Nurse Educator Certificate Course Descriptions
Saint Xavier University’s online Nurse Educator courses prepare nurses with teaching strategies for clinical settings as well as strategies to foster clinical decision-making, effective communication, and cultural competence. The program consists of three specialty courses, including a guided practicum, and fulfills the nursing education requirements for the Nurse Educator Certificate exam administered by the National League for Nursing.
A Master of Science in Nursing is required for admission. The eleven semester hour program can be started immediately following the completion of your MSN studies, or if you already hold an MSN, you can complete it as a stand-alone program.
NURSG 608: Nurse Educator Role (2 Credits)
This is the first of four courses specific to the Nurse Educator role. The course provides a foundation for the implementation of the role. Field experiences enable students to explore the NLN Competencies for the Academic Nurse Educator to understand the impact of the faculty role in the advancement of the nursing profession. Students will examine learning theory and conceptual frameworks. Foundational principles of the scholarship of teaching, and roles and challenges for the nurse educator in traditional and non-traditional settings are explored. Students will analyze the political, institutional, social, and economic forces that impact the Nurse Educator role in the educational environment.
NURSG 609: Nurse Educator Clinical Practice (2 credits)
Pre-requisites: NURSG 502, NURSG 503, Nursg 512, NURSG 608
This is the second of four courses specific to the Nurse Educator role. The didactic portion of the course focuses on roles and responsibilities that are applicable to advanced clinical practice in any setting; for example, evidence-based practice, consulting on complex patients, and teaching and interprofessional collaboration. The practicum immersion experience provides the opportunity to expand clinical proficiency in an identified area of advanced nursing practice. During the practicum portion, students will collaborate with a MSN-prepared preceptor in the identified area of advanced nursing practice in order to develop in-depth knowledge and expertise in a particular area of nursing that includes graduate-level clinical practice content and experiences, and expand their exposure to a variety of clinical situations and management strategies.
NURSG 610: Learning Principles and Instructional Methods for the Adult Learner (2 credits)
Pre-requisites: NURSG 608, NURSG 609
This is the third of four courses specific to the Nurse Educator role. Basic principles of curriculum design and formulation of program outcomes are introduced. The focus is on course planning, with emphasis on evidence-based educational strategies and learning activities that facilitate student learning in a variety of settings. Online seminar and preceptored practicum activities assist the NE student to demonstrate application of theoretical principles and specific teaching-learning strategies in clinical, simulation, online and classroom instructional situations. A particular focus is effective communication between teacher and student and sensitivity to varying needs of students based on culture, disabilities, and educational background. Integration of core professional nursing values and the core concepts of clinical decision-making, communication, and cultural competence into the curricular plan are discussed.
NURSG 611: Nurse Educator Role Practicum – Didactic Section (2 credits)
Pre-requisites: NURSG 608, NURSG 609, NURSG 610
This is the final course specific to the Nurse Educator role. This course focuses on the development of skills in assessment and evaluation strategies as applied to course and program learning outcomes. Evidence-based practices for evaluation of learning in both classroom and clinical settings are analyzed and applied. Ethical and legal implications of classroom and clinical evaluation are explored. During the practicum portion, students will collaborate with a faculty mentor to create teaching-learning activities that include preparing and delivering didactic lectures in face-to-face and online environments, providing feedback to student assignments, designing and conducting simulation activities, choosing clinical assignments, supervising students in the clinical setting, leading pre- and post-clinical conferences, and evaluating students in the clinical setting.