Course Information

As a culminating experience, this course provides the student with the opportunity to complete a synthesis component.  The student will choose one of the following scholarly activities:  1) design a program, 2) write a grant proposal, 3) complete a scholarly project, 4) submit a manuscript for publication, and 5) present at a national or regional research conference. The activity must be approved by the supervising faculty member and the concentration coordinator.

At the completion of the course, the student will:

1.      Complete a scholarly activity guided by a graduate faculty member.

2.      Produce useful conclusions and recommendations of the scholarly activity.

3.      Demonstrate writing skills of academic excellence.

Prerequisites and Co-requisites:

NURS 5002 Advanced Nursing Research; permission of department. As a culminating experience this course is intended to be taken during the semester of planned graduation.

Course Topics:

Topics depend upon the specific scholarly activities chosen by the student and approved by the faculty advisor.  Choose one:

Program Development:  Involves, but not limited to, curriculum for undergraduate programs, staff development curriculum, or faculty development programs.

Writing a Grant Proposal:  May involve a research, special topics, or creative project grant.

Completing a Scholarly Project:  Involves development of a proposal and implementation of a research based project.  This project may be creative and result in a manuscript to be mailed to a professional journal.

Writing a Manuscript:  Involves choosing a topic, contacting the editor, writing a manuscript following the journal guidelines, and submitting for publication.

Presenting a Scholarly Paper or Poster at a National or Regional Conference:  Involves preparing an abstract, submitting the abstract for review, writing a scholarly paper or preparing a poster, and presenting the completed paper or poster at a national or regional conference.

Methods of Evaluation:

All scholarly synthesis projects will be guided by a graduate faculty member.  The scholarly synthesis course is graded as Pass/Fail.

The activity must be approved by the supervising faculty member and the concentration coordinator. 

Textbooks, Supplementary Materials, Hardware and Software Requirements

Textbooks:

Some options will require textbooks.  Please consult the bookstore listings or contact the faculty for clarification. 

Hardware Requirements:

The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm.

Software Requirements:

The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm. Specific hardware requirements for this course include Microsoft Word.  Others may be required to accomplish specific options (i.e. Microsoft PowerPoint; SPSS, etc). 

Instructor Information

Please see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact information as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other communication information.

Assessment and Grading

Testing Procedures:

No examinations are administered in the course.  Assessment and grading will be done throughout the course as drafts of your selected option are provided.  Mentoring by your assigned faculty will continue throughout the semester.

Grading Procedure:

All scholarly synthesis projects will be guided by a graduate faculty member.

The activity must be approved by the supervising faculty member and the concentration coordinator.  

Sharing of your work with peers and graduate faculty will be done on line through the discussion boards.

Grading Scale:

Pass/Fail

Assignments and Participation

Assignments and Projects:

See your course calendar for assignments and due dates.

Class Participation:

Students must communicate with the instructor as a learning resource.

Punctuality:

Each student should develop a timeline for completion of activities relative to the course option chosen.  Approval of the timeline will be determined by the assigned faculty. 

Course Ground Rules

All course requirements (papers, presentations, discussions, etc) must be submitted inside WebCT.  Email attachments outside of WebCT will not be accepted. 

Guidelines for Communications

Email:

•     Always include a subject line.

•     Remember without facial expressions some comments may be taken the wrong way.

•     Be careful in wording your emails. Use of emoticons might be helpful in some cases.

•     Use standard fonts.

•     Do not send large attachments without permission.

•     Special formatting such as centering, audio messages, tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.

•     Respect the privacy of other class members.

 Discussion Groups: 

•         Review the discussion threads thoroughly before entering the discussion.

•         Try to maintain threads by using the "Reply" button rather starting a new topic.

•         Do not make insulting or inflammatory statements to other members of the discussion group.

•         Be respectful of others’ ideas.

•         Be patient and read the comments of other group members thoroughly before entering your remarks.

•         Be cooperative with group leaders in completing assigned tasks.

•         Be positive and constructive in group discussions.

•         Respond in a thoughtful and timely manner.

Chat: 

•         Introduce yourself to the other learners in the chat session.

•         Be polite. Choose your words carefully. Do not use derogatory statements.

•         Be concise in responding to others in the chat session.

•         Be prepared to open the chat session at the scheduled time.

•         Be constructive in your comments and suggestions.

Web Resources:

• All papers must follow the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001).  Recommended resource for online citation: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html

The Tennessee Virtual Library is available to all students enrolled in the Regents Degree Program. Links to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases, interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to complete online assignments are provided inside WebCT.

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

The instructor reserves the right to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Telephone Support: