Paper
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Graduate Resource Center: a Virtual Graduate Nursing Resource Center
Catherine M. Hasson, MSN, RN and Fran H. Cornelius, PhD. College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| Learning Objective #1: identify the key components of a Graduate Nursing students resource center. |
| Learning Objective #2: identify how the Graduate resource center will facilitate the learning process of the graduate nursing students. |
Today’s graduate nursing students straddle two worlds They require more flexible scheduling to accommodate their busy lives. Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) has developed innovative online graduate nursing programs which provide students the opportunity to pursue professional development while balancing home and work life responsibilities. As a result, the graduate nursing program has grown exponentially, 92% from fall of 2005 to fall of 2006. This growth has served as a catalyst for faculty to look for novel approaches to provide support to a diverse and widely dispersed student body that would ensure that the same access to resources and program supports are available to all students, regardless of their location. To meet these students’ needs CNHP has developed an innovative approach to support their graduate education by leveraging existing infrastructure resources in order to create the MSN Student Resources Center which provides 24/7 access to important program information, resources, and tutorials. Since the college uses Blackboard to provide online and hybrid courses, Blackboard was utilized for this project for several reasons including cost, student/faculty familiarity, and flexibility and user friendliness of the system. The MSN Student Resources Center is a rich, multi-media source providing a wide range of services and supports. This virtual resource provides students access to important programmatic information specific to their course of study, guidelines on how to select a preceptor or mentor, tutorials, one-click communication with their instructor as well as a way to collaborate with fellow students. It has served effectively as a means for students to feel ‘connected’ to the school. While the initial intent was to support students this site has benefited faculty and preceptors as well. This presentation will provide attendees with an overview of the project conception, implementation and outcomes as well as plans for the future.