Venturing into the unknown with the use of ICTs in social work education during COVID-19

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a case study of Hong Kong based on the authors’ participatory observations and analysis of a university delivering qualifying social work programmes during COVID-19. Some background is provided for responses to COVID-19 in Hong Kong, with particular attention paid to the evolving responses of the university under study. The paper then reviews and discusses (i) the strategies deviating from traditional face-to-face meetings that have been adopted during different waves of the pandemic in the local context; (ii) the responses of teachers to using information and communication technology (ICT) in their teaching and their concerns about the new methods; (iii) the opportunities and challenges offered by the use of ICT in social work education; and (iv) the implications of this sudden uptake in ICT for teaching for the future development of social work education in response to social uncertainties.