Master's in nursing education...now what?

Editorial Team / Admin · Aug 22, 2020

What types of experiences do you have as a nurse?

I too completed an MSN-ED degree thinking I wanted to go into academic teaching. Instead, I found all of my papers/projects revolved around staff development, and that is now where I work. Pays better than academic too.

Editorial Team / Admin · Aug 22, 2020

Moved to Nursing Educators' section.

TravelRNdreaming · Aug 22, 2020

5 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:
What types of experiences do you have as a nurse?
I too completed an MSN-ED degree thinking I wanted to go into academic teaching. Instead, I found all of my papers/projects revolved around staff development, and that is now where I work. Pays better than academic too.

Right now, I have bedside care and home health.

Staff development sounds wonderful. I wanna do that but remotely.

I wish I knew what to apply to so I could get a chance. Let's see what the future brings!

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Aug 23, 2020

Remote faculty work is hard to come by these days. Believe me, I work for an online school and my inbox is FLOODED with people just like you looking for jobs.

The BEST way to get a foot in the door in my opinion is to become a clinical instructor for a local school. These are typically part-time or even per diem. Those positions are not hard to come by and give you that critical experience you need for when a FT opportunity comes along.

TravelRNdreaming · Aug 24, 2020

Thank you.

lyndsay1985 · Aug 25, 2020

Im in the Same Boat... l have my Masters degree in Nursing Education... looking for Online Work and having a hard time getting my foot in the door. So, here's a question:

In order to teach an adjunct position that is not nursing like psychology, sociology, computers.. etc. I am seeing the qualifications state: A masters degree with 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline.

Can we apply for those positions? or how do we obtain the 18 graduate credit hours to be able to qualify to teach a different discipline other than nursing? Is that an Option?

They claim High teaching shortages but they do NOT make this an easy transition from bedside to classroom at all! As far as "experience" goes I thought that was what we obtained from our capstone course we paid for in our MSN programs really???- just venting.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Aug 27, 2020

On 8/25/2020 at 6:26 PM, lyndsay1985 said:

In order to teach an adjunct position that is not nursing like psychology, sociology, computers.. etc. I am seeing the qualifications state: A masters degree with 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline.

Can we apply for those positions? or how do we obtain the 18 graduate credit hours to be able to qualify to teach a different discipline other than nursing? Is that an Option?

Well, I guess you go enroll somewhere for the needed graduate credits. I know our local Big Ten allows non-degree seeking students in both undergrad and graduate schools. But honestly, your chances of being hired for non-nursing faculty work are pretty slim. You would not be an attractive candidate ranked against someone with a bachelor's and master's in sociology for example.

But I will also say that Covid has really skewed the job market in academia. There still IS a shortage- but university budgets are decimated- and at least at my school - hiring is frozen for the current and next quarter.

llg, PhD, RN · Aug 27, 2020

On 8/25/2020 at 6:26 PM, lyndsay1985 said:

Im in the Same Boat... l have my Masters degree in Nursing Education... looking for Online Work and having a hard time getting my foot in the door. So, here's a question:

In order to teach an adjunct position that is not nursing like psychology, sociology, computers.. etc. I am seeing the qualifications state: A masters degree with 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline.

Can we apply for those positions? or how do we obtain the 18 graduate credit hours to be able to qualify to teach a different discipline other than nursing? Is that an Option?

They claim High teaching shortages but they do NOT make this an easy transition from bedside to classroom at all! As far as "experience" goes I thought that was what we obtained from our capstone course we paid for in our MSN programs really???- just venting.

To get 18 graduate credit hours in a discipline outside of nursing ... you'll have to go to grad school in that other discipline. Apply to a school, get accepted, start taking classes, etc.

The "experience" you got in your grad school practicum is parallel to the "experience" to clinical practice you got as an undergraduate. As a teacher without teaching job experience, you are just like a new grad starting in his/her first staff nurse job. The school experience is relevant, but it is not the same as job experience in the field. When hiring faculty members, most schools want (and should want) clinical instructors who have recent clinical experience in the specialties they want to teach.

The most reliable way to get into an undergraduate faculty position is to apply to be a clinical instructor. So apply to be a clinical instructor in your clinical field of expertise and that will get your foot in the door. As you get actual job experience as a teacher, you will have more opportunities for classroom teaching. And with some classroom teaching experience, you'll be a candidate for online teaching positions.

lyndsay1985 · Aug 28, 2020

Thanks Everyone for the Advice and listening to me irrationally vent for a minute its been stressful especially undergoing COVID-19 lately. I understand the need to crawl before you walk with a clinical nursing instructor position so Ill be looking/working towards this.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Aug 28, 2020

1 hour ago, lyndsay1985 said:

Thanks Everyone for the Advice and listening to me irrationally vent for a minute its been stressful especially undergoing COVID-19 lately. I understand the need to crawl before you walk with a clinical nursing instructor position so Ill be looking/working towards this.

You'll get there!

londonflo · Aug 29, 2020

On 8/22/2020 at 9:42 AM, TravelRNdreaming said:

My interest is working online.

When ever we had a full time nursing faculty job advertised we would invariably get someone from 3 states away who couldn't do clinical of course but would be available for online theory. Mathematically it rarely works out to just need a theory instructor. A school usual has a (for discussion purposes) theory course with 50 students and (1 theory lecturer and 5 clinical instructors.) Which position would be the hardest to fill?

You are qualified to teach Medical Terminology and a Health class, I bet. A lot of health profession curriculums require a medical terminology pre-req and in many states a elementary/high school teacher needs to have a health class for a teaching certificate.

Many community colleges require a course given by the Distance Learning faculty prior to teaching online. There are a lot of things to learn for a first time teacher concerning the learning management system, and the structure of on-line tests, etc. Plus,teaching nursing is really a team teaching position. There will be a framework to follow, probably a format for care plans and physical assessments.How are you going to meet with students who are not passing? (It is hard to corner some to at least document that you offered help and it was refused). I kept sending emails to a failing student with no reply. I sought out where she sits in class and out a post-it note on her seat. Still she avoided me. Two weeks before the end of the semester I met her coming out of another classroom door. She was so shocked, "never looked at her grades, never checked email" and after I left her she promptly went into the associate Dean's office to complain about this new information 2 weeks before the final. The associate dean came to me and said do you have any written documentation for counseling her? (This dean who has left several teaching positions was such an enabler, believe me I have had much better assoc. deans and you will too.) Anyway you gotta have other faculty for help with these kind of issues. Since in a cc setting most of your students are working in CNA positions in the local hospital(s) it helps to have something to relate to on questions that may come up.

Hope I didn't scare you off. I found teaching theory and clinical the best, most fulfilling job in the world.

Are there any nursing conferences in your area - ask around to see if the nursing deans go to those. Print up some business cards with your name on them. Introduce yourself and tell them your goals. I got my first teaching job through a dean I met at a cocktail party.

Good luck and best wishes - it'll happen