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The secrets of our success BY KELLY KAGAMAS TOMKIES What makes the College of Nursing’s online graduate program so successful? Personal support, flexibility and quality, certainly, but even more important, a team of dedicated and talented faculty members, staff and technology experts. Thanks to this team’s efforts, The Ohio State University College of Nursing’s online nursing master’s program received its highest ranking by U.S. News & World Report to date: second in the nation (one position up from its rank of third in 2017). “In 2010, the College of Nursing received a HRSA grant to develop an online nurse practitioner program. At that time, the college had no online programs, or online faculty,” said Alice Teall, MS, CRNP, FAANP, director of the online family nurse practitioner (FNP) specialty program and one of the first online faculty members hired. The program started with nine students in its family nurse practitioner cohort. Now offering 19 degrees, the programs enroll students from all over the country, including Oregon, California, Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Co-directors of the MS in nursing program Randee Masciola DNP, RN, CNP, assistant professor of clinical nursing, and Kristy Browning, PhD, CNP, FAANP, associate professor of clinical nursing, say the program owes its success to the faculty and staff members who are dedicated to ensuring students are engaged, involved and receiving everything they need to be successful. “We have faculty who are expert teachers in online pedagogy,” said Browning, and all online faculty have training in online pedagogy. Masciola emphasizes that the program’s world-class faculty is a major reason for its success. “The majority of the faculty are nationally certified and currently practice in their specialty area,” Masciola said. The faculty are committed to engaging students and creating the best learning environment possible. “For students to respond meaningfully and confidently during an online class, they need to know their 28 | nursing.osu.edu
instructors and to know each other,” said Teall. “In the online courses that meet synchronously to teach clinical practice, students are assigned to a team, pictures and introductions are posted and team-based learning strategies are implemented. Instructors engage students to learn actively through patient cases, polling questions and the sharing of clinical insights.” “Our faculty take it to heart that our students come to us for their education,” said Elizabeth Sharpe, DNP, RN, VABC, FAANP, associate professor of clinical nursing and neonatal nurse practitioner specialty track director. She agrees that one of the leading factors of the program’s success is the faculty’s efforts to engage with students. “We provide very individual attention when it comes to helping them [students] progress,” Sharpe said. “For example, one student took a leave of absence, and when she came back she was coming into a cohort in which she didn’t know any of the other students. In our class introduction discussion board, I introduced myself and we did other student introductions, because I wanted her to feel comfortable with the new cohort right away.” The online MS in nursing program receives a great deal of technological support internally and from the university. “There is some impressive technology available through the Office of Distance Education and eLearning. They provide the tech infrastructure so education is available wherever they [students] are,” Sharpe said. Barbara Jones Warren, PhD, RN, APRN PMH-BC, FNAP, FAAN, professor of clinical nursing and psychiatric mental health nursing across the lifespan specialty track director, added, “Our program has grown phenomenally with the support of our own in-house IT gurus and the greater university group as well. We’ve gotten great support in house and from the greater university to do some fabulous things,” such as Flash Friday, a program offered by the College of Nursing’s IT team to faculty to show them the latest in online teaching and technology. “Having our own instructional designer who is a nurse gives our faculty a distinct advantage to help faculty