1 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER FROM DR. ELLEN HANELINE, DEAN OF COLLEGE OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES………………………………………………………………………………….. i LETTER FROM DR. JULIE COON, DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF NURSING…………………………………………………………………………………… ii SECTION ONE-PROGRAM OVERVIEW………………………………………………. 4 PROGRAM GOALS……………………………………………………………… 14 PROGRAM VISIBILITY AND DISTINCTIVENESS…………………………… 22 PROGRAM RELEVANCE………………………………………………………. 26 PROGRAM VALUE………………………………………………………………. 34 SECTION TWO-COLLECTION OF PERCEPTIONS……………………………………… 39 GRADUATE ALUMNI SURVEY RESULTS………………………….. ………… 39 Alumni Descriptive……………………………………………………… 39 Quality of Courses and Instruction…………………………………….. 43 Qualitative Assessment: General Comments……………………….. 47 EMPLOYER SURVEY RESULTS……………………………………………… 54 Core Outcomes………………………………………………………….. 54 Importance of Degree…………………………………………………… 58 CURRENT STUDENTS SURVEY RESULTS………………………………… 61 Student Descriptive……………………………………………. …………. 61 Quality of Courses and Instruction……………………………………. 65 Qualitative Assessment: General Comments………………………... 70 FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF THE MSN PROGRAM……………..………… 76 Support Services……………………………………………….. ……….. 77 Academics………………………………………………………………. 78 2 Faculty……………………………………………………………………. 79 MSN Program…………………………………………………………. 79 ADVISORY BOARD PERCEPTIONS OF THE MSN PROGRAM………. 81 Quality of the MSN Program…………………………………………. 81 Quality and Employment Prospects for MSN Graduates………….. 84 Communication to Board Members………………………………… 84 Additional Comments & Suggestions……………………………… 85 SECTION THREE-PROGRAM PROFILE……………………………………………….. 86 PROFILE OF STUDENTS……………………………………………………… 86 ENROLLMENT…………………………………………………………………… 96 PROGRAM CAPACITY………………………………………………………… 97 RETENTION AND GRADUATION……………………………………. ………. 98 ACCESS…………………………………………………………………………... 99 CURRICULUM…………………………………………………………………… 101 QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION…………………………………………………. 102 COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF FACULTY………………………………. 106 SERVICE TO NON-MAJORS…………………………………………. ………… 113 DEGREE PROGRAM COST AND PRODUCTIVITY DATA……….. ……….. 114 ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION………………………………….. ………… 115 ADMINISTRATIVE EFFECTIVENESS……………………………….. …………. 120 SECTION FOUR-FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT………………………………………….. 122 INSTRUCTIONAL ENVIRONMENT………………………………….. …………. 122 COMPUTER ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY………………………………….. 124 3 OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY…………………………………. 124 LIBRARY RESOURCES……………………………………………….............. 125 SECTION FIVE-CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………….. 129 RELATIONSHIP TO FSU MISSION……………………………………………. 129 PROGRAM VISIBILITY AND DISTINCTIVENESS…………………………… 130 PROGRAM VALUE………………………………………………………………. 132 ENROLLMENT……………………………………………………………………. 134 CHARACTERISTICS, QUALITY, AND EMPLOYABILITY OF STUDENTS………………………………………………………….. 135 QUALITY OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION………………………….. 138 COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF THE FACULTY……………….. ……….. 140 ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………….. 141 APPENDICES APPENDIX A-GRADUATE HANDBOOK APPENDIX B-ALUMNI SURVEY & RESULTS APPENDIX C-EMPLOYER SURVEY & RESULTS APPENDIX D-CURRENT STUDENT SURVEY & RESULTS APPENDIX E-FACULTY SURVEY & RESULTS APPENDIX F-ADVISORY BOARD SURVEY & RESULTS APPENDIX G-CURRICULUM VITAE OF FACULTY APPENDIX H-INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AND TESTING DATA APPENDIX I-MSN PROGRAM ASSESSMENT PLAN & GRADING RUBRICS APPENDIX J-MSN PROGRAM CHECKSHEET APPENDIX K-SAMPLE SYLLABUS 4 SECTION 1 OVERVIEW OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN NURSING PROGRAM The nursing programs at Ferris State University were established within the Department of Nursing in 1969 with the first LPN to RN ladder program in the State of Michigan. This model quickly became established as the standard throughout the state to address the nursing shortage of that time. In 1983, the program was converted to a generic Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program, when the focus on career laddering was taken to the baccalaureate level. The associate degree program has served as the base for the Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, which was started in 1983 as an upper-division program designed to provide career mobility for registered nurses (RN) who were initially prepared at the diploma or associate degree levels. The RN to BSN program gained initial accreditation in 1989 and has maintained accreditation since that time. In 2004, the Ferris nursing programs expanded to include graduate education. The Master of Science in nursing (MSN) degree is the first graduate program within the College of Allied Health Sciences. The addition of the first graduate program within the College served as a catalyst to reorganize the departments, resulting in the establishment of the School of Nursing as an academic department within the College in 2005. Prior to this change, the nursing programs had been housed initially in the Department of Nursing and from 1999 to 2005 within the Department of Nursing and Dental Hygiene. With the establishment of the graduate nursing program and the School of 5 Nursing at Ferris, the decision was made by the nursing faculty in 2004 to elevate the AAS pre-licensure program to the BSN degree level. This decision was made primarily to address the need for more BSN-prepared nurses in the State of Michigan and serve as the undergraduate base for the new graduate nursing program. The new generic BSN program was developed during the 2005-2007 academic years and was launched in the fall 2007 semester when the first cohort of 40 students began the six semester professional sequence of the traditional track. In January 2008, the first cohort of 20 second-degree students began the accelerated three semester professional sequence of the BSN program. The last cohort of ADN students was admitted in fall 2006 and completed the program in May 2008. As of fall 2008, all nursing programming at Ferris is offered at the BSN and MSN levels only. The MSN program was established in the 2004-05 academic year in response to the need for more nurses to be prepared at the graduate level for advanced specialty roles in areas that fit the mission of Ferris State University and the School of Nursing. Prospective graduate nursing students already had many options within the state and in west Michigan to enter clinically-based MSN programs that provided preparation for the advanced practice roles of the nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist. However, with the growing shortage of adequately prepared nurse educators, the need for nurse administrators with an advanced nursing degree, and the newly emerging area of nursing informatics, the nursing faculty realized that these areas of advanced specialty role preparation could be provided by a unique collection of course offerings, some of which were already in place within other colleges at Ferris State University. 6 A collaborative planning process with the College of Business and the College of Education and Human Services resulted in a MSN program that is offered in three segments. The nursing core is comprised of 12 credits of coursework that provides the foundation for the next segment, which is the specialty concentration coursework. The 12 credits in the specialty concentration segment are taken through the College of Business for the administration and informatics majors, while the College of Education and Human Services offers 3 to 6 of the 12 credits in the nursing education major. The School of Nursing offers the remaining credits (6 to 9) in this major. The final segment is the capstone coursework where all of the previous academic work is synthesized within a nursing context for future practice and scholarly inquiry. This 12-credit segment of coursework includes the comprehensive exam, preparation for and implementation of a scholarly project, and a practicum experience in the selected advanced specialty role. The current MSN curriculum is offered fully online in a variety of schedule options. Some students select the 7 semester part-time format which reflects approximately 6 credits per semester. Others opt for a more part-time format, taking only one course or approximately 3 credits per semester which spans the program over 12 semesters. Finally, a few students have elected to complete the program in a full- time schedule over 4 to 5 semesters. Students report satisfaction with the flexibility that the program offers in regard to scheduling. When the MSN program at Ferris State University commenced in Fall 2004 there was an enrollment of 10 students. This semester was preceded by the graduate certificate in nursing education course offerings in the Spring and Summer semesters of 7 2004. Thus, 3 students were admitted to the MSN program in Fall 2004 who had already completed the graduate certificate in nursing education that included the 4 required specialty courses for the MSN degree with a major in nursing education. Since the program’s inception, we have enrolled 160 students. Currently, there are 69 active students in the MSN program. The nursing education programs at Ferris have been characterized as innovative and responsive to the needs of the profession within the state of Michigan. In accordance with the innovative delivery of nursing education programs at Ferris, the MSN program was initially launched as an 80% online program in the 2004-05 academic years, with three weekend face-to-face meetings a semester and the rest of the coursework online. Initially, it was felt that this mixed-delivery initiative would provide the same flexibility as the mixed-delivery offerings at the RN-to-BSN level which have been so successful for many years. However, it was soon discovered that students learning at