heddi

You can take as much or as little---Started taking classes in March, maybe, 2013. I took English 2 and Art History -- those were doable as 2 classes at once. I mostly took 1 class at a time, occasionally two, and sat out the entire last part of spring and summer semester of 2014. I would personally not recommend taking 2 RN classes at once because the assignments and papers can be a bit much, especially if you are working full time. Other people here will encourage you to take more than 1 RN class at once. I just found that to be totally incompatable with working and having a life and being able to get a 4.0 in all my classes. I was willing to spend more time in school to get a better grade and have a life.

They are both the same as far as confusing layout and having to click folders which open subfolders and hidden links and discussion and reflections and reactions... My coach---I did not like her. I felt she graded unfairly and for either class I did not like the lack of grading rubric, it felt like it was not an objective measurement of my work but her subjective approval of my opinion. I squeaked out with a 4.0 but barely. I also felt that she held the class to the standard of everyone being a history major, when everyone was RN or high school students. There was no positive feedback at all, and several times I emailed her and got either a non-answer to my very specific question, or she answered my question incorrectly (asked about assignment B and C and she gives an answer that pertains to Assignment A, etc). The book is available for free through a link provided in class. I saved the PDF to a thumb drive and had the chapters printed at STaples. It was about $60 or $80 for front and back copies of the chapters we were required to read. Much easier than sitting at a computer to read chapters. Because they changed the book recently, be aware that several times questions on the test referred to material that was not covered in the required readings or lectures. I found this grossly unfair but I was never awarded any extra points despite the admission that yes, these came from another text but no, you should somehow know these things via telepathy or something.

Hello! I will graduate in December. I have enjoyed the classes overall. I like that you can take multiple classes per quarter/semester with no or minimal overlap if you want, because the classes vary between being 5, 7, or 10 weeks long. There are no clinical requirements for the class, and only one class (leadership) requires you to actually have a job as an RN (you have to shadow a manager). If you take the work co-op as an elective, you will need to have a job as well, as you're journaling about that throughout the course. I think it was the best value for the $$, I was able to work full time while taking classes, and they're really not that crazy difficult -- I have a 4.0 and will be graduating Summa cum Laude. I have taken Art, English, Literature, History 1 & 2, Statistics, Govt, Texas Govt, and all the RN classes through UTA. I would probably recommend, if possible, taking the history classes elsewhere if you have the ability -- they are absolutely poorly run (especially 1302) and very confusing to navigate. They are doable, but I thought they were going to lower my GPA. Good luck!

Here's the thing about history - it's not that it's incredibly hard, but it's laid out in the most stupid way ever and there are a million different folders, and each folder has a folder, and each subfolder has a folder...so your first week you're just clicking around trying to find what you need. You have 1 unit every 2 weeks, and each unit covers 3-4 topics. Each topic has a lecture, usually an audio lecture, sometimes just powerpoint slides. There are primary documents they want you to read for each topic in addition to the textbook readings. Each unit has a 3 part discussion board: 1) your individual post 2) responding to 3 of your classmates 3) group post Group posts are a PITA. My advice - volunteer to be group leader the first week. It's the easiest assignment and you get 5 points extra credit. You can only be group leader once. Each topic has "reflections" which are short-answer questions. THIS is the tricky part that I lost points on - you have to make sure you do EACH reflection, and they can be hidden in the folders. WHen you get to the class, shoot me a message or respond here and I"ll show you how to look in LectureTools (what you use for the reflections) to see all the reflections for the unit to make sure you've completed them. Each unit has a reaction paper, which is usually 2-3 pages double spaced on a topic. You don't use APA or MLA for references, you use a hybrid. Pay attention to how they want you to do references. It's not hard. It's stupid how they focus on this minutiae. The coursework itself is meh. Your coach can make the class bearable (1311) or miserable (1312)

If you are talking about the Online only RN-BSN through Academic partnership, there are no clinical requirements. Everything is online. The nursing leadership class has you shadow a nurse leader at your job, and one of the electives (Work Experience or something) has you journal about your job and answer some questions. I am graduating in December. I worked full-time throughout the program, partly as a 7p-7a Trauma ER RN and then the other half as a M-F 8a-5pm Case Manager. My husband is also in the program and works 2 jobs for a total of about 50 hours a week. It is very doable program while working. You can take as many or as few classes as you want. It is not a traditional quarter or semester system. Some of the classes are 5 weeks, some 7, and some 10. There were semesters when I was able to finish 3 or 4 classes in a Semester, taking 3 5-week back to back classes and one 7 week that overlapped. There were other terms where I only took one class at a time (that was most of the time). I started with Statistics at an outside school in Jan 2013 and took all the nursing, History 1 & 2, Gov't 1 & 2, 1 lit and 1 English and my pre-req's. I took Summer 2014 off and didn't bust my hind end and I will be taking Capstone in November and graduate in December. The good thing is that while it's not self-paced, it is a doable program. The requirements aren't stringent. I'm not gonna say it's a Diploma Mill, but it's not Johns Hopkins either. It's affordable, and it gets you a BSN.

