The University of West Florida

The Nurse Practitioner program at The University of West Florida is online and self-taught. There were essentially no powerpoint slides, no lectures, no topics overview, no study review, no knowledge points to bring focus to the readings. The textbooks readings were not helpful for the details in the questions on the quizzes and exams. It was also full time and required a lot of hours involved. But those hours were primarily spent in participating in discussion questions. For example you might have... Read More had 2 courses at a time in a semester and each course you were preparing to learn the material but you were also spending time reading posts, responding to posts, and reading scholarly articles to support those posts; you have to spread posts out over the posting period (approx. a week) to hopefully produce quality in depth discussion (which was questionably accomplished at best). However, the time spent on posts averaged 1.5-3 hours per post for a single class for a minimum of 3 days per week about 6-9 hours on posts alone per week and barely some of that time helps with understanding the reading material. Essentially, the posts felt more like busy work and did not seem very efficient or helpful when you could have a virtual meeting at variable times offered and discuss the topics real time and have some guided discussion in a fraction of the time spent trying to make asynchronous posts. Now for studying topics such as assessment, Maternal-child, pharmacology, etc- there were no powerpoints provided and if they were, it was likely the powerpoint supplied with the instructor version of the textbook which had basic one-three word comments with no depth. It is hard to extrapolate points of focus from that. In my assessment, ambiguity and no focus or true facilitation may be effective, to some degree, for a master's level theory degree, however, it is far from effective for a master's level applied science degree that requires expounding on knowledge points. I would think coursework would reflect a smaller portion of time on theory and more time on integrating science application and scenarios that specifically help with applied principles of evidence-based practice for the various medical conditions. Therefoe, unless you plan to attend a program just to self-study through the NP degree to be eligible to sit for your boards, please be sure to ask the educators at this school and others plenty of deliberate and explicit questions about the teaching methods, assessment methods, and student expectations before applying or enrolling. Maybe even request to shadow a student in the online course or something. I don't think online means no clarity and purposefully guided instruction, neither does master's level. Other that the above comments, everyone speaks nicely and interacts nicely and they're courteous. But nice is not helpful when you need Master's level education in nurse practitioner studies. Good Luck.

I did an online MBA. The Staff is helpful, the program has an independent counselor call and checks on my progress and mental well being every semester. The workload is very tough if you go full time, even for the online program. I had to go half time so that I did not become overwhelmed by the amount of work to do. The instruction is great, the pace is fast, but not unreasonable. I recommend trying it, but if you work and need to do it at night online, be aware, it is a full MBA course, it is designed... Read More for people who attend class, and have no other commitments, that is why I had to slow down to half time, and it was still a lot of very late nights, due to the amount of work needed in a short amount of time.

Absolutely appreciated the opportunity to study at thito school. There were great schools in my area that taught engineering programs,, but I needed to go back to school, work and had little time to commute to and from school. This was one of the first colleges offering a convenient yet regionally accredited degree program. I ably wish there was more direction from the school after graduation because I was lost and did not utilize my degree to its potential. I am not blaming the school, but all colleges... Read More and universities have a unique position to have the workforce pulse and share its knowledge with graduates to help these students solidify a success career.

I absolutely loved this program and would highly recommend University of West Florida for a Master's Degree! The course work was meaningful and prepared me for state certification exams. My academic advisor, professors, and all other staff were caring, timely, and helpful. I was able to accelerate the program to graduate early, but received thoughtful advisement and encouragement from my advisor. The materials and books that I purchased as a part of my studies were very relevant, good investments.... Read More I opted for the 100% online program, which very closely mirrors other public state University Ed Leadership programs, but at a fraction of the price! Even though my classes were exclusively online, the class platform, use of emails, discussion boards, and live collaborative sessions kept me engaged.