Get ahead in nursing courses?

lhflanurseNP, APRN · Feb 25, 2014

I was away for 2 weeks. I talked with the instructor and turned in the papers due ahead of time. The instructor has a lot of leeway as far as content, but has no recourse over your log-in requirement from the school. So, I found internet access and logged in three days a week for the discussion forums. They were simple posts and had no references, but I was able to get my point across and communicate with my peers. As far as the school was concerned, I was actively participating, and my instructor knew I was away so everything worked out fine. Hope this helps.

AggieNurse99, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2014

DONT take nursing research at this time. At all costs. Take that class when you have 5 weeks with nothing scheduled on Fri-Sat. Health Assessment is pretty straightforward.

MBrickle · Mar 3, 2014

DONT take nursing research at this time. At all costs. Take that class when you have 5 weeks with nothing scheduled on Fri-Sat. Health Assessment is pretty straightforward.

I can vouch for this. I'm in research right now and have a good group and it's still painful! Its hard for me to trust others with my work (and grade!) which adds to the stress.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 7, 2014

See if you can use that time period to knock out one of your non-nursing courses...NOT one of US Histories though.

HeyNurseLB · Mar 7, 2014

I appreciate the feedback! lhflanurse what course were you in when you were away? I have been looking through the message boards and have the impression Nursing Research and the History core classes are pretty intense, so I would try and stay away from those. Any pointers on which the "easier" classes are, or ones that require less message board/log in time/topic research time? I'm fine with doing assignments early with instructor permission. Again, not looking for an easy out, but like I said I really don't want to take time off and this trip is unavoidable!

MBrickle · Mar 7, 2014

Also, it's important to note that not all classes will be flexible. I went to Europe in October and was taking art history and Health assessment. Luckily, for health assessment you could work ahead and history have me the assignments in advance. I was taking another class at this time (can't remember - blocked it out) or maybe it was assessment but there was a final exam required. I thought it would be no biggie to have them open the exam a day or two early. Wrong. They pretty much told me (in a not nice way) that I couldn't get the test early because it was a security issue and I should have thought about that before signing up since I knew I would be gone.

I completely understand the security issue, however the overtones of the issue demonstrate my frustration over how a program designed for working professionals (and adult education consumers) is so inflexible. I resent due dates that fall all over the week like in the history courses and I feel as if you should have the ability to work as far ahead as you want, at your own risk.

Some people spend small amounts of time on school each day (like me), others need to get it done on the weekends or on their Thursday off. The program should be designed to let people work at their own pace. A shining example of this is how the quizzes in research are only available for a 22 hour period on a Wednesday. What if you work a 16 on a Wednesday? What if there isn't flexibility with that? I don't think its fair you need to rearrange your life/sleep/work to be well-reared and/or available to take a quiz.

In Europe I made sure our hotel had wifi and I brought my tablet. It was helpful for us anyways. I did work for a couple of hours after we got back to our hotel room for the first few nights we were there. The only thing that sucked was lugging my books for reading while we were on long-distance trains, the flights, etc. I would recommend you look for Ebooks for the kindle if you will be traveling.

HeyNurseLB · Mar 7, 2014

I understand school is a huge commitment, but things do come up! I mean, we do work, and we have lives lol. My personal issue is attending my sister's wedding in Hawaii for a week. Obviously this has been planned for a while and before I made the decision to go back to school, and I decided I didn't want to wait to start until after (I didn't want to put it off for another 8 months!). What with family being there, being in the wedding, etc etc, I'm just envisioning a nightmare lol. I'm sure I can probably access wifi, and I'm not opposed to waking up early or staying up to do school work. I guess I'm looking for suggestions on what the easiest class may be to accommodate this? And if I've done my mapping correctly, it will have to be a nursing course, I don't think any gen ed courses will be available to start after I finish the first Professional Nursing class.

inmyskin · Mar 7, 2014

Hey HeyNurseLB! I was originally going to start the course in May but it looks like I'm going to start in April also, maybe we can get together and compare notes.

MBrickle · Mar 7, 2014

Hey HeyNurseLB! I was originally going to start the course in May but it looks like I'm going to start in April also maybe we can get together and compare notes.[/quote']
Health promotion would be best, care of the older adult, and leadership. Avoid history courses, research and health assessment like the plague for vacation purposes!

mesa14 · Mar 9, 2014

I'm starting April 7th with Technical Writing and Professional Nursing as well. I've been trying to plan ahead and map out which class I will take next, but I can't seem to find which classes will be offered on the June 30th start date. Have you found the course schedule for the summer?

HeyNurseLB · Mar 13, 2014

No I haven't, I called and asked and they said it wasn't available yet. I was doing my own counting of weeks based off the available schedule, so I just have an estimate. Sure wish they would make the next one available though!