Rosalyn Deckerhoff named first Director of Online Field Education

With the growth of online programs, a continuous challenge remains to constantly improve and innovate. A step in that direction for the FSU College of Social Work will include the establishment of a position to oversee field education for online programs. Associate Teaching Professor Rosalyn Deckerhoff will take on this role starting at the beginning of the spring 2018 semester.

“Without regular face-to-face contact, online students entering field face different challenges than our main campus students,” Deckerhoff explains. “ The goal is to make the field placement process as seamless as possible for online students, whether they are in Florida or out of the state.  And, to increase FSU’s presence in different areas of the country as we expand our online program.  This will require a point of contact for new agencies that we will want to partner with and use as placement sites for our online students.

Deckerhoff will be leading the development of new and innovative ways in which the FSU College of Social Work along with its faculty and area coordinators can interact with distance learning students. This includes utilizing digital communications like webinars and Skype.

“We want to make sure online students are getting correct and timely communications. It will be a learning process to see what works and what doesn’t, but we are working toward improved communication and consistency across the board for our online students entering field

She also noted how important this is for online students, who are often very committed and organized because they are quite often already working part-time or full-time and have a busy family and social commitments. “They do a good job of juggling a lot of responsibilities and bring a lot of knowledge to the class environment,” Deckerhoff said.

Ms. Deckerhoff will continue to teach online, including a field placement seminar class for graduate students. But, she transitions over to this new role as Director of Field for Online Programs she will no longer serve as the area coordinator for Tampa and South Florida.