Master of Science in Nursing-Nursing/Health Care Education

As a prior faculty member/facilitator I do not feel as if I can recommend this institution to anyone.  I have taught for this program for 3 years and left on my own accord.  Many of the students that come through my classes (one of the final courses before graduation in a Masters Degree Program) are unable to construct grammatically correct sentences or follow explicit instructions regarding course objectives.  As a full-time faculty member of an on-site college I have extensive experience in the evaluation of curriculum in my field. I find their curriculum to be sub-standard.  Faculty members are "encouraged" to pass students and the grading scale is set up in such a way that to not pass the class you must either not submit assignments or not complete weekly work.  While I have no doubt that some of the students that graduate from UOP are strong employees and contribute significantly to their field, it is my firm belief that many students are simply handed a degree.

I am currently in my third year with UoP working on my bachelors in business administration. My experience with the UoP has been a good one. The classes are challenging and I have learned things that I will be able to use for the rest of my life. I plan on continuing my education with the UoP until I have a master degree.

I have attended both traditional education universities and distant learning universities. The major difference is the asynchronous communication. Many students seem to have a difficult time learning and working in teams when the main form of communication is done asynchronously. Learning how to communicate asynchronously is important in a world that is moving more and more into a virtual environment. Many jobs that involve international communication are now being done asynchronously due to the differences in time.

The learning team experience has been a challenge, but working in a team in any environment can be challenging. There are students who will try to do as little as possible in the team believing they will get the same grade. It is up to the other team members to turn in honest evaluations of students who do not do their part on the team. The instructor will take into consideration the evaluations when assigning grades to each student. The students who do not contribute will find out that when they are in a work environment they will not be able to perform.

Each person’s learning style is different so before a person decides on which type of class to attend they should evaluate what type of learning environment works best for them. After a choice is made the student needs to understand that the education they obtain is up to them. A quality education is only obtained by setting learning goals and being diligent. If a student only wants to fly through the courses to get a passing grade then the passing grade is all they will have when they graduate. A student who sets learning goals and sticks to their goals will graduate and have an education that will be with them the rest of their life’s.

I would recommend the UoP to people who are mature enough to work on their own and have the ability to learn in an environment leaves the learning up to them. There will always be people out there who will judge a persons education by the school they attended. If a person is intelligent enough and has made sure they educated themselves they will be able to overcome the prejudice and succeed.