How to Get a Nursing Associate Degree Online

Why sure you can. Although a nursing degree typically requires clinical practice on top of academics, you can still get a nursing degree through an online program. It's hard to imagine a person gain hands on experience in a clinic or hospital over the internet, in fact it is impossible.



It is for this reason that when one starts their nursing associate degree online with a legitimate and accredited program, hospitals and/or clinics near the student's home will allow clinical time just the same as nurses studying in the classroom. It is the academics that are covered online; the practical stuff is always covered in a practical location.



Okay, so how do classes work?



Well, this varies from school to school, but with recent growing demands for nurses and nursing students, many facilities are opening up entire programs online. Typically the nursing associate degree online will have a site where instructors post lectures and assignments for their students to download and complete. Many also have discussion or bulletin boards where students and instructors can communicate freely with each other and help each other with questions and concerns, or just get to know one another. In this way a virtual classroom environment is created.



Are exams done online as well?



Again, this varies from school to school. Some will perform exams online, while others (usually the ones affiliated with universities and colleges) will provide online students with a designated time and location to write their exam; while others still have chosen to replace the traditional exams with written coursework placing high emphasis on assignments.



It is these schools which are gaining in popularity because they give the students the freedom to study at their own pace and in their spare time. There are growing numbers of people turning to online nursing programs as a way to escape their dead end and minimum wage jobs, without having to quit until their program is complete. Let's face it, a single mother of two working as a waitress in a diner can't afford to take much time off to go to nursing school.



However, she can study for a nursing associate degree online in the very little amount of free time she can muster, and not have to worry about finding the money to feed her children. Not all online programs allow you study at your own pace or fast track however. Most of the nursing associate degree online programs offered through colleges and universities are structured around the same schedule as their classroom programs. Assignments are due on the same dates and exams are taken at the same time.