technology, communication preferences, and the wide use of social media platforms. A quantitative non-experimental research design was employed in this research study. Non-parametric statistics were employed. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the perceptions of barriers/challenges to eLearning among US and Spanish social work educators. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to find the differences in the perceptions of barriers/challenges to eLearning across different group characteristics such as age, academic position, and experience teaching online and hybrid courses. There are six main barriers/challenges identified in this article. When not addressed, these barriers could have a negative impact on social work students’ readiness to use technology in their future social work practice.

El Mediterráneo es una de las rutas migratorias más mortíferas del mundo y se ha convertido una vez más en centro de la polémica en relación a la actuación del buque humanitario Open Arms. Este buque, tras rescatar migrantes del mar, estuvo en travesía durante diecinueve días, bloqueado institucionalmente y envuelto en disputas diplomáticas en la Unión Europea. Como reacción, la ciudadanía, distintos actores sociales y la propia ONG Open Arms hicieron uso de Twitter para intercambiar información y expresar opiniones y sentimientos en relación con el fenómeno migratorio. En este artículo se analizan pautas de conectividad e interacción de los usuarios de Twitter en torno al hashtag #Openarms. Tras recoger muestras masivas de tuits con técnicas de extracción, se identificaron los actores sociales con mayor liderazgo mediante análisis de redes sociales. Se han detectado comunidades por medio del algoritmo de modularidad, cuyo contenido ha sido interpretado mediante netnografía. Los resultados evidencian cómo los usuarios de Twitter tienden a congregarse con quienes comparten sus mismas creencias, formándose las denominadas cámaras eco. La interacción en base a este suceso despertó estados emocionales colectivos que dieron lugar a burbujas filtro que potenciaron la desinformación y la polarización entre comunidades.

Evolución en los procesos e itinerarios de las personas sin hogar en España: ¿retorno al pasado?