Connections February 2011
Fordham University to Offer Online Master of Social Work Degree
Dr. Dale Lindquist
Fordham University

Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Service (GSSS) will offer an online Master of Social Work (MSW) Degree beginning in September 2011. The online MSW will be a 66-credit, 20-course program that will provide the same foundation and advanced courses as the current on-campus MSW program. In addition to the program's online courses, students will meet at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, twice a year, for an opportunity to meet and work with their fellow online colleagues, faculty and staff.

Of the top twenty Social Work programs ranked by the U.S. News & World Report, Fordham's is the only MSW to be offered online.

The new online MSW degree will produce the following benefits for Fordham's Social Service School:

• Generate national brand exposure for the Fordham MSW program
• Capture new online students otherwise unattainable due to location
• Extend Fordham missions by offering programs via online learning to underserved regions and populations
• Offer superior competency-based learning based upon Ignatian pedagogy
• Create a new and growing source of revenue.

As with the current on-campus MSW, the online MSW will require a combination of classes focused on social work theory and field work where the theory is put into practice. As part of their field work, students will participate in a monthly integrative seminar to further enhance the connection between their classroom and field learning. The online MSW degree will qualify graduates to take the certification or licensing examination in their home states, which is currently required in most states and is a crucial qualification for employment as a social worker.

Under the leadership of GSSS Dean Peter Vaughan, two faculty committees in distance education and in marketing have been addressing a wide range of online MSW curriculum development, student support, faculty training, and program promotion issues. Dean Vaughan notes that "As we move forward with online learning, we are carrying to the world a different kind of education. Our education really does embody the whole progressiveness of a Jesuit institution and the Jesuit way of thinking and caring for people."

A collaborative team of GSSS faculty, Fordham's Instructional Technology Academic Computing (ITAC) department, and JesuitNET staff will develop the online MSW courses based on the Competency Assessment in Distributed Education (CADE) model. The CADE course design process uses evidence-based design to identify and assess student competencies, and cognitive apprenticeship along with Ignatian pedagogical concepts to promote student mastery of higher-level thinking skills. JesuitNET and ITAC instructional technologists will produce the media elements and course infrastructure for the MSW program.

For the past year GSSS faculty have been at work designing and developing the courses that will be offered for the foundation year. Additional groups of 5-6 courses will be developed annually until the full online curriculum has been completed. The online program will be part time, and take approximately 3 ½ years to complete. Dr. Dale Lindquist, Fordham’s Online MSW Program Coordinator, sees the online option as “an opportunity for people dedicated to social service to obtain an MSW degree who, due to geographic location or personal circumstance, would not otherwise have access to a social work education.”

Working with GSSS faculty and administration, and the Fordham University marketing department, JesuitNET will prepare and manage an ongoing marketing effort for the online MSW program. Program marketing will encompass multiple media venues targeted to reach potential, qualified students for the online MSW program. The proposed media mix includes online lead generation, online banner advertising, print advertising, sponsorship and advertising at professional conferences, as well as general public relations and outreach to GSSS alumni.