School of Education Overview, Essay Example

One educational option for the nurse educator is to obtain a doctorate is to receive training from an online program. For this assignment, I selected to examine the PhD program in nursing education from Capella University more closely. This program is advantageous because it will allow be to complete my doctorate on my own time from any location and has course offerings that closely align with my interests. However, a disadvantage of this program is that with the exception of occasionally scheduled meetings, there is little face to face interaction between students and educators. Therefore, there will be a need to exchange ideas without being able to engage in the emotional aspect of learning.

Doctoral study in this program will help contribute to my professional and personal skills for growth because the program claims that it will be able to teach me how to build relevant curriculum and encourage others to achieve success in the field of nursing. I also believe that it would be helpful to conduct relevant educational studies that will help me gain a greater understanding of the educational strategies that will help me become an effective educator. I also believe that the program will help me build the critical thinking skills necessary to gain a greater understanding of the needs of my students.

According to the website, individuals with a PhD in nursing in education can receive a job in one of the following fields: “faculty member, dean or associate dean of nursing program, education analyst, director of nursing or educational consultant”. Furthermore, the potential workplaces include: “land-based or online college or university, health care system, hospital, educational consulting firm, and community health agency” (Capella, n.d.). Since there will be more career opportunities available for me with the degree, I think obtaining it would be advantageous to my future in this field.

After examining the course offerings for Capella University, I recognized that this program was well balanced. These classes will help me build both the quantitative and qualitative skills I will need in order to conduct educational studies necessary to complete my dissertation. Furthermore, while I understand how the education works for children to some extent, I recognize that this process is completely different for the education of adults. Therefore, I think that it will be useful to take courses that specialize in this process.

A major disadvantage of online learning is that I will generally be unable to have group discussions with my classmates outside the scope of online written discussions. I think that having these types of conversations in real time would be useful because it would facilitate a quicker exchange of ideas. While forums promote the eventual exchange of ideas, it is possible that learners will forget the questions they have while waiting for the response. Ultimately, learning will likely occur, but this will not happen in a timely manner. Furthermore, it would be useful to test project ideas in the classroom setting and have instant feedback. This is particularly useful when testing out a particular survey or method that will be used in research as a preliminary study,

Despite some of the disadvantages that online learning has to offer, I believe that I will apply for Capella University’s PhD in nursing program. I believe that it would be more convenient to be an online learner so that I could work in a hospital during the day and complete my doctorate in the evening.

References

Capella. (n.d.). School of Education Overview. Retrieved from http://www.capella.edu/online- degrees/phd-nursing-education/