BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
FIELD EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
ADVISORS MEETING
April 1, 2015
Minutes
1. Announcements
a. Travel
BU has instituted a new system for travel reimbursement submissions. Alicia
explained the process for advisors to submit their travel expenses to her and she is
also sending this information to you electronically.
b. Final field grades
Please notify us of any students who are extending their placement beyond May 1
so we can give them an incomplete which allows them to continue to be covered
under the University’s liability insurance. Grades will be changed to a Pass once the
placement is complete: foundation students’ grades will be changed at the end of
June; advanced year students’ grades will be changed as soon as they complete the
placement.
c. Availability for advising next year;
Please let us know whether you would like to continue advising next year, the
number of advisees you want and whether there are any agencies or students with
whom you do or do not want to continue. We also asked the students to let us
know about their preferences as well although the assumption is that most students
will continue with their advisor for their tenure at BUSSW. We will have a better
idea about our need for advising in the summer so assignment loads may be
increased or decreased slightly.
d. A request for nominations for Excellence in Field Instruction awards have been sent
to all students and advisors. We will send a reminder next week. Deadline for
nominations is April 17.
e. Field Instructor Appreciation Breakfast is May 20 in the School of Management
Building. Excellence in Field Instruction awards will be given out then.
f. Next year we once again welcome your participation in the Orientation for Incoming
Students on Thursday, Sept. 3. More specific information about this opportunity to
meet your foundation year students will be sent over the summer.
2. Update on Placement Process
98% of the advanced year clinical students have been confirmed for next year and the
remaining handful of students are in process. The placement process for macro students is
a bit later so about 7 are confirmed, another 5-6 are in the process of interviewing, and the
remaining 3-4 should be interviewing shortly. We have also placed the part-time foundation
students and have started meeting and placing the incoming foundation students.
3. Small group discussions
The remainder of the meeting was spent in small groups addressing the following questions.
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Advising situations/challenges encountered this year
New advising strategies tried and outcomes (positive or not)
Ideas for advisor meetings for next year
o Advising issues/topics
o Faculty guest speakers
o Any advisors who would like to provide a workshop
o Other ideas
Recommendations from Small Groups
Group 1
 Discussed pros and cons of staying with student vs. staying with agency;
 Concerns about problem resolution process which at times seems too generous
towards the student;
 Recommended revising advisor meeting schedule, perhaps including some distance
conference options for those who live at a distance.
Group 2
 Discussed having to chase field instructors and students
 Question about whether advisors have the authority to push back
 Concerns about how to work with the students’ reflection assignments
Group 3
 Discussed concerns about building relationships with advanced standing students
and with part-time students who are not-in-field, or in a dual degree program in
their other school.
Group 4
 Concerns about quality of supervision
 Field instructors not using process recordings as teaching tool and recommended
having students email the process recording to both the advisor and the field
instructor
Recommendations for topics/change in the Advisors meeting:
 More time to talk with each other about the advising work
 How to work with difficult or unavailable field instructors
 How to give feedback on the reflection assignment.