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Running head: ONLINE RN-BSN NURSING PROGRAM
Online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) Degree Completion Program at California State University Dominguez Hills
Michelle Justis RN, BSN
California State University, Los Angeles
Online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) Degree Completion Program at California State University Dominguez Hills is the program selected for review.
The Bachelor of Science (BSN) in Nursing curriculum is for registered nurses who are adult students whose schedule or lifestyles make it complicated to finish a conventional course of study on a campus. All BSN courses, together with clinical role performance courses, are obtainable online through the Internet to bring the curriculum wherever and whenever the student is ready to learn. The courses must be finished within the semester, but students have the flexibility of retrieving the courses most convenient to them for completing assignments by the due dates. A few online courses may necessitate students to attend an onsite class, either on campus or at chosen sites throughout California.
The School of Nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
A minimum of 120 semester units are mandatory for the degree. In adjunct to the major,
students must complete general education requirements. Students transferring from a community college can transfer a limit of 70 units and students from a four-year institution may transfer a maximum of 96 units. Electives are not obligatory unless needed to finish degree requirements.
A. Support Courses (12 units)
Cultural Diversity and Health Care (3) BSN 306
Life Cycle (3) BSN 315
Human Pathophysiology (3) BSN 346
Statistics (3) BSN 405
B. Integrated Nursing Courses (37 units)
Professional Nursing Concepts (3) BSN 302
Professional Collaboration in Nursing Practice (3) BSN 340
Health Assessment (3) BSN 380
Health Assessment Skills Laboratory (1) BSN 381
Health Promotion and Teaching (3) BSN 400
Community Based Nursing I (3) BSN 410
Home Health Role Performance (2) BSN 411
Community Based Nursing II (3) BSN 420
Public Health Role Performance (2) BSN 421
Health Care Systems, Policy and Finance (3) BSN 430
Professional Nursing Roles (3) BSN 440
Nursing Leadership & Management (3) BSN 450
Leadership & Management Role Performance (3) BSN 451
Research in Nursing Practice (3) BSN 460
C. Electives (11-15 units)
Complementary and Alternative Health Care Modalities (1) BSN 325
Biochemistry (4) BSN 335
Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care (1) BSN 416
Nursing and Telehealth (2) BSN 426
Health and the Global Village (1) BSN 456
Independent Study (1-3) BSN 494
Special Topics/Colloquia (1-3) BSN 495
The faculty is all MSN, or Doctorate prepared nurses with years of experience in teaching. Many educators however, are new to online distance teaching and are still learning to use the online distance learning approach. They are currently using the Blackboard system as a course management system to manage their distance learning classes. In my experience, when taking a nursing research classes at this institution. They used individual and group learning techniques. They have groups that work together on papers or discussion questions. Some classes do online chats with the students, others do not. In my research class, we never used synchronous chat. They have online quizzes that were multiple choice, True /False and essay. They use PowerPoint for lectures, review of material and required reading assignments. Assigned journal articles sometimes were emailed or hyperlink to location to find required article. Uploaded course documents (PDFs, Word, Excel, MP3s, videos, etc.) are used also. They offer syllabus, grades, assignments and hyperlinks to important websites of interest.
An instructor from this institution gives their perspective of this online nursing program and Blackboard use.
"Blackboard is really no different from other commercial course management systems that are on the market. Blackboard has gone through several (6, I think) upgrades, so it is constantly changing. I feel that Blackboard course management systems are not specific to content. I think just about any topic or subject matter can be delivered in an online venue, but there is special pedagogy involved to deliver courses at a distance. Nursing content is no exception. This is not a limitation of the platform, but the skill of the person writing and delivering elements of the course. I have observed distance courses done well, and some that were done poorly. There is much to be learned about distance delivery, and most educators have little exposure to the instructional design elements that maximize the platform. The only down-side of any course management system is that users (both faculty and students) need to be trained in its use - neither happens in our program."
In researching CSUDH website on blackboard. There are online tutorials that are offered for the students and educators. They do not offer classes. In my experience as a student, I never used the tutorial and learned on my own. From another nurse educator's perspective, they stated, "that the tutorial was ineffective and useless. They stated that the features were archaic and time intensive. An example they used was that they wanted to respond to student and was unable to respond easily. Their suggestion was to have an individual reply window come up when replying to discussion boards responses to make it easier".
CSUDH nursing philosophy states, "We value ongoing opportunities to employ technological advances to make higher-degree programs accessible to registered nurses locally, nationally and internationally using distance education delivery systems. We believe that education is a shared undertaking wherein the faculty is the facilitator and the learner is an active participant in knowledge development using technology and student-centered learning activities. Further, we believe that learning is lifelong, and includes all facets of the adult learners' environment - home, workplace and society (CSUDH RN to BSN Online Nursing Program, 2009) ".
Adult learning theory is used in this online nursing program. The university has a Department for students with disabilities that would suggest proper accommodations for any nursing student with disabilities.
I think the strengths are the accessibility of online classes for working, busy nurses is who want to advance their careers. The online platform assists those students. The weakness is that most educators have little exposure to instructional design that could maximize Blackboard and the students learning. My suggestions are to have more classes to help maximize instruction design. However, there is the problem of educators making it a priority and taking the classes that offered due to time restraint. This is why I am taking this distance learning class as a future nurse educator.
Appendix A. References
CSUDH RN to BSN Online Nursing Program. (2009). Retrieved on April 14, 2009 from: http://www.csudh.edu/hhs/son/philosophy.htm