Field Directors

Greetings,

This term, our program encountered a couple of students that were significantly over hours at the end of their first term of practicum. Our students complete their practicum hours over three academic terms. We have a policy that any hours completed over the required 400 hours will be considered volunteer hours and typically if students are approaching 400 hours early in their final term we discuss the option to decrease their hours as they wrap up their time with the agency. We also have a policy that students are required to be with the agency through the end of their final term of practicum even if they have reached their 400 hours prior. 

Does your program have any policies regarding students entering hours above their required hours in the tracking system your program utilizes? For example, does your program allow students to do this or does your program require students to track additional hours, above the required, through a different method outside of the tracking system your program utilizes for practicum education?  Are there any other considerations or similar situations that your program has encountered related to this scenario?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts related to this scenario!

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Sara Chears-Martinez, MSW
Field Education Coordinator
National Louis University
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We place our students for both fall and spring semesters with the same agency (we're MSW only) and list an hours requirement of at least 260 per semester (which averages out to 16.5 hours per week). They log all their hours in Sonia and they are told up front that that is a minimum and they can work more than that (man of our paid practicum sites require that they work at least 20 hours a week) and hours will not roll over into the next semester. They also have a co-requisite class that discusses situations that come up for them in their practicum settings, so it's understood that they need to stretch those hours out over the whole semester.

That said, we do allow students to work up to 32 hours before each semester starts (usually for orientation/onboarding activities in August and working over the winter break in January so clients still get their care). There are often some students who will arrange with their agencies to terminate their client relationships and practicum responsibilities a little early (but usually only 1-3 weeks as they are finishing their capstone projects and dealing with graduation activities). We monitor their documentation and progress in Sonia and if someone is working that far ahead on their hours, we reach out to them and explain why things are set up this way and work with them on whatever may be going on in their lives. Usually it's just a question of trying to ease time pressures later and once they understand the process better they even hours out. Hope that helps! 

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Mandy Caruso-Yahne
Practicum Coordinator
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City MO
alcv5x@umkc.edu
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Thank you Mandy,

I appreciate you sharing this information.

Be well,

Sara Chears-Martinez, MSW

Field Education Coordinator

National Louis University

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Sara Chears-Martinez
Field Education Coordinator
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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 19, 2024 10:30
From: Mandy Caruso-Yahne
Subject: Policies Related to Students Over Practicum Hours

We place our students for both fall and spring semesters with the same agency (we're MSW only) and list an hours requirement of at least 260 per semester (which averages out to 16.5 hours per week). They log all their hours in Sonia and they are told up front that that is a minimum and they can work more than that (man of our paid practicum sites require that they work at least 20 hours a week) and hours will not roll over into the next semester. They also have a co-requisite class that discusses situations that come up for them in their practicum settings, so it's understood that they need to stretch those hours out over the whole semester.

That said, we do allow students to work up to 32 hours before each semester starts (usually for orientation/onboarding activities in August and working over the winter break in January so clients still get their care). There are often some students who will arrange with their agencies to terminate their client relationships and practicum responsibilities a little early (but usually only 1-3 weeks as they are finishing their capstone projects and dealing with graduation activities). We monitor their documentation and progress in Sonia and if someone is working that far ahead on their hours, we reach out to them and explain why things are set up this way and work with them on whatever may be going on in their lives. Usually it's just a question of trying to ease time pressures later and once they understand the process better they even hours out. Hope that helps! 

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Mandy Caruso-Yahne
Practicum Coordinator
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City MO
alcv5x@umkc.edu
------------------------------

We have our students log all of their hours in our software, including any that are over the required amount. Logistically it would be difficult to track everything if "standard" hours were entered in our software, and supplemental hours were logged somewhere else. Whether the student voluntarily attends extra hours for more learning time, or the agency requires them to attend an orientation/special event, we tell students to log everything with the caveat that they are not permitted to end field early just because they are ahead on hours. We are very clear that field is a course, and like any course it stretches for the duration of the entire semester(s). We also advise students that extra hours should be treated as a safety net should anything come up during the year that disrupts their attendance (illness, injury, family emergencies, weather closures, etc.), thus minimizing the amount of make-up hours they need to complete if they have extra hours on hand. That being said, in the event that a student is so significantly ahead on hours, we may permit them to decrease their hours in the final week or two of the semester (this is contingent on agency approval, making sure client services wouldn't be disrupted, etc.), but students cannot just alter their field schedule without professional communication and approval.

Basically, it's a little case-by-case, but generally we just keep track of hours in one place and make sure students understand they cannot fast-track their way through their practicum.

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Alexander Rubin
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Similarly to what others have said, we do allow students to log any hours they complete over the minimum requirement, while being clear that this does not mean they are able to end early. We give students a window for finishing their placement which is typically up to 2 week prior to the end of the semester, but not sooner. We do also have a rule for our employer based students that they cannot log more than 20 hours per week even if they work fulltime, because we want them to progress at a reasonably similar pace to other students. That being said, some students do ultimately log significantly over the requirement by the end of the placement.

Best,

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Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501
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Original Message:
Sent: Dec 21, 2024 10:36
From: Alexander Rubin
Subject: Policies Related to Students Over Practicum Hours

We have our students log all of their hours in our software, including any that are over the required amount. Logistically it would be difficult to track everything if "standard" hours were entered in our software, and supplemental hours were logged somewhere else. Whether the student voluntarily attends extra hours for more learning time, or the agency requires them to attend an orientation/special event, we tell students to log everything with the caveat that they are not permitted to end field early just because they are ahead on hours. We are very clear that field is a course, and like any course it stretches for the duration of the entire semester(s). We also advise students that extra hours should be treated as a safety net should anything come up during the year that disrupts their attendance (illness, injury, family emergencies, weather closures, etc.), thus minimizing the amount of make-up hours they need to complete if they have extra hours on hand. That being said, in the event that a student is so significantly ahead on hours, we may permit them to decrease their hours in the final week or two of the semester (this is contingent on agency approval, making sure client services wouldn't be disrupted, etc.), but students cannot just alter their field schedule without professional communication and approval.

Basically, it's a little case-by-case, but generally we just keep track of hours in one place and make sure students understand they cannot fast-track their way through their practicum.

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Alexander Rubin
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