The UNF School of Nursing will offer a distance learning program beginning Summer 2013 to aid pre-licensed nurses in getting their Bachelor’s degree or BSN.

Distance learning programs uses online courses and occasional campus visits to help nurses with an Associate’s degree earn a Bachelor’s degree.

The nursing program will have mostly online courses with two hybrid courses, both with online and on campus requirements, according to the UNF website.

Aubrey Hann, a UNF nursing junior, said she could see how this program could be helpful to students who aren’t able to make it to campus for classes multiple times a week.

Hann said she would find it convenient to be able to do some of her work from home, even though she’s not currently a part of this program.

Dr. Debra Wagner, assistant professor in the UNF School of Nursing and the RN to BSN Director, said practicing the needed skills in the nursing field is an important part of the program, but clinicals will still be necessary.

Since some of the students in this program are already working as RN’s, this requirement wouldn’t be as difficult, she said. Much of the coursework done with the distance learning program is the research, so there isn’t as much practical work to be done.

Each semester a new cycle of cohorts, a group of students who are already registered nurses and are in the process of getting their BSN in nursing, will begin in one of three sections depending on the semester, Wagner said. The sections include, traditional learning, distance learning or hybrid.

Email Alicia Mangum at reporter26@unfspinnaker.com.