Hi Kim, I appreciate your question, but I clearly DO NOT have an answer to the specific question you have asked.
I've come to "spark" today, to explore what I see as an urgent concern regarding the current state of social work education and that concern IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO YOUR ISSUE.
I have recently retired from both teaching and practice, but remain active in the profession as a guest speaker, substitute faculty, teaching one advance practice course per year, and serving on several local agency boards. I also spend a fair amount of time writing and online. I am regularly encountering both BSW & MSW students, who are enrolled in on-line social work education and who live at distance from the schools in which they are enrolled and are having extremely hard times identifying, contacting, informing, and establishing field placement for themselves. Most often with seemingly very little to no assistance from their universities. Some of these students live in extremely remote rural locations. Yet others actually reside in (and are seeking placements in) rather close proximity to BSW or MSW programs where the market is already saturated with field placements arranged and filled by those local colleges and universities.
I appreciate that you are acknowledging the issue and seeking a remedy.
As a field instructor for 5 different universities over a 20 year period and then "director of field education in a BSW program through initial accreditation and two cycles of reaffirmation, then mentoring the Director of Field in a new MSW program through their initial accreditation, it has always been my understanding that it is the schools obligation to seek, recruit, prepare, qualify and formally associate with both field instructors and field agencies. I am repeatedly appalled by the conversations I'm having with students trying to find and arrange their own placements who really have no clear notion of what's to be expected of them, and therefore are at significant disadvantage in informing potential field instructors and agency administrators of what's to be expected of them. Many of the students I've visited with seem to understand their internships as unpaid work experiences rather than educational experiences.
I will be watching this thread to see what other ideas folks may have for you.
(As an aside, I did my MSW internship in an agency 140 miles from my university. This was before the internet and cell phones. At the time my university did "block placements, rather than concurrent placements, so students were in field 4.5 days a week. The university had several agency placements in this distant, but large urban area. All of our field instructors were alumni of the university, and participated in a 1-2 day field seminar each year,, on campus with students. And one field instructor was employed & paid as an adjunct faculty to conduct a local "field seminar" course one evening a week for the 8 or 9 students in that area.)
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Gary Bachman
Associate Professor
Park University
Parkville MO
816-584-6504
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 14, 2024 09:59
From: Kim Crane Mallory
Subject: agencies that help place students: Noodle, Alchemy
Hello everyone, and happy summer!
As our out-of-state online MSSW program grows, so do the challenges that come with placing out of state students. I keep getting emails from companies (Noodle, Alchemy) that work with universities to place students, and I'm not sure how I feel about that model, but decided I should explore it and come to the experts--you all!
I'd love to hear any experiences anyone has had with these companies.
Thanks so much--
Kim Crane Mallory, LAPSW
Director of Field Education
Professor of Practice
University of Tennessee College of Social Work
Check out our upcoming CE's and other events: https://www.csw.utk.edu/events/
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Kim Crane Mallory
Director of Field Education
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Knoxville TN
615-782-6157
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