Clarkson's MSN in Nursing Education, from core courses to the teaching practicum
Clarkson College's MSN Nursing Education option is 39 credits, taught online with no campus visit. It closes with NRS 894 Nursing Education Practicum: 150 hours beside an experienced nurse educator whom you identify and Clarkson approves before you can register. This guide covers the degree itself; the practicum's rules have their own practicum guide.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Clarkson program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The 39 credits at a glance
Every Clarkson MSN option shares a 19-credit core, and the education option adds 20 credits of its own, for 39 in the 2026-27 catalog. The Fall 2025 degree plan for the option (MSN-NUED-2025) shows the same total, so the two documents agree here, which is not true of every MSN option.
The catalog names NRS 822, NRS 823 and NRS 890 as the courses that lead into NRS 894, and lets NRS 890 run alongside the practicum. Full titles and the term-by-term order are in the catalog and the degree plan. The Director of Graduate Nursing can approve up to 9 credits of graduate transfer work, which may shorten the path if you already hold graduate coursework.
| Block | Credits | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| MSN core, shared by all five options | 19 | GRD 798, GRD 847, NRS 803, NRS 805, NRS 807, NRS 808, NRS 812, NRS 813, IPE 301 (0 credits) |
| Nursing Education option | 20 | Includes NRS 822, NRS 823, NRS 890 and the practicum |
NRS 894 Nursing Education Practicum | 3 of the 20 | 150 practicum hours with one approved preceptor |
| Degree total | 39 | Fully online |
Online, with no weekend in Omaha
The education option is taught through Canvas, which Clarkson calls the Online Campus. The Graduate Weekend that nurse practitioner students attend belongs to NRS 830, a course this option does not include, and Clarkson publishes no campus requirement for nurse educators. Your one in-person commitment is the practicum itself, completed near home.
Semesters follow Clarkson's calendar: 15 weeks in fall and spring, 12 in summer, with 7.5-week sessions inside the longer terms. For 2026-27 that means Aug. 20 to Dec. 9, Jan. 7 to Apr. 28 and May 13 to Aug. 4. Clarkson lists the MSN as a whole at seven to nine semesters full-time and 12 to 14 or more part-time, without splitting the figure by option, and Clarkson's seven-year completion cap, which counts leave time, covers this option like every other.
Graduate nursing admission is rolling, so you can apply for whichever term suits you. Census days and the 7.5-week session dates are on our semester calendar