On-Campus Nursing Degrees
If you have attended college at any level, you would have a pretty good idea about what to expect from a traditional classroom experience. Here are a few things you can expect in an on-campus classroom:
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Face to face interaction with your instructors: This allows you to approach them in person for any concern you have, and sit and discuss concepts that aren’t making much sense to you.
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One-on-one interaction with your classmates: Being physically present in a classroom gives you the opportunity to interact with your class fellows, for studies or otherwise.
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A defined schedule: You will have a defined set of timings and locations for your classes.
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A typical classroom environment: A typical classroom would have rows of desks, a chalkboard, probably a projector, etc.
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Live lectures and notes: The lectures will be presented to you in person and you will be expected to listen and take notes attentively.
Advantages of an On-Campus Degree in Nursing
The obvious advantages of getting an on-campus nursing degree include the ability to physically collaborate with teachers and other students. Collaboration plays an important role in creating a solid understanding of trivial concepts. This is important specifically in degrees such as nursing that require the understanding of a lot of difficult concepts, procedures and memorization of complex concepts. Being physically present makes this form of study a lot easier and makes students feel personally invested in the material.
In addition to that, taking on-campus classes gives students more access to their professors in terms of office hours. You can physically visit the professor after class to revise some of the concepts that you could not understand during the lecture. This would help you solidify your fundamental concepts in a subject as tough as nursing.
On-campus nursing students might have more opportunities to carry out practical tasks than online students. Nursing classes on campus would allow students to carry out routine tasks such as taking a patient’s blood pressure, administering CPR or listening to the heartbeat for irregularities. The fact that on-campus classes may offer more practical options to students, make them better learning opportunities on the whole.
Online Nursing Degree Programs
Aspiring nurses can take a hybrid online program that would require them to take some classes online and others on campus. A completely online program in nursing is rare, since practical experience is a big part of the degree. Before in-depth discussion on the advantages of an online degree in nursing, let’s take a look at what you should expect from the online format:
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Face to Face interaction with your instructors: This is made possible through the use of video chat services and live webcast study sessions. In addition to lectures, you will also have your professor’s number and email for out of class discussions.
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One-on-one interaction with your classmates: Thanks to group discussion boards created online, you can get in touch with fellow nursing students any time of the day. You will also get a chance to physically meet with your classmates when you go in for practical classes, labs and clinical rotations.
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Personally defined schedule: Thanks to the flexibility element in an online nursing degree program, you can define your own schedule as per your personal timetable. You can go through the lesson plan in the middle of the night or early in the morning, whatever suits you best.
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Personalized classroom environment: With an online degree, you get to define the location of your lessons. Whether it is inside the house, on the terrace, in the public library or even in your bed, you can pick any location according to your comfort and where you feel you can concentrate the best.
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Live lectures and notes: The lectures will be recorded and uploaded allowing you to go through them any time you want. You can make notes when you play the lecture and can even rewind and go back to the same point ten times if you want.
Advantages of an Online Degree in Nursing
One of most obvious advantages of an online degree in nursing is the amount of flexibility it offers in terms of scheduling classes. Even though the labs and practical classes take place on defined times, the major chunk of lectures takes place online, ensuring minimal scheduling conflicts for aspiring nurses.
This flexibility allows the students to continue on with their lives as well by honoring their work and family commitments as well. Therefore it is no surprise that online programs are pretty famous among people who wish to keep their jobs while they pursue a higher qualification.
Another benefit of online nursing programs is that it does not restrict students to the location of their home. With online degrees you do not have to move your entire life to another state or city to get an education. This also gives students a greater degree of variety in terms of the degrees they can choose. If they like a particular nursing program in a far away university, they can simply enroll in it online.
Deciding whether to go for an online nursing degree or an on-campus nursing degree is entirely up to you. This decision would depend on where you are in your life and what kind of personal commitments you have already. If you are single and have no family commitments or financial concerns, an on-campus degree might be a good option for you. However, if you have children and a job you want to keep, an online degree in nursing might be the right choice.
