This session will share the unique and comprehensive student advising model at Columbia University’s School of Social Work (CSSW), as well as how the Online Campus administration works with the Office of Advising to support the success of online students who live across the U.S.
CSSW offers a fully online Master’s of Science in Social Work degree, with field placements within 90 minutes of each student’s location. To support our online students’ success, our unique advising program encompasses both academic advising and fieldwork advising. The majority of our advisors for online students are local and meet with students in person, either one-on-one or in small groups, which means that the Office of Advising recruits, trains, and monitors advisors across the country. This remote contracting of advisors requires intensive quality control during the hiring and training process, and it also presents challenges when students’ geographic locations change from year to year. In this session, the presenters will share the logistics, challenges, and successes of this advising program model.
The Office of Advising works with students directly, and it also works with online instructors and with the Online Campus administration to support student success and address students’ issues. Online instructors and administrators consult with the Office of Advising about classroom conflicts, poor student performance, disputes about grades, and more. In this session, the presenters will share ways that the Office of Advising and Online Campus administration collaborate.
The goals for this session include:
- Describing the advising model for online students at the Columbia University School of Social Work
- Describing how the CSSW Office of Advising and Online Campus administration collaborate to support student success
- Sharing successes and challenges with providing advising services to online students
- Asking questions and discussing solutions to potential issues