perspectives and use

As e-learning grows in use among institutions of higher learning, social work educators continue to debate the role of internet-based technologies in social work education. While studies about this issue have been conducted in developed countries, there is a dearth of relevant literature in the Caribbean. A grounded theory approach was employed to obtain data from social work educators, with emphasis on understanding their perspectives on the use of internet-based technology, their actual usage of internet-based technology and the factors that influence their perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight social work educators from four tertiary institutions in Trinidad and Tobago that offer degrees in social work. Results indicate that prior experience with internet-based technology influenced the perspectives of social work educators and ultimately the range and mode of technologies used. Although the debate about the role of such technologies in social work education is not resolved in Trinidad and Tobago, this research found that there is a movement toward consensus about the utility of internet-based technologies