Sherri Morrish has spent the past 16 years in the nursing field and has now set her sights on earning a Master’s of Science in Nursing with a major in Clinical Education. It seems like a lot to handle, being a wife, mother to two young daughters, and working full time while studying for her degree, but not for Sherri. She has managed to balance it all with distance education, and has been able to “set a great example of lifelong learning [for her] 4 and 10 year old kids.”

Sherri has an extensive educational background and is no stranger to distance education. “I did a diploma first, then I did specialties in critical care nursing and emergency nursing through BCIT [via distance education], then my BSN here at TRU [Thompson Rivers University], and now a MSN [at UBC].” As a 2nd year part time student, Sherri is continuing to work fulltime as a Clinical Nursing Educator for the emergency department at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. Coinciding with her job she has taken NURS 502: Ethics and Politics of Nursing and NURS 512: Leadership in Nursing by distance education to meet the requirements for her degree. In NURS 502 Sherri examined the processes of health-care delivery systems, health-care policies, and other factors influencing nursing in the Canadian health-care system. Having worked in the nursing field already, she has a lot of practical knowledge and experience to supplement her coursework.

NURS 512 focused on concepts of leadership applied to multiple nursing contexts. The purpose of this course is to better prepare for leadership roles and changing processes in the world of nursing practice. Sherri shares, “my courses help[ed] me develop as a leader and educator, and are benefitting me in my workplace – nursing is fast paced and a Master’s engages me in evidenced informed practice and allows my studies to relate to my work environment.” Continuing her education has been an important move for Sherri and when it came to figuring out how to balance it with her multitude of responsibilities, she chose to do distance education to provide her with the flexibility she needed.

Sherri is also registered in NURS 540: Educational Processes in Nursing for the winter term at UBC. She will be learning about the historical development, theoretical basis, practical knowledge, accountability of, and issues regarding curriculum process and teaching in nursing education and practice. This course is sure to contribute even more to Sherri’s professional, educational, and personal growth.

Sherri’s nursing courses have been online via WebCT and WebCT Vista and she feels that it was “nice to study and participate at [her] own pace.” Interaction in her classes has been a contested area, as Sherri still enjoys face to face interaction; “I do still love when I get to go to class but the [distance education] professor’s are amazing and try to be as helpful as possible.” She admits that she did face some challenges when completing group work assignments. For her course, she found it difficult to “chat together [in real time] so we used MSN.” Students can chat via the discussion board in WebCT Vista, but it can take some time before others respond. This is due to the fact that not everyone is online at the same time (unless requested by the instructor). The flexibility of distance education allows for students to complete most of the course work around their own time, as there are no scheduled lectures to attend. Alternatively, there is a live chat option in WebCT Vista which allows students to talk to each other in real time, similar to MSN. This option must be enabled, however, and this was not the case for Sherri’s course.

A benefit to distance learning is interacting with students from different locations, generations, and backgrounds. “Not living in Vancouver, this is an ideal setup for me – part time learning, flexibility, and a UBC Masters when I’m done [in about] 3 ½ – 4 years.” Her participation in distance courses is quickly making her goal of a Master’s a reality.