Flexibility of Online MS in Nursing Program Brings Dream within Reach
Kathy Edwards always dreamed of going back to school to get her master's degree, but it wasn't until she found the Master of Science Nursing program at American Sentinel University that she felt ready to pursue her goal. "I chose American Sentinel because...I was looking for something where I could go according to my schedule," she said.
As a full-time nurse, the flexibility of her online distance education courses at American Sentinel allows her to work around her nursing schedule by studying and completing course assignments during evening and weekend hours. Not having to drive to a college campus has also been a very big advantage of online learning, she said. "[After] I've worked all day, I can make dinner and do my yard work...or go grocery shopping, do what I need to do then go online. And then if I feel like I need to stay up until twelve or one o'clock I can, but I try to pace myself for the week. I set a goal for the week and keep to it."
Smaller classes a better fit
When Edwards began her studies three years ago, she was admittedly nervous. However, the one-on-one attention she received from her professors put her at ease quickly and made her feel confident in her decision to attend American Sentinel. Edwards said she tried an online program at another institution prior to choosing American Sentinel in which she was one of 60 students in her class. "I just knew it wasn't the right time or the right program for me. So I got out of it really quickly," she said. "Too many people...it was just overwhelming. Now there's a smaller group -- a group of three, five, maybe six people total...it's not overwhelming for me."
"The thing that [is] really nice is that...we come from different backgrounds, but we are talking and doing the same thing. I thought it was kind of interesting that even though we are all in different places around the country, we all have the same agenda and the same things going on in our [nursing] facilities."
The courses that Edwards takes at American Sentinel don't follow a traditional semester system, she said. Rather, the university follows a block system where each course is two-months in length. During that time, she must complete reading assignments, write research papers and participate in online discussions in a private forum for each of her classes. When she decides to login to her online learning environment is completely at her discretion, though she does need to go in a certain number of times each week. "In general it's like three or four times [a week]...but I think each class is different," she said. "And then you also have a timeline in which to send in your papers."
American Sentinel utilizes Moodle (read about Moodle and other Virtual Laearning Environments) to host its online classrooms -- a popular platform that students can access from any computer with Internet access, as there is no software to download. "Even I can do it, so it's pretty simple," Edwards said.
100% online study
There are no offline labs or other hands-on component to the master's degree program -- it is entirely online. "We have had the sciences before when we were getting our 4-year degree, so there's been a whole gamut of anatomy and physiology and all sorts of chemistry and biology," she said. "So generally, it's more the bookwork. It's more looking at running things, the financial part of it, just the whole background of the healthcare industry. The history of health, rules, and legislation."
Although Edwards and her classmates have some flexibility regarding the pace of their courses, instructors try to structure the classes so that every student is learning the material at the same time. "They prefer to have people [learning] together so that you're talking about the same information at the same time," she said.
According to Edwards, her teachers give the class a plan for the upcoming week, including a topic for discussion that the class will research and talk about in the discussion forums. "They'll say we are going to bring up this topic and talk about...this particular thing that is going on in healthcare. And then during the week, that's what we bring up in our discussions...bring up some articles or something that happened in our past."
In addition to the discussion forums, Edwards communicates with her instructors via email and occasionally by telephone, she said.
Since Edwards started the program three years ago, she has consistently been taking three classes throughout the year, she said. With two more classes to go, she expects to finish her degree in November or December of 2010. Regarding the number of classes she takes per year, Edwards said, "I'm probably not the norm for the school I am going to, but it works for me. That's why I chose [American Sentinel]."
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