Distance-Learning Sites Provide Expansion of Learning Opportunities

In its continuing effort to offer innovative ways to train more women and men for nursing careers – given the current and projected nursing shortages – The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston has included distance learning in its curriculum since the early 1990s with master’s level nursing courses at the UT-Pan American campus.

“In 1998, after a request from UT-El Paso, we began bringing doctoral nursing education to that city through interactive TV,” says Patricia L. Starck, D.S.N., UT-Houston nursing school dean and John P. McGovern Distinguished Professor.

Now the school is offering distance education opportunities much closer to home – at both the University of Houston central campus and the Fort Bend County Library’s George Memorial Branch in Richmond. These courses are tailored to nursing students working on their bachelor’s degrees.

“Because the Houston metropolitan area is so large, we believe it is important to send out some of these courses to convenient sites in the community,” says Starck. “We have an adequate pool of students in the Fort Bend County area, and this will certainly help students who would find it difficult to come to all their classes in the Texas Medical Center.”

The UH site is a new collaboration between the two institutions.

“We can recruit their prenursing majors directly into our program,” says Starck. “It will also facilitate a program we have with the UH Reserve Officers Training Corps, through which students receive tuition assistance and a stipend.”

In a letter of approval for this change to the B.S.N. program, the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners wrote, “The administration of the school of nursing and the nursing faculty are commended for their commitment to the development of this initiative and their willingness to do what is necessary to ensure its success.”

Potential B.S.N. students who want to get a degree from UT-Houston and who are interested in taking courses at either of these sites should contact the Student Affairs Office at (713) 500-2199.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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