Binghamton University’s nursing school is going digital

The Decker School of Nursing will make several of its most sought-after undergraduate and graduate nursing programs more convenient when they transition to an online format in the coming months.

“The quality of our nursing programs and the access to our outstanding faculty, who are focused on student success, will remain the same when these programs go online,” says Mario Ortiz, dean of the Decker School of Nursing. “What will change is the level of convenience for students who have work or family commitments that would otherwise prevent their pursuit of advanced degrees.

“Nurses are often geographically bound because of family and work, but they want the best education and the best schools,” he adds. “It has taken some time to expand our presence online, but we’re doing it now in a very substantial, quality-driven, Decker way.”

Decker already offers online education for a few programs, primarily in a hybrid format (part classroom, part online). However, this marks the change to offering fully online options for select degree-granting programs.

“Moving programs online allows us to expand our reach and helps us achieve our goal of expanding graduate enrollment at the University,” says Donald Nieman, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “Our graduate programs in nursing aren’t going to grow if they’re brick-and-mortar programs. The demand for that is just not there nationally and certainly not in a community as small as ours.”

Nieman adds that the change will also enhance the University’s reputation. “We have an excellent brand in the state of New York and in the Northeast,” he says. “By putting these programs online, it’s going to build the Binghamton brand in other parts of the country, and that’s something we would like to do.”

Proposals for offering the programs online have been created and are being reviewed on campus. Once that is completed, which Ortiz expects will be this fall, the proposals will go to the State University of New York (SUNY) as well as the New York State Education Department’s Office of the Professions.

When the proposals are approved, Ortiz hopes to offer the first online programs in fall 2019. Those will be the RN-to-BS and the MS in nursing as a family nurse practitioner. Other MS programs, along with the Doctor of Nursing Practice and PhD, will follow.

While it may be a year or so away, Ortiz says some students are eagerly waiting for the programs to go online. He adds that nursing leaders from regional healthcare agencies and hospitals are also excited about the future offerings.

“Healthcare organizations want nurses to have the flexibility to be their employees and pursue their education, but it’s hard for them to give people two or three days off to go to school either full time or part time,” he says. “So, they’re thrilled we’re doing this. They like the quality of Binghamton University and the Decker School.”

To accomplish bringing the programs online, Binghamton University is working with Academic Partnerships, a company that assists universities with online program management. Academic Partnerships provides expertise regarding systems and processes, while the Decker School develops the curricula and delivers the instruction.

Both Nieman and Ortiz admit this is a big undertaking, but well worth the hurdles.

“The experience we’re having with Decker is teaching us lessons on how to develop our infra-structure for online education,” Nieman says.