Meeting Carnegie Unit Requirements in an Online Environment Social Work Distance Education Conference April 16, 2015

Learning Objectives By the end of this presentation, you will be able to:  Outline a brief history of the Carnegie unit/student hour  Describe what other MSW programs are doing to meet Carnegie unit requirements  Access a list of resources describing activities that meet Carnegie units in an online environment

Brief History of Distance Learning  1728 – Boston newspaper publishes offering of correspondence course.  19 th Century – advancement of postal service provided opportunities for correspondence courses by mail.  1951 – City Colleges of Chicago offer college credit for courses delivered via television  1994 – first fully online courses emerge. Students participate in discussions, lectures, and projects entirely through the computer.

What is Online Learning?  Learning delivered by web-based or internet-based technologies.  Platform for delivering course content.  Program suitable for working professionals.  Reaches a more diverse student population.  Provides 24/7 accessibility to course materials.  Enhances student-to-student and faculty-to-student communication via discussion boards, chats, and s.  Resolves campus space issues. Why Online Learning in Social Work?

What is a Carnegie Unit?  The “Carnegie Unit” and “credit hour” are time-based references for measuring educational attainment used by American universities and colleges  A Carnegie Unit assesses secondary school attainment  A credit hour (derived from the Carnegie Unit) assesses post- secondary school attainment  Credit hour = one clock-hour (50 minutes)of lecture time for a single student per week over the course of a semester  One hour of instruction + two hours of prep. For a 3-credit class, this translates roughly to 45 hours of instruction and an additional 90 hours of preparation

Does Time = Quality?  Howard, H. (1965). The Carnegie Unit: Is this bugaboo still with us?  Dettre, A. (1975). The Carnegie Unit: A doubtful practice.  Kiker, J. (2007). Move beyond “seat time” and narrowly defined knowledge and skills.  “All accredited programs are subject to the same accreditation standards and review criteria by the Commission on Accreditation, regardless of the curriculum delivery methods used” (CSWE, 2015, para. 1).

Activities that “Count” toward Academic Engagement  Submitting an assignment  Listening to lectures or webinars  Taking an exam  Completing an interactive tutorial (or computer- assisted instruction)  Attending a study group assigned by the instructor  Contributing to an academic online discussion  Initiating contact with faculty re: academic subject  Conducting laboratory work

Activities that “Count” toward Preparation  Homework  Reading and study time  Completing assignments and projects  NOTE: Academic engagement = 45 hours/semester whereas Preparation = 90 hours/semester for a 3-unit course

Resources & Best Practices  Distance Education Accrediting Commission Distance Education Accrediting Commission  Documenting credit hours Documenting credit hours  Online Teaching Activity Index Online Teaching Activity Index  Your University’s Tech Office (Blackboard, Moodle, Softchalk, general training, etc.) Softchalk  Require equivalencies in syllabi re: the mechanisms used to meet Carnegie Units  Evaluate based on standards, not just time (see SREB example) SREB

Thank You! THANK YOU! Jodi L. Constantine Brown, Ph.D. Director of Online & Offsite Programs California State University, Northridge (direct line)