If you mean the online RN-BSN through academic partnerships, there are no clinical requirements. The Nursing Leadership class requires you to shadow a nurse leader at your job, and one of the electives is a Work Experience class where you basically write about your job duties. Other than that,there are no clinical requirements.

Do you mean the online RN-BSN through academic partnerships? if so, there are no clinical requirements for that. Depending on which elective you take, there is a work-co-op class where you use your work experience for the class, and the leadership class requires you to shadow a nurse leader, but there are no other clinical-based requirements.

No, I really would not double up anything with Research. It is an incredibly time consuming class even without the group-work aspect. I don't specifically remember Older Adults as being balls-to-the-wall like Research, but like all of the RN core classes, it is time consuming and since they have streamlined the program, all due dates are the same. So you're going to have an assignment due on Friday in each class, or Wednesday in each class, or whatever the days of the week are. I really REALLY would not advise **ANY*** doubling of Research with ***ANY*** RN class. If you absolutely must double Research with another class, double with your work co-op elective, or medical terminology (another elective), or US Government. The Govt class is nice because after week 2, it's self paced. The reading is *cake* and the workload is ridiculoulsy light. One 25-question quiz per week and 2 roughly one-paragraph "learning progress assignments" per week. THAT would be the ideal class to take with Research. Or again, something light like your electives. I have a 4.0 and have had a 4.0 throughout this RN program. I have 3 classes left until I graduate. My lowest overall grade was a 98 until Research, when I got a 94. I am telling you that even NOT doubling up, there was a point when I was afraid my GPA would drop because of taking Research. I did not think I would get an A in that class and at times wondered if i would get a B. If you value your grade, DO NOT DOUBLE RESEARCH WITH ANOTHER NURSING CLASS. Your grade in BOTH classes will suffer. There is *no* *possible* *way* you will be able to meet and exceed the requirements for both classes. You will not keep your 4.0 if you double up Research with another Nursing class. You just won't. My husband, who is also taking classes with me, didn't work (well, 16 hours every other week) and he had to struggle to keep his 4.0 in research. I think the choice that you may have is: 1) double up classes, risk getting less than 4.0 in BOTH classes, and keep your timeline or 2) take Research alone in the summer and double up down the road, or just stick it out for 5 weeks longer than you planned (seriously, the classes are just 5 weeks long. Extending by one class isn't going to put you behind 6 months, like traditional schools)

Well, firstly, unless things have changed, you have to have completed ALL nursing classes before you can take Capstone, so it would be theoretically impossible to take Capstone with Research. You can only take Capstone if you have completed all RN classes and all general ed classes except for one. Secondly, I would not double up research with anything. It is a very large amount of time devoted to finding research studies and tearing them apart to write your various papers. It is roughly the same amount of work at Vulnerable Pops, but different in that you're not finding census information for neighborhoods, but finding X research articles, writing papers about them, doing literature reviews, doing powerpoints, etc. If you want a nice summer, don't double up on any classes. If you want a nicer summer, don't take Research, take something like American Gov't

No, I still wouldn't doubleup. I have a 4.0 in all classes (Research and Capstone are my last 2 classes) and while I'm not "struggling," the detail needed to make successful grades can be time consuming. I just did my 1st assignment and got a 83 on it, which is much lower than I normally get on grades. The work isn't anything like Vulnerable Pops or Health Assessment, but it's all about careful reading and application. I would not double up on this class, as i am only taking this one and probably won't keep my 4.0 GPA

Yeah, they did change it. No group work at all. Just got done with week 1 and it really doesn't seem any more undoable than any other classes I've taken (only have Research & Capstone before I'm done with BSN classes). I'm glad they changed it, as it seemed so horrible as a group-work project. Group work, imo, is ridiculous for most things, and absolutely impossible for people who are all taking classes in a virtual environment, around the world, in various time-zones and with different work-and-life requirements. These things make group work barely workable in an in-person setting, but online, in this type of learning environment...just undoable.

Kind of, but nothing about groups in the instructions: Submit research article critique pt 1 Submit research article critique pt 2 quiz 1 & 2 EBP posting : finding the evidence submit ebp project on DB DB postings Nothing about journal club, group work or anything in the loaded assignments or rubrics

I am signed up to take Research 4325 starting Monday. Just looked at syllabus and everything on blackboard and I see nothing about group work or group assignments....I wonder if they changed it?

well I hope to see you then! My husband is also in the program and he'll be in class with us. This should be interesting

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! I appreciate all your help for clearing that up for me!

Hi all! In the UTA RN-BSN program, and live in Philadelphia. Have been taking classes since March and actually starting Nursing 3645 on Sept 23rd. I have a love/hate relationship with my academic advisor, and I find that she is really great for helping me register for classes, but all other questions I have are answered in a flim-flam, non-answered way, or just not answered at all. Which is totally awesome (not) So the question I have asked her, and either gotten some non-answer or just ignored, is how do the nursing classes with clinical components work when I'm not in Texas. She did answer me once and sent me a link about partner hospitals, but they were all in Texas. I replied anxiously that my understanding was that I didn't have to ever go to Texas for any part of the degree and that I still wasn't clear about the clinical component and her reply was "yes, that's right, you don't have to attend class on campus." Well thanks for not even answering a single part of my question, advisor :anger: Anyways...can y'all help me....how do out-of-staters do clinicals? Also, what about those of us RN's that either aren't working, or don't work at a hospital or in a clinical setting? Thanks! hed

Total BS about not hiring from SCCC. I work with equal number ADN vs BSN RN's (I'm an ADN) and they come from all community colleges in the Seattle area. I have never heard of anyone not getting hired because they went to one CC as opposed to another. Sheesh.

UW budget is expected to be cut by 47% with the 2009 budget. UW, Harborview, and VM have just cancelled all of the travelers and agency RN's they had been using. They are allowing them to have 30 days of housing (if they are provided housing) to get their affairs in order, but they are no longer working for the hospitals. Swedish is not extending traveler contracts nor are they accepting new travelers at this time. UW and Harborview have cancelled their ICU consortium that was to start in Feb. UW and Harborview have rescinded job offers they extended to new grads that were supposed to start in Feb. There are no new grads at HMC or UW at this time. There are jobs listed online and in the paper, but they are not actively hiring anyone until the freeze is over. They are accepting applications but will not go through the application pool until the hiring freeze is over. All of the listed positions say "We do not have positions for new graduates at this time" Several hospitals are already talking about not honoring collective agreement contracts regarding pay raises. HMC has said they will not honor the anual pay raise for this June or July. Not trying to be a downer, but the crappy economy has just "officially" hit Washington/Seattle (while the rest of the country has been feeling it for quite some time) and I think everyone is freaking out a bit too much. Most everyone agrees that in a few months, everything will settle down and we'll get back to normal, with new grads and travelers and agency, but not right now. Good luck!

Not right now. THere are alot of projected cuts for the 2009 budget, most of which center in health and education. Swedish and Harborview/UW are in an active hiring freeze right now, and Harborview and UW just rescinded the offers for new grads that were hired to start in Feb. They have also cancelled the Harborview ICU consortium that was supposed to start in Feb as well. All of the job openings posted online state "We have no new grad positions at this time". They are on a hiring freeze, accepting applications ,but will not be going through the applications or offering jobs until the hiring freeze is over I work at Harborview, and they have a hiring freeze. I'm pretty sure Swedish does too, as does VM. I know that all the travellers at Harborview and Virginia Mason were cancelled, given 30 days to pack and get out (they were cancelled immeidately but given 30 days to find new work through their agency). Swedish is not renewing traveler contracts nor hiring new travelers for the forseeable future. Neither is Harborview or UW or Virginia Mason. You may have more luck somewhere like Valley Medical, Stevens, or Highline. From my understanding, they are still using travelers, although I don't know if they are taking new grads/ unexperienced RN's

I work at Harborview and my husband works at Swedish---both hospitals, incl. VM and UW are all facing hiring freezes right now and HMC, Swedish, UW, and VM just cancelled the contracts of all of their travelers and have stopped using agency staff as well. Hospitals down south, like Valley and Highline may not be going through the same cuts that the seattle area hospitals are, and I know that highline is about 100% travelers so if they cut their travelers, I don't know who would staff the floor. All the hospitals have job openings listed online and they are taking applications, but will not actually be hiring anyone until after the freeze is over (due to state cutting health and education budgets. UW budget was cut by 47% this year, which directly affects UW and HMC). Also, UW and HMC have rescinded offers to all new grads that were supposed to start in Feburary, and have completelly cancelled the ICU Consortium that was supposed to start in Feb, as well. Harborview is great. Swedish is okay depending on which campus and which department you work in. I have heard nothing but horrible things about VM. Good luck, but you may not get a job right off the bat because of the budget woes. HMC was already hurting from lack of nurses, and even more so now that they've axed the travellers and agency.