Meeting Carnegie
Unit Requirements in
an Online
Environment
Social Work Distance Education Conference
April 16, 2015
Learning Objectives
By the end of this presentation, you will be
able to:
 Outline a brief history of the Carnegie unit/student hour
 Describe what other MSW programs are doing to meet
Carnegie unit requirements
 Access a list of resources describing activities that meet
Carnegie units in an online environment
Brief History of Distance
Learning
 1728 – Boston newspaper publishes offering of
correspondence course.
 19th Century – advancement of postal service provided
opportunities for correspondence courses by mail.
 1951 – City Colleges of Chicago offer college credit for
courses delivered via television
 1994 – first fully online courses emerge. Students participate
in discussions, lectures, and projects entirely through the
computer.
What is Online Learning?
 Learning delivered by web-based or internet-based
technologies.
 Platform for delivering course content.
Why Online Learning in Social Work?
 Program suitable for working professionals.
 Reaches a more diverse student population.
 Provides 24/7 accessibility to course materials.
 Enhances student-to-student and faculty-to-student
communication via discussion boards, chats, and emails.
 Resolves campus space issues.
What is a Carnegie Unit?
 The “Carnegie Unit” and “credit hour” are time-based references
for measuring educational attainment used by American
universities and colleges
 A Carnegie Unit assesses secondary school attainment
 A credit hour (derived from the Carnegie Unit) assesses postsecondary school attainment
 Credit hour = one clock-hour (50 minutes)of lecture time for a
single student per week over the course of a semester
 One hour of instruction + two hours of prep. For a 3-credit class,
this translates roughly to 45 hours of instruction and an additional
90 hours of preparation
Does Time = Quality?
 Howard, H. (1965). The Carnegie Unit: Is this
bugaboo still with us?
 Dettre, A. (1975). The Carnegie Unit: A doubtful
practice.
 Kiker, J. (2007). Move beyond “seat time” and
narrowly defined knowledge and skills.
 “All accredited programs are subject to the
same accreditation standards and review criteria
by the Commission on Accreditation, regardless
of the curriculum delivery methods used” (CSWE,
2015, para. 1).
Activities that “Count”
toward Academic
Engagement
 Submitting an assignment
 Listening to lectures or webinars
 Taking an exam
 Completing an interactive tutorial (or computerassisted instruction)
 Attending a study group assigned by the instructor
 Contributing to an academic online discussion
 Initiating contact with faculty re: academic subject
 Conducting laboratory work
Activities that “Count”
toward Preparation
 Homework
 Reading and study time
 Completing assignments and projects
 NOTE: Academic engagement = 45 hours/semester
whereas Preparation = 90 hours/semester for a 3-unit
course
Resources & Best Practices
 Distance Education Accrediting Commission
 Documenting credit hours
 Online Teaching Activity Index
 Your University’s Tech Office (Blackboard, Moodle,
Softchalk, general training, etc.)
 Require equivalencies in syllabi re: the mechanisms
used to meet Carnegie Units
 Evaluate based on standards, not just time (see
SREB example)
THANK YOU!
Jodi L. Constantine Brown, Ph.D.
Director of Online & Offsite Programs
California State University, Northridge
Thank You!
jodi.brown@csun.edu
818-677-6010 (direct line)