Getting Started
To successfully complete your practicum, you will need to understand and meet the expectations for your field seminars and roles and responsibilities in the field. This assignment will prepare you for success by reviewing expectations for your field seminar and placement and allowing you to reflect on where you are in your development of social work competencies as you start this journey. Reflecting on your own strengths and opportunities for growth is an essential task for the developing social work professional. In this activity, you will watch a practicum overview webinar and complete a self-assessment tool that will help to clarify the social work knowledge and skills you may have already. The assessment tool will also will help you to identify necessary areas of growth, which can be addressed in field placement experiences and in your learning contract. You will complete this assessment tool twice—at the beginning of this course and at the end of the practicum—to gauge where you have shown marked improvement or change.
Resources
Textbook: The Social Work Practicum: A Guide and Workbook for Students
File: Advanced Practice Self Assessment
Webinar: Field Seminar and Practicum Overview: Field Seminar and Practicum Overview
Background Information
Self-assessments can be invaluable tools in developing your advanced professional skills for social work. This particular self-assessment has you evaluate your competencies in the nine core competencies for the social work program at the advanced level. Each student is expected to be able to show some competency in all nine areas. The areas will vary, depending both on your placement setting and on the areas in which you need or would like to grow and develop as a professional. You will use a rating to assess your abilities in the nine competency areas, and you will have an opportunity to write a qualitative reflection at the end. It is in your best interest to be honest about your competencies. You will not be graded on your current level of competency but on your honest and complete work in this assignment.
This self-assessment is a valuable tool for identifying areas that you may wish to include in your learning contract and is important for you to devote time to considering your self-assessment, as well as utilize critical thinking skills, as it is a building block for your advanced practicum. Additionally, although this self-assessment is submitted at the beginning and end of your field placement, you are advised to review it periodically during the placement terms to ensure that you are actually improving and gaining competency in the areas you identified.
Instructions
In your textbook, The Social Work Practicum: A Guide and Workbook for Students, review Chapter 1, “Purpose and Expectations for Practicum”.
Watch and listen to the Field Seminar and Practicum Overview webinar (
In a two page Word document, respond to the following prompts after watching the webinar.
Describe two areas of your writing that you need to improve to be successful in this seminar and the MSW program. Discuss what steps you will commit to improve your writing to ensure your success in the program.
Identify and discuss an area of organizational skill or time management that you need to improve. List two action steps you will take to ensure you meet assignment deadlines and stay on track with your practicum hours over the next 32 weeks.
When problems, issues or concerns arise at your filed site or with your seminar instructor, describe in detail 2 action steps you will take to help resolve the problem in a professional and respectful manner.
Copy and paste the following statement to your paper indicating your review of the webinar and your agreement. If you have additional questions for your instructor, please also include them in this section.
I have completed watching the Field Seminar and Practicum Overview Webinar and understand the expectations described for the seminar and my practicum experience. I agree that I will contact my course instructor / faculty liaison with any issues or concerns that I have about course assignments, writing, or my field experience proactively and in advance of deadlines. I will communicate appropriately with others and seek to resolve problems in a respectful and professional manner as is expected of professional social workers.
