SONIA is an online, practicum tracking platform used by U of L's Kent School of Social Work & Family Science Practicum Education Program. This software will be used for drafting and approving Competency Development Plans; viewing and approving Timesheets; and completing and approving Mid-Term and Final Evaluations. Documents such as the Practicum Education Handbook, calendars, etc. are also accessible via SONIA.
Here are the Forms in Sonia:
Action Plan
Action Plan Evaluation (Form to be completed in a follow-up meeting after Action Plan is developed.)
Competency Development Plan (for each semester)
Critical Incident Report Form
Final Evaluation Form (for each semester)
Mid-Term Evaluation Form (for each semester)
Volunteer Statement
In addition, the following information and resources are available in SONIA on the home page:
The following is a listing of the available resources:
The Practicum Education Handbook (be sure to review the Policy Section)
Practicum Calendar (listing of relevant timeframes for conferences and assignments with Practicum Faculty Liaisons)
Practicum Hour Schedule (helpful in determining if students are on track with their practicum hours)
Supervision Templates (recommended to help students learn to prepare for supervision and provide an outline for note-taking)
After students are accepted by a practicum site, their assigned Practicum Coordinator will email a SONIA Site Confidentiality Statement to be completed by the professional who is qualified to the student's assigned Task Supervisor (if applicable), and/or Practicum Instructor. After the Practicum Coordinator receives the signed forms a detailed letter is emailed that contains the person's SONIA credentials, log-in instructions, and tutorial links. Please contact the practicum office if you haven't received this, or if you are having difficulty with this: fieldedu@louisville.edu
The timesheet function in SONIA spans the academic year. Students must enter in their timesheet the: Date, Duration, Activity (itemized and described) Attendance Status, and Comment. We ask that the assigned Practicum Instructor and/or Task Supervisor, review these hours on a weekly basis so any/all discrepancies may be addressed as soon as possible.
It is really very important that students describe in the "comments" column what they are doing. The practicum office often receives from state licensing agencies forms we have to complete on graduated students that ask for specific totals on various things students may have done in practicum. The "Comments" section is where we are able to find much of this information.
BSW and 1st-Year MSSW/Generalist students are required to complete 450 hours by the end of the academic year (225 a semester), which works out to an average of 16 practicum hours a week in the fall and spring and 20-21 hours a week if they are in a practicum in the summer. If those hours are completed before the end of the semester, the student must continue at the practicum doing hours until the end of the semester.
All ADV-Standing and 2nd-Year MSSW/Specialized students are required to complete 500 hours (250 a semester) by the end of the academic year, which works out to an average of 18 hours a week in fall and spring and 22-23 hours a week in the summer if they are in a practicum in the summer. If those hours are completed before the end of the semester, the student must continue at the practicum doing hours until the end of the semester.
Go to SONIA Online, (Select Site, enter your login credentials)
Click the “Students” tab
Click the “View” button in the row of the student’s time you want to view
Click the “Timesheet” button in the upper right of the webpage
The Table will show the hours the student entered along with the activities they completed. You will see
Hours previously approved
Hours awaiting approval
Remaining hours required
As you are reviewing these remember:
Students are required to enter itemized practicum activities, comments, and accurate time increments in SONIA each day they report to practicum.
The practicum activity categories are:
Direct Services to Individuals, Couples, and Families
Direct Group Facilitation
Formal Supervision
Orientation/Professional Development
Staff/Committee Meeting
Community Activities
Administrative Activities
Research Activities
These practicum Activity categories need to be: itemized, reflecting their work based on the categories in Sonia rather than entering big blocks of time. The student should enter these in the Timesheet paired with specific and varied comments reflecting the practicum site's program/service delivery to its individual clientele or collective community. (Example: For a BSW student, they will enter itemized, specific, and varied practicum activities in their timesheet that total the 16 hours they are required to obtain on a weekly basis when scheduled at their assigned practicum site.)
On everyone's SONIA Home tab, there is a list of documents on the right, one is called "Requirement for Students Logging Time in SONIA." Please make sure your student(s) refers to that document on a daily basis and review it yourself to assure all entered time increments are accurate before approving each practicum activity.
One place where students struggle even though we have gone over this with them is how to document the time itself. For example if the student works 1 hour 15 minutes they should document this as 1.25 (since 15 minutes is a 1/4 of an hour). This is how Sonia is set. If they document it as 1.15 minutes they are actually cheating themselves of time. This can add up over the semester. Any help you can give a student on this is appreciated.
(If you want to get a general idea of how the student is doing regarding their hours go to your Sonia homepage and in the block to the right, you will see "Calendar and Schedules" . That is where you will find a listing of how many hours they should have each week totaled)
To approve the hours here is a video to show you how to do this. (This is also in Sonia.)
youtube.com/watch?v=khSoZbn9xxs
Things to Know:
Even if a student has completed the required hours for their placement, they cannot end early. (They may though adjust the weekly hours.) If the student's hours exceed the required hours for the semester, the hours still need to be approved. Many states require UofL to submit the number of hours in practicum as part of the student getting licensed in that state. Some states require more practicum hours than we require, and therefore it is important that all the student hours are approved.
If the student's hours for the first semester of the Practicum are over the required number of ours for that semester, these do NOT count toward the second semester. Each semester has to have the required number of hours (225 or 250).
After the student has successfully completed the first semester and the semester has ended, the student may choose to continue with some practicum hours over the break- if agreeable with the agency. The hours accumulated in the break do count toward the next semester. This can give the student a cushion for illness, weather, etc. Students may adjust their weekly hours also if they are ahead and that is approved by you and your agency. However, they can't end the practicum early.
Some agencies require that students commit to more hours than Kent School requires in order to be a student in that organization. If your agency is one of those agencies and the student has made the commitment to the additional hours, the student must continue with the agreement with the agency even after they surpass the required number of hours by Kent. Failure to do so may result in the student having a review by the Practicum Professional Standards Review Panel as an ethical concern.
Go to SONIA Online, (Select Site, enter your log in credentials)
Click the “Forms” tab
Review the table to find the form you want to complete
-Mid-term Evaluation
-Final Evaluation
-Critical Incident Report
-Action Plan
-Action Plan Review
Click on the small document icon on the right
Complete the form
Click "Save Draft"
To reset your password
Go to SONIA Online, (Select Site, enter your login credentials)
From the drop-down menu, select “Site”
Click the “Forgot Password” button
Enter your username which is your work email address
Check your email for instructions to reset your password.
Links to video tutorials are available in the detailed letter you received (via email) from the Practicum Coordinator/Office and in your SONIA account.
You may contact the Practicum Education Office at fieldedu@louisville.edu for further assistance.