All Council on Social Work Education accredited BSW programs are required to provide a minimum of 400 clock hours of field instruction as part of the degree requirements. At NMU, placement is structured as an academic year-long sequence of two courses (SW 480 fall and SW 481 winter). Students must apply for field placement during the winter term by February 1 in order to be assigned a placement location for the following fall term. Students typically spend about 14-16 hours per week in placement each semester. The courses taken concurrently with field instruction are usually scheduled one day per week in order to allow ample time for field instruction. Most placements are in the Marquette area, but placements can be arranged throughout the Upper Peninsula in order to accommodate student interests. Students are enrolled in field placement seminars (SW 473 fall and SW 474 winter) concurrently with the field placement courses. These seminars provide a forum for discussing field placement experiences and a means of integrating classroom learning with the field. Students also take courses on policy, on practice with human diversity and on practice evaluation. Field placements often serve as the setting for carrying out assignments from these courses.
Detailed information on field instruction is available at our field instruction manual.
For more information, please contact:
Cornell DeJong, Field Coordinator
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Avenue
Marquette, MI 49855
Phone: 906-227-2842
Email: cdejong@nmu.edu
