Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and qualitative tools in Social Work

Abstract

The following article is part of the teaching innovation project entitled ‘The use of life history through ICTs for “conceptual teaching” in Social Sciences’, carried out at the University Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain) between September 2021 and March 2022, with a sample of students of Social Work (n = 110) and Double Degree in Sociology and Social Work (n = 52). This article consisted of the analysis of life history, taking as a reference Pierre Bourdieu’s book, ‘The “Misery” of the World’, as well as the development of the biographical or semi-structured interview. The main objective was to examine the potential of the life history and the biographical interview through ICTs for conceptual teaching in Social Sciences in Social Work students. For this purpose, we applied a posttest of satisfaction after the teaching innovation project, with a double quantitative and qualitative approach, ad-hoc with open questions and a Likert scale. The main conclusions were the students’ satisfaction with the use of the life history and interview as a didactic resource, as well as a satisfactory acquisition of sociological skills and knowledge, such as critical thinking, micro/macro connections and the interaction between structure and agency, among others.