Re-framing Challenges as Opportunities: Moving a Social Work Practicum Program in an Online Format and Making It Work Elena Loreni Baciu * Loredana Marcela Trancă ** Abstract. As a response to the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the world strived to find the best solutions to keep their students engaged in education and maintain the quality standards of the educational process. The main strategy was to move all the educational activities in an online format. However, while an online teaching format could prove very suitable for some of the training activities (like theoretical courses), it does not fit perfectly with others (like practicum). There are many voices that raise concerns about students’ ability to develop practical skills without face-to-face and on-site interactions. The discussion is even more relevant for human service professionals, such as social workers. In the current paper, we focus on a practicum program delivered to Romanian social work students in two formats: on-site, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and online, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conduct a SWOT analysis for each type of delivery format and also comparatively assess the efficacy of the two delivery formats and the quality of the learning experience they provided for the students involved. The results of the analysis show that each type of delivery format came with its own advantages and disadvantages and that, from the perspective of the effectiveness of the programs and the learning experiences provided to the students, there is not a “definitely better” delivery format between the two, but they might very well work in conjunction. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, social work practicum programs, online education Introduction Anchored in an interdisciplinary learning environment, the university social work (SW) education programs in Romania are designed and function according to the legislative framework in force, the European qualifications framework, and the specific standards of academic quality. All Bachelor-level SW educational programs integrate a practice program in the curriculum (ARACIS, 2017). The purpose of this program is to verify the practical applicability of theoretical knowledge acquired by students in the training program (Law * West University of Timişoara, Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, 4 V. Pârvan Blvd, Timişoara, Romania. E-mail: elena.baciu@e-uvt.ro ** West University of Timişoara, Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, 4 V. Pârvan Blvd, Timişoara, Romania. E-mail: loredana.tranca@e-uvt.ro Revista de Asistenţ\ Social\, anul XX, nr. 1/2021, pp. 179-191 www.swreview.ro