Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Alan K. Cohen
Committee Member
Ronald C. Kroll
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
accreditation, advanced standing programs, budgeting, Council on Social Work Education, distance education, educational needs assessment, extension education, faculty attitudes, faculty training, focus groups, formative evaluation, graduate study, Master of Social Work, needs assessment, occupational needs assessment, off-campus programs, online learning, program design, program evaluation, program sustainability, resource planning, social work education, social work practice, stakeholder feedback, student satisfaction, summative evaluation, telephone interviews, University of Southern Indiana, Indiana State University, Web-based programs, willingness to enroll
Abstract
The purposes of this project were to design and implement an educational and occupational needs assessment and a review of existing accredited off-campus Master of Social Work (MSW) programs and to design an off-campus MSW program that would meet current and future demand for the program. The research questions for this project addressed what constituted a good needs assessment, whether students would be willing to enroll in a distance education program, how Council on Social Work Education standards applied to this program model, how the program should be staffed, what other resources were needed for this program, what should be included in the budget, how the program should be evaluated, and what were the indicators of program sustainability.
An educational and occupational needs assessment, focus groups, and telephone interviews about existing programs provided the basis for the design of an off-campus program. A formative committee composed of key stakeholders from the University of Southern Indiana and Indiana State University reviewed and provided feedback about all instruments that were used in this project. The summative committee, which was composed of experts in off-campus MSW program design and CSWE program accreditation requirements and was external to the University of Southern Indiana and Indiana State University, validated the final proposed program plan.
Results of the needs assessment survey and potential student focus group revealed a group of students willing to enroll in a distance education MSW program with some face-to-face classes. Analysis of the MSW faculty focus group identified a willingness to pursue analysis of the need for an off-campus MSW program but some hesitancy to develop an online MSW program. Issues that were raised by the faculty were addressed in the recommendations. Recommendations included the development of a Web-based, advanced standing MSW program that would include some face-to-face classes, especially for social work practice, and training for the faculty in the area of online technology. Other recommendations included a program evaluation model that would assess both student and faculty satisfaction with the program, and production of scholarly work on this topic due the gap in the literature regarding online MSW degrees.