The traditional MSW program is a two-year, full-time option but this program can also be spread over 3 or 4 years on a part-time basis, both in-person and online.
Registration Instructions:
Course Delivery Methods (asynchronous vs. synchronous classes)
Registration Window
All students receive an email from the Registrar’s office stating when their registration window will be posted. The date and time posted on your Student Center is actually when you are able to register for courses.
Prior to your registration window being posted on your Student Center, you can find a date range of when you will register for courses on the Registrar’s website at http://registrar.osu.edu/registration/. Click on current term under “Important Dates”. If you scroll down, you’ll find a window that lists when students will schedule based on rank.
To view the Traditional Timelines:
Elective Options (PDF)
MSW Curriculum Important Information
View a list of course descriptions: Online MSW Course Descriptions
Foundational Courses (19 hours):
SWK 6201 – Social & Economic Justice
SWK 6202 – Diversity & Cultural Competence
SWK 6301 – Social Work Perspectives on Development and Behavior Across the Lifespan
SWK 6302 – Organizational & Community Systems
SWK 6401 – Engaging with Evidence
SWK 6501 – Generalist Practice with Individuals, Families & Groups
SWK 6601 – Professional Values & Ethics
Area of Emphasis (6 hours): (PDF)
Students must select an area of emphasis and complete both integrated seminars for that area of emphasis. Please plan carefully as not all seminars may not be offered each semester.
Aging and Health: SWK 7610 & SWK 7611
Mental Health and Substance Abuse: SWK 7620 & SWK 7621
Children and Youth Services: SWK 7630 & SWK 7631
Community and Social Justice: SWK 7640 & SWK 7641
Advanced Practice Method Courses (12 hours):
Students must take 12 credit hours of Advanced Practice Methods courses with at least one course from the micro-level group and one course from the macro-level group. Please plan carefully as not all advanced practice method courses are offered each semester.
Micro:
SWK 7510 – Strengths-based Clinical SW with Individual Adults
SWK 7511 – Clinical SW with Children & Adolescents
SWK 7512 – Clinical SW Practice with Couples & Families
SWK 7513 – Clinical SW with Groups
SWK 7514 – Behavioral Methods in Social Work
SWK 7515 – Crisis Intervention & Trauma Treatment
SWK 7516 – Assessment & Diagnosis in Social Work Practice
SWK 7517 – Social Work Practice in Schools
SWK 7518 – Advanced Case Management
SWK 7519 –Motivational Interviewing
SWK 7520 – Pharmacotherapy in Social Work
SWK 7521– Evidence-based Substance Abuse Treatment
SWK 7523 – Clinical Social Work Practice with Older Adults
Macro:
SWK 7530 – Needs Assessment & Program Design
SWK 7531 – Resource Acquisition for Human Service Organizations
SWK 7532 – Supervision and Human Resource Management
SWK 7533 – Financial Management
SWK 7534 – Prevention Strategies in Practice
SWK 7550 – Community Practice & Development
SWK 7551 – Strategic Planning for Organizational & Community Change
SWK 7570 – Policy Analysis & Social Legislation Processes
Evaluation Project (6 hours):
A two-semester sequence that focuses on practice or program evaluation. The first semester teaches you how to evaluate client or programmatic outcomes and finishes with students developing a proposal for conducting an evaluation as part of their field education requirement. During the second semester, students will implement their proposed projects and submit a final report on the evaluation outcomes at the end of the second semester. Students choose to focus on either practice evaluation using single-case designs to evaluate treatment outcomes with individuals, couples, families, or small groups or program evaluation group designs that evaluate the outcomes of programs. The same instructor will teach both courses and both courses must be taken congruently with SWK 7189- Advanced Field Education
SWK 7401– Evaluating Social Work Practice
SWK 7402– Applied Practice Evaluation
Practicum Education (11 hours):
Students must complete a total of 896 hours of field education (not including 4 hours from SWK 6188). Foundation field (Spring Semester) = 224 hours; Advanced Field = 672 hours. For SWK 7189, the ‘Sections’ of the class now correlate with the number of credit hours you need (ex: 0020 = 2 credit hours, 0030 = 3 credit hours, 0040 = 4 credit hours). Section info is highlighted in example below:
SWK 6188- Foundation Field Education
SWK 6189- Foundation Field Education
SWK 7189- Advanced Field Education
- If your course plan calls for you to enroll in 4 credit hours of 7189 you can register independently– make sure you choose the section that says ’0040′.
- If your course plan calls for you to enroll in between 1-3 credit hours of 7189, your advisor will need to do this for you.
Electives (9 hours):
Electives can be any graduate level course at the University 5000 level or higher. A list of SWK elective courses can be found on our website.
CAEC: Culminating Assessment of Educational Competency (0 hrs)
Capstone assessment of social work competencies during final semester. Non-credit bearing; graded based on completion and not performance. Assists with social work licensure exam preparation.
Resources:
Non-Graduate Credit. A student enrolled in the Graduate School does not earn graduate credit for any of the following reasons: the course is numbered at the 3999-level or below; the course is numbered at the 4000-4999 level in the student’s own academic unit; the course is one of the following foreign language courses: German 6101 or 6102, Russian 6171 or 6172, French 6571 or 6572; the course is one of the following ESL courses: EDUTL 5901, 5902, 5050, or 5060; the course is designated “non-graduate credit” (undergraduate “UG” option) by the student’s advisor at the time the student registers or adds the course; or the course is taught by a graduate student enrolled at this university. A student registered for a non-graduate credit course must complete the course requirements. A grade is reported by the instructor. The course title, credit hours, and grade appear on the student’s official permanent record. The credit hours are not included in the cumulative or earned graduate credit hours, and the credit points are not included in the cumulative points. The Course Enrollment Permission form or change ticket is marked with a “UG” to indicate that the course is a non-graduate credit course.