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services field education programs, this is being
challenged by the increasing preference of students
for various means of communication alternate to
the traditional telephone, face to face interview
and group seminars. The amount, type and means
of communication required by the increasing num-
ber of students undertaking overseas placements
provide visible indicators of this. Tesoriero and
Rajaratnam (2001) acknowledge the importance
of regular ongoing communication in a variety
of ways ancillary to, as well as in support of, the
on-site supervision.
The four models of international field education
experience identified by Pettys (2005) in a study
of twenty-one schools of social work in the United
States provides a useful framework for reflecting
upon the use of ICT with overseas students from
RMIT University between 2005 and 2008. These
four models are the:
her supervisor as 'excellent, in both spoken and
written Spanish' (Final Report, 2006) enabled
her to carry out a much needed qualitative evalu-
ation of the non government organization which
worked primarily in maternal and child health.
Considerable individual briefing was provided pre
and post placement. Regardless of the supervision
and support provided in-country the expectation
of regular communication with the home school
has been clearly stated in student feedback.
In the past at RMIT University, we have ap-
proved other placements of similar nature arising
from a lecturer's connections for the “one-time”
learning opportunity in another country (e.g.
Zambia, Cambodia). Given the nature of this
model students in this category may not be sub-
jected to the same pre-placement procedures or
pre-departure briefings.
Accessing and negotiating an appropriate
organization for students seeking return to their
country of origin may be time consuming for
all parties. Planning for the placement in South
America was facilitated by one of the student's
relatives who worked in human services in that
country.A contrast to this is finding an appropriate
venue for a student returning to Ethiopia for her
final placement. Contacts through International
NGOs and informal academic networks were
discouraging. The unforeseen opportunity arose
whilst one of the field education coordinators was
scanning the e-mailed Newsletter of a Global Hu-
man Rights Network and found an advertisement
for a project worker with a local community orga-
nization working with women in Addis Ababa, an
area of particular interest to the student. A speedy
response came from the Newsletter editor to the
request for contact details.
1.
Independent/ one-time placement model;
2.
Neighbor-country model;
3.
On-site model; (and)
4.
Exchange/ reciprocal model.
Each of these models is considered below.
1. independent/ one-time placement
This model, regarding the placement of an indi-
vidual student in a host agency is 'usually driven
by student interest and/ or experience in a specific
geographic region' (Pettys et al, 2005, p.282). In
RMIT's program this applies predominantly to
students keen to use their placement as grounds
for return to their country of origin. Our approval
for this is conditional upon the student having
strong family connections and supports in that
country as well as access to an agency with avail-
able professional supervision during placement.
Such was the case for a student on placement in
SouthAmerica who had previous travel experience
there as well as a command of the local language.
The student's communication skills, assessed by
2. neighbor-country model
The “neighbor-country” model which involves
links 'with social work programs which were
geographically located close to an international
border' (Pettys et al, 2005, p.283) refers in the
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