Introduction:
Professional education should not be education for understanding alone; it is preparation for accomplished and responsible practice in the service of others. This oral presentation will track my pedagogical approach in re-imagining a critically-reflective approach to theoretical learning in final year graduate social work students in a university in the Republic of Ireland. As a social work educator, I believe the role of social work education demands a pedagogical commitment to develop social responsibility and awareness amongst students. Professional values and higher education policies (both national and multilateral) have driven my desire for fostering a ‘scholarship of engagement’ (Boyer 1996) where I hope to inspire students, as service learners, to become vigorous partners in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic, and moral problems.

Aim:
While analysis of student feedback had been generally positive about the 'theory module' before COVID-19, there was an indication of staleness and malaise about repetitious discussion of theoretical interventions. I introduced a new course called Critical and Radical Social Work, which seeks to disrupt and interrogate students’ theoretical approach to practice. Student engagement with feminist, anti-racist, anti-poverty and queer theories is now cultivated and formally tracked (assessed) with UDL principles employed in the design of the assessment. Recognising Foucault’s (1975) contention that classroom design can impose passivity on students, I challenged myself to create spaces that encouraged active and disruptive learning. I aimed to create a collaborative classroom, which values students’ ‘prior knowledge’ (Gardner, 1985), their capacity to learn from each other and their potential as curriculum co-creators. I used a ‘flipped classroom’ approach, which surfaced diverse perspectives and encouraged students to be agitators and activists.

Method:
This paper will detail the specific methods I employed to re-invigorate the module. I aimed to create a warm atmosphere of inclusivity - individual and group tasks were highly interactive, mirroring my philosophy of teaching for understanding. I used technology to foster and enhance learner collaboration, to address learners diverse learning needs and to support self-regulated learning processes. I recognised the students as agentic, adult-learners by supporting their critical reflections, active participation in the learning space, and by enabling them to make connections between theories, concepts and real-world experiences. I incorporated multimedia, podcasts, video demonstrations, case vignettes, practice guides and toolkits to enhance the learning space, as well as developing clear assessment frameworks, rubrics, templates and e-tivities to scaffold students’ learning trajectories.

Results:
I engaged in various forms of evaluation (e.g. Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET), online end-of-module questionnaires, focus group meetings with student representatives, self-study) to inform my teaching and learning. Student feedback on this module has continued to enhance the quality of the learning space for the students and for me.

Conclusion:
This module has received extremely positive feedback since its ‘re-imagination’ - from students and peers; highlighting how a scholarship of engagement, when matched with a desire for transformative pedagogy, will invoke a spirit of critical inquiry among students.

Keywords: Critical-thinking, civic-mindedness, service-learning, critical theory, scholarship of engagement.