Spotlight on Distance/Online Learning: California State University, Long Beach

By S. Jolene Hui, LCSW, NASW-CA Director of Membership

Although online MSW are becoming increasingly popular due to the flexibility for working professionals, there is another, non-traditional, option that some often forget about: distance education.

While most online/virtual programs function solely with technology and through online courses, distance learning operates in-person at locations in more remote areas to reach students that may be too far to commute to a main campus.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has offered a distance program since 1995. In addition to its traditional programs at the main campus, it added a distance program because, “Data showed that the most vulnerable citizens of California were significantly underserved in terms of their access to MSWs,” says Dr. Marilyn Potts, CSULB’s distance education coordinator.

Over the years, the program has been offered to many different campuses across the state. From 2013-2016, it was located at both Santa Rosa Junior College and Ventura County Community College and have continued there for 2016-2019.

Dr. Potts explained that students meet in person at the off-campus sites on Saturday where, “real-time interaction can occur, which we believe is optimal for professional social work education.”

Faculty members are broadcast from CSU Long Beach and faculty and students see each other on large screens at their respective locations. The faculty members visit each site in-person twice per semester. In addition, local site coordinators are onsite for every class session. The site coordinators also develop field placements and match students to their first and second year placements.

The program admits a new cohort every three years. The 20 to 25 new students at each site total 40 to 50 graduates per cycle. When the class of 2016 graduated, it added approximately 375 professionals to the work force. The most recent class—which will graduate in 2019—began last fall.

“The value in our program in general is the augmentation of professional social work resources in underserved areas,” says Dr. Potts. “The demand is clearly present, as evidenced by the fact that we have always had two to three times as many applicants as we can admit.”

She continues: “After many years of comparing grades, faculty evaluations, student satisfactions levels, and field instructor competency ratings, we are confident that our distance education students receive an education at least equivalent to that received by students on our main campus.”

Please click on the following link for more information about applying to the program: https://web.csulb.edu/colleges/chhs/departments/social-work/distance-education/

Jolene Hui, LCSW, is NASW-CA’s director of membership and can be reached at jhui@naswca.org.