Can anyone talk to me re: Stevenson RN-BSN online option?

The only thing that I felt was different between the online and face to face was the online discussions--where the teacher would post a question and all of the class would have to go online and post their answer and then you would have to respond to two other students answers. The online classes I do remember feeling like were "bird" courses. I think my physical assessment class was online, we did all of the book work online, and then met on Saturday mornings in the lab to learn how to take blood pressure and listen to heart and lung sounds, etc. I think I also took research online, and it was a bunch of "discussion questions" and analyzing research papers. I think we had to write one or two research papers, but no tests. I remember the other nurses that I work with when they were taking research, them having a really hard time with it, and wondering why--because my class was a joke, I don't know if that's because my teacher was a joke, or because I did it online. I hope that helps...

Nicole109, I am starting the RN to BSN online course in January 2010 and was wondering if you think that it is a good idea to do it online in your experience? I am glad to hear that there are no tests, however you mentioned research papers and I was curoius if you remember how many and how long did they have to be? I will be leaving the are soon due to the military which is why I am doing it online and also wanted to ask you how would I be able to complete the lab that you were talking about where we show that we know how to listen to lungs, hearts and all that jazz? I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks.

I didn't do the RN to BSN program, I did the BSN program, so I do not know what the program requirements are, I'm not sure what specific classes you will have to take and if they have labs how those will be completed if you are doing everything online. My classes that were online did require us to come on campus for 1 class at the beginning of the semester for an orientation of sorts, and then there was an open time during the week that the teacher was normally available on campus if we were having problems. The physical assessment class I also took online, so all of the "book work" was completed online, and we met for lab time each Saturday in the skills lab on campus to learn actual physical assessment skills (ie: learning how to take manual blood pressure, insert foley, etc.). But since you are already a nurse, I don't know that you would have to take a class with a lab requirement such as that? The research class I believe I referenced in an earlier post, required weekly research assignments, where we critiqued research articles and wrote 1-2 page papers on them. I did not, however, find this to be consistent with my collegues who have recently taken a research class through other institutions, whether in the online format or not; so I'm not sure if I had a teacher that was or if it was because my course was online...I'm not sure if things have changed in the last 4 years. I would call the school and talk to them before you sign up for anything and find out how things are being done now, I know that a lot has changed since I've been there--best of luck to you!

Thanks Nicole, I greatly appreciate it. Take care.