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  • 1.  Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 11 days ago

    Hi all

    Would folks be willing to share the max size / cap of their practicum (BSW or MSW) courses? We are getting pressure to have more students, while I think more than 10 is too big. Thoughts and formal policies?

    Thanks!

    -Megan 



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    Megan Crowe-Rothstein
    BSW Field Director
    Lesley University
    Cambridge MA
    617-349-8312
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  • 2.  RE: Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 11 days ago

    I hear your concern about practicum class sizes. We've typically capped the "field seminar" course at 20 and found that this "works," particularly if students are also using their web based resources. (We have "Canvas" for all courses and in addition we use Sonya with our field students, encouraging students to raise and share issues & questions on-line.  This also makes seminar more efficient.)  One other detail: we strongly encourage students to raise relevant issues from field in their concurrent Practice, HBSE, Policy & Research courses, noting that while these components of our professional practice are typically taught separately, in practice (reality) the issues are predictably intermingled.  If field is our disciplines "signature pedagogy" ALL OF OUR FACULTY need to attend to and sustain this reality.

    One further observation: I have been shocked to discover how many masters level programs have essentially done away with "field seminar." I personally find this, particularly with online / distant education to be inexcusable.



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    Gary Bachman
    Emeritus Professor
    Park University
    Overland Park KS
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 10 days ago

    We try to cap ours at 10 or 12. 



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    Natasha Wright
    Fairfield University
    Hamden CT
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 10 days ago

    Our seminar courses used to be kept to about 10-12, but more recent pressures from our university have caused that to double, so we now tend to have 20-25. This is not ideal and does cause some challenges, one of which is the time it takes for the liaison teaching the course to complete site visits within each student and their placement. We are making do, we do use our LMS system to present much of the content and material to students outside of class time, and then use a lot of small groups for focused discussions. The small groups still ensure that each student has ample time to speak and reflect. I have experimented with keeping the groups consistent so that they really get to know a lot of the the placement of those in their group, and with mixing the groups more regularly so students get to hear about a wider array of settings and experiences. I think there are pros and cons of each of these. 

    We use a similar model, and class sizes in both of online and on campus programs. The seminars for our online students are asynchronous, but still focus on a lot of small group discussions both text based, and audio/video, with supplemental live zoom sessions. 

    Ultimately, while a 10-12 person seminar would likely be best, we couldn't win that battle with our institution. I don't know that the classroom portion of the experience is any worse for the students in the larger size, but the faculty workload and ability to monitor each placement as closely have been the bigger challenge.



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    Lindsey Rinehart
    Field Education Director
    West Virginia University
    Morgantown WV
    304-293-3501
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 10 days ago

    Hi Megan,

    Our BSW seminars meet once per week and are usually capped at 8 students, although on occasion have gone up to 9 and sometimes as low as 5.  MSW seminars meet once per month and are also capped at 8 students, sometimes 9.  Based on the structure of the course and assignments, this number works really well for us and it would be difficult to raise the cap.  Each student does at least once case presentation in seminar during the year (1 each semester for BSW) as well as a turn facilitating the session.  We couldn't do those things if we had more students in each section.  The small size facilitates intimacy and peer connection and sharing and keeps the site visits and problem solving work manageable for the practicum professor/liaison who teaches the course.

    Best,

    Molly



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    Molly Hogan-Fowler
    Director of Field Education
    Salem State University
    Salem MA
    978-542-2575
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Practicum course size / cap

    Posted 9 days ago

    Good morning,

    We keep it between 10-12 but also get pressure to increase the size of the seminar class.



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    [Bonnie Rinks, LCSW
    Director of Field Education
    University of Southern Indiana
    Evansville, IN 47712
    812-465-1106
    berinks@usi.edu
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    Original Message


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