awhitmer83
03-10-2007, 04:29 PM
Just as a PSA, here is how my MSW program worked.
I applied for the program and attended orientation just like anyone else would. The school was several hours from me, so I had to stay overnight in a hotel for the orientation. I started in the summer with 3 classes, all of which were online. At orientation we were trained to use the software (Blackboard) and given user IDs for school email accounts.
A week before classes started, the instructors emailed out syllabi for their courses and we had an online forum to post any questions we had before we started. The instructors posted video lectures online, and we had to post in the discussion forum to get credit for watching the lectures and reading our textbooks. We couldn't just post some random thing and move on; it had to be an actual discussion. Sometimes it was just like posting on here - several of us would be posting at the same time, so it was like a real discussion only a little slower. We also had online chats as a class twice a month. For some classes we videotaped ourselves giving a presentation and mailed it to the instructor, who formatted them to be viewed online along with our Powerpoint slides.
Some of my classes met a few times in person (especially the practice classes) because it's hard to get some of the content looking at a computer screen. These sessions were always held on Saturday so those of us from a distance could make arrangements to come the night before. There were also lots of optional face-to-face meetings for people who lived closer or had a hard time understanding things online. I think the advanced standing students needed these less than 2-year students, simply because we'd had so much of the material in undergrad.
I had a field placement in an agency 25 minutes from me. To pull this off, I had to make a lot of the contacts myself. I would find an agency I was interested in, call to ask if they had a social worker who did field placements, and email the field director, who would in turn call the agency and speak with the MSW there. My midterm was done via conference call, but my field liaison actually drove all the way down here for my final. I had to fax or email my field journals and timesheets each week.
That's really all I can think of for the moment. I guess it doesn't seem that unusual to me because the last year of my BSW was online, too. (In fact, if anyone is looking for a completely online BSW program, send me a PM.) It was hard work and took up a lot of time, but I would think most master's programs would be that way. If anyone has questions, I'll try my best to answer them.
I applied for the program and attended orientation just like anyone else would. The school was several hours from me, so I had to stay overnight in a hotel for the orientation. I started in the summer with 3 classes, all of which were online. At orientation we were trained to use the software (Blackboard) and given user IDs for school email accounts.
A week before classes started, the instructors emailed out syllabi for their courses and we had an online forum to post any questions we had before we started. The instructors posted video lectures online, and we had to post in the discussion forum to get credit for watching the lectures and reading our textbooks. We couldn't just post some random thing and move on; it had to be an actual discussion. Sometimes it was just like posting on here - several of us would be posting at the same time, so it was like a real discussion only a little slower. We also had online chats as a class twice a month. For some classes we videotaped ourselves giving a presentation and mailed it to the instructor, who formatted them to be viewed online along with our Powerpoint slides.
Some of my classes met a few times in person (especially the practice classes) because it's hard to get some of the content looking at a computer screen. These sessions were always held on Saturday so those of us from a distance could make arrangements to come the night before. There were also lots of optional face-to-face meetings for people who lived closer or had a hard time understanding things online. I think the advanced standing students needed these less than 2-year students, simply because we'd had so much of the material in undergrad.
I had a field placement in an agency 25 minutes from me. To pull this off, I had to make a lot of the contacts myself. I would find an agency I was interested in, call to ask if they had a social worker who did field placements, and email the field director, who would in turn call the agency and speak with the MSW there. My midterm was done via conference call, but my field liaison actually drove all the way down here for my final. I had to fax or email my field journals and timesheets each week.
That's really all I can think of for the moment. I guess it doesn't seem that unusual to me because the last year of my BSW was online, too. (In fact, if anyone is looking for a completely online BSW program, send me a PM.) It was hard work and took up a lot of time, but I would think most master's programs would be that way. If anyone has questions, I'll try my best to answer them.