Innovative and emerging methods for placing pre-nursing science courses totally online will be presented, including the specific challenges inherent in Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology and Chemistry. The methodology, accreditation issues, advantages and disadvantages of hands-on versus virtual laboratories will be addressed. Lessons learned and best practices will be explored.
To reach beyond traditional students many nursing programs have turned to online courses to attract students into nursing programs taking many if not all of their non-clinical courses online. This allows potential nursing students who are constrained by time, distance, family or work obligations to complete pre-nursing courses so they can begin a nursing program. The required science courses which typically include Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Microbiology and a basic Chemistry course all include laboratories and require students to attend lectures twice a week as well as a 3 hour laboratory session. This can be prohibitive for students who are working full time jobs, have significant family responsibilities, or have to travel a distance to attend college.
The type of laboratory experience that the online pre-nursing student encounters has become a critical issue with respect to course transferability. The pros and cons of providing laboratory experiences via virtual laboratories versus by "wet labs" that students can perform in their own homes (and in the case of deployed military, wherever home may be) will be discussed and highlighted. The different modes of delivering online science laboratories and the different strategies involved in face-to-face, hybrid, virtual or remote "wet labs" will be analyzed and summarized. For example, is it better for students to use a real microscope to observe cell structure in anatomy and physiology or a bacterium that they grew up on a petri dish and Gram stained and observed them under oil immersion? Or is it just as good to use a virtual microscope on the computer to simulate a “real” laboratory? There are now many commercially available online labs such as Hands-On Labs, Inc. LabPaq and Lab Bridge, eScience Labs, McGraw-Hill LearnSmart Labs, Glencoe Biology Virtual Laboratory Simulations, Carolina Science Online, science lab simulations with Late Nite Labs, offering a variety of options.
Students are now able to complete online science pre-nursing courses at one college or university in another part of the country and transfer them into a traditional nursing program to complete their nursing degree. Many nursing programs now offer everything but clinical experience totally online and the availability of the online pre-requisite science courses has helped make this a reality. Online science courses have allowed certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, or associate degree nurses to advance their nursing education to the next level while working full time.
Lastly the factors that are relevant for course transfer, assessment, student success and accreditation will be addressed with respect to the overall evaluation of the online science laboratory courses.