Online RN-BS Program Offers Convenience, Professional Development

When UMass Boston’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences first began offering its degree program online in 2004, only 18 students signed up. The program, which provides registered nurses the opportunity to earn Bachelor's of Science degrees at their own pace, now serves 653 RNs around the world, and is recruiting more.

“We are very heartened by the success of the online program,” says Sheila Jones Cannon, program director and assistant clinical professor of nursing. “We are providing a high-quality online professional development experience to registered nurses that keeps them working full-time in their communities.”

Kathleen Polley, founding director of the Online RN to BS program, designed the program to combine online instruction with face-to-face instruction. Once students begin the online nursing courses, they join a learning cohort for five semesters.

Nursing courses are taught online in the summer, fall, and spring sessions; non-nursing general education and elective requirements may be satisfied by taking online courses through University College, or through another accredited college or university.

Without this blended approach to learning, many of the participating students would not be able to attend and graduate from UMass Boston, Polley says. Their work responsibilities and, in many cases, family responsibilities, make it impossible for them to quit work or reduce their hours to travel to campus and study full-time.

Program alumna Janet Gorman agrees that convenience was a major draw for her when she decided to pursue her BS.

“Attending class online took so much of the stress out of returning to school,” she says. “Balancing work, home life, and school is much easier when you can attend class in slippers in your living room.”

Cannon says that the program is intended in part to address the nationwide lack of adequately trained RNs.

“The nursing shortage in this country, if not effectively addressed, will soon reach a critical point, perhaps even the point of no return,” she warns. “As one of the first such blended programs in nursing, we are helping to ensure that well trained and experienced nurses will be available” to serve communities’ health care needs.

The College of Nursing and Health Sciences uses its existing partnerships to recruit students interested in completing their BS degrees from Massachusetts community colleges and hospitals that educate and train RNs. University College helps the CNHS contact and stay connected to prospective students. Because the student pool is well known and clearly defined, attracting new students requires minimal investment.

And once they’re enrolled, the students’ commitment and dedication to completing the online program “is always inspiring,” says Jason Campos, manager of online programs for University College. “It’s all about providing 24/7 access to the university.”

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