As an online student with a full-time job, Kelle Howard stays busy.
The 40-year-old Round Rock, Texas, resident is pursuing her Ph.D. online at the University of Texas–Tyler, on top of teaching nursing at a community college and helping students prep for the exam to become an entry-level nurse during summer and winter breaks. She also has two young sons.
“My husband and I have a calendar that we use religiously,” she said via email. “I would be lost without that calendar,” especially because her husband is a firefighter who works irregular hours.
On some weekdays, Howard teaches from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then picks up her children at 3:30 p.m. She gets them started on their homework, and between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. plans out what she needs to accomplish that night. Either she or her husband cooks dinner, and she starts her own coursework. She also dedicates several hours on weekends to schoolwork but is sure to spend time with her family.
Howard’s situation is common among online nursing graduate students, experts say. Many already hold jobs in the field, and earning an advanced degree online allows them to advance their careers without uprooting their lives.
[Ask these five questions when choosing an online graduate nursing program.]
A master’s, for example, might enable nurses to specialize in particular areas of nursing, while doctoral degrees such as a Ph.D. or Doctor of Nursing Practice generally focus on research and translating evidence into practice. Though the field is starting to shift toward a preference for doctoral degrees, online master’s degrees remain an option, experts say.
The lives of online nursing grad students who also hold full-time jobs show the self-discipline and time management required for these programs — including when in-person clinical requirements come into play.
“If you do a little bit at a time every day, you will feel a lot better when it’s time for you to complete your assignments,” says Angela Vera, a recent graduate of Simmons College‘s Nursing@Simmons online family nurse practitioner master’s program.
That’s the mentality many working online nursing grad students hold. Le e Ann Strait, a part-time online student in Ohio State University–Columbus‘ DNP program, works full time as a faculty member at the university and devotes at least two hours almost every weeknight to her assignments and reading, she says.
She often participates in graded discussion board conversations, and because she’s in a doctoral program, papers are the norm.
“Online is a great thing, as long as you don’t procrastinate,” the 54-year-old says.
[Learn to develop self-motivation skills before starting online classes.]
Some nursing students say the ways they structure their weeks depend largely on their course load, work hours and commitments outside the classroom.
Fara Bowler, of Denver, Colorado — who’s pursuing her DNP primarily online through Johns Hopkins University while working full time — says she stays in the office late one night each week, for instance, to complete assignments. The 43-year-old mother of four scatters the rest of her classwork throughout her week — sometimes even on Friday nights or Sundays.
“I try to do a combination of really dedicated time at work or the library, and then time where I could get some things done but not as isolated,” she says.
Meanwhile, based on what she’s observed as both an online student and faculty member, Strait says some online nursing grad courses progress according to a weekly syllabus, while others might revolve around longer “modules.” Prospective students should research beforehand the option that best meets their needs.
Many online nursing grad programs also have in-person clinical requirements, usually completed near where students live. Vera, the Simmons master’s program alum and a medical office manager, says she completed about 16 hours each week at a health care facility nearby for her final three terms, about 700 hours.
At that time, she says, balancing everything “became a little bit more hectic.”
For a clinical requirement in a class examining the legal aspects of nursing, Strait from Ohio State traveled to the statehouse several times to study nursing-related bills. But that required her to shuffle around her work schedule.
“Thankfully, my employer‘s pretty good about letting me do that,” she says.
Experts say it’s essential to consider whether to enroll part time or full time, which can impact the number of hours of studying required weekly.
[Explore how to decide between part-time and full-time online degree programs.]
Prospective online nursing grad students should also determine whether courses are live, meaning they attend class at a certain time, or self-paced, experts say. Many are mostly self-paced with occasional live components, though this varies.
“I’ve had just some fabulous lectures,” says William Lehman, a master’s student in the online adult gerontology primary care nursing program at George Washington University. “And I think people wouldn’t expect that from an online program.”
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A Week in the Life of an Online Nursing Grad Student originally appeared on usnews.com
