The National League for Nursing continues to move forward to meet the professional development needs of nurse educators by offering faculty development programs online. We now have two vehicles for creating online courses: Oncourse and Living Books. Each template has its own characteristics and each, therefore, is suited to different types of content. This document describes each type of template, as well as the following aspects of interest to a potential online course developer:

• Process for submitting a proposal to develop an online course
• Peer review of proposals
• Final submission of content
• Honorarium
• Procedure for assigning continuing education credit hours
• Topics of current interest for online courses.

Online Course Template Options

1. Oncourse.  In December of 2001, NLN announced a strategic alliance with Indiana University School of Nursing. This arrangement allows NLN to use Indiana University’s own course development template called Oncourse.  Oncourse has most of the features you will find in other learning management systems such as WebCT and Blackboard, including a syllabus page, class schedule, class roster, chat rooms, bulletin board areas, email features, and tools to create multiple choice tests and surveys. You can go to http://oncourse.iu.edu/help/index.html to take a tour of Oncourse.  You also can browse some of the material available to help faculty create courses, including a Faculty Guide, at http://oncourse.iu.edu/help/facultyguide.html.  Courses developed in Oncourse can vary greatly in the length of time it takes a user to work through the content and complete the course.
   
2. Living Books. This online template uses a book metaphor to organize the content. Initially the following three book titles will be developed:

• The Living Book of Teaching and Learning, which will contain basic content for nurse educators
• The Living Book of Trends and Issues in Nursing Education, which will have content that is current and timely.
• The Living Book of Web-based Teaching and Learning, which will address topics related to issues and best practices in online teaching.

The screens for Living Books will resemble book pages, and we will use book organizers like chapters and units. Unlike books, however, the content in these "book pages" will be very interactive. Every chapter will have links to websites and interactive exercises such as case studies, assignments that require the user to type in an answer or response, response pages that provide the correct answers or exemplars, and other techniques that involve the learner. In the future, a discussion area will be available. The goal is to have each Living Book "chapter" take approximately 60 minutes to complete, entitling the learner to one contact hour of continuing education credit. Living Books will grow as new chapters are added and sections or units emerge. Chapters can be revised whenever necessary and older chapters can be moved into an "historical" section or unit.

Process for Submitting a Proposal to Develop an Online Course

If you are interested in creating an original online course, please send a proposal that includes the following.

• An abstract or brief description of the course content.
• A brief outline of content
• The reasons why you think this content lends itself to an interactive format as opposed to a print product, such as a journal article.
• A brief description of some of the interactive elements you plan to include (links, interactive exercises, etc.). Please note that we cannot accommodate multiple choice questions in the Living Book format at this time. However, this option is available in the Oncourse template.

The basic proposal elements should be submitted on the Online Course Proposal Submission Form.  All proposal submissions and any additional documents, images, etc., must be sent via email. Proposals sent via regular mail will not be considered.

After reviewing your proposal, we will contact you to let you know whether or not we would like you to submit the full content for review. You would then be asked to submit the material as a Word document, with links and interactive exercises clearly identified

Peer Review Process

Once the full content document is received, it will be sent out to a panel for blind peer review to reviewers who have expertise in a specific content area and/or online delivery of content. All reviewer comments and recommendations will be reviewed by NLN staff, who will make the final decision on each submission and notify the developer of the review outcome. Anonymous reviewer comments and suggestions for revision also will be sent to the course developer.

Final Submission of Content

The final version of the content must be submitted in formats that conform to the guidelines for the Oncourse or Living Book templates. You will also be sent an author’s agreement, assigning copyright to NLN. Any tools, pictures, images, etc. must be accompanied by a statement that attests to the fact that the material has been created by the course developer, or permission from the author or company that owns the rights to the material must be submitted. Remember that while individuals can use clip art software for presentations, some companies restrict their use in products, such as these online courses, that will be sold. If you are unsure of the company’s policy, be sure to contact them.

Honorarium

When the course is posted on the Web, an honorarium check will be sent to the primary author in the amount of $250 for each hour of CE credit assigned to the course. If the author wishes to conduct some ongoing communication with course participants via forum discussions or email, we would be glad to consider additional remuneration.

Procedure for Assigning Continuing Education Credit Hours

The National League for Nursing is proud to be a CEU provider that is approved by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and uses the criteria and guidelines designated by that organization. All online courses will carry continuing education hours. In order to assign the number of hours, the course must be piloted with six individuals who represent the intended audience. Their role is not to critique the course, but to indicate how long it took them to complete it, including time spent interacting with links within the content and time spent completing the evaluation form. The reported times are then averaged to determine the final number of CE contact hours. For IACET, 60 minutes of activity is equated to one contact hour. For Living Book chapters, the goal is to have each chapter carry one CE contact hour. Programs in Oncourse can be as long as needed for the learner to work through all the content.

Some Topics of Current Interest for Online Courses

Any topic will be considered for an online course, provided it is relevant to the needs of nurse educators and it conforms to published guidelines. Content that is purely clinical in nature, for example, would not be accepted. The following list contains topics that nurse educators have expressed interest in learning more about. It is not intended to be all-inclusive or to imply that these are the only topics of interest.

The Living Book of Teaching and Learning

• Creative classroom teaching
• Creative clinical teaching
• Problem-based learning
• Strategies for effective post-conferences
• Measurement and evaluation
• Collaborative teaching and learning
• Reflective writing and journaling
• The Living Book of Trends and Issues in Nursing Education
• Integrating topics like bioterrorism and the human genome into the curriculum
• Recruitment and retention strategies
• Portfolios for students and faculty
• Concept/cognitive mapping
• Legal issues facing faculty
• Peer evaluation
• Use of new technologies including PDAs

The Living Book of Web-based Teaching and Learning

• Managing online communications (BB, email, chat)
• Innovative teaching strategies
• Issues of copyright, intellectual property, ownership
• Instructional design (articles by instructional designers who work with nursing faculty are encouraged!)
• Economics of web-based teaching
• Authoring vs facilitating a course
• Guidelines for selecting a learning management system

Click here for the ONLINE COURSE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM

Return to NLN Online Course Information Page

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