Resolving Bottlenecks: Converting Three High-Enrollment Nursing Courses to an Online Format

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences Education
• Online Learning Pedagogy
• Instructional Design

Background:

• Converting large undergraduate courses to online formats increases enrollment in high-demand subjects.
• Maintaining student engagement and learning interaction in large online courses presents significant challenges.
• This study focuses on a collaborative model for redesigning online courses at Boise State University.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a collaborative model between health sciences faculty and instructional designers.
• To detail the redesign and redevelopment of three high-enrollment online courses.
• To address challenges in online learning for health sciences.

Main Methods:

• Collaboration between health sciences faculty and eCampus instructional designers.
• Redesign and redevelopment of three high-enrollment undergraduate courses for online delivery.
• Focus on a collaborative online course development process.

Main Results:

• High-enrollment nursing courses successfully met enrollment demands.
• Student retention rates were maintained in the redesigned online courses.
• Instructional challenges were overcome through careful course redesign and continuous improvement.

Conclusions:

• The collaborative model effectively supports online course conversion in health sciences.
• Implications for health science educators and instructional designers are discussed.
• Lessons learned from the online course redesign process are provided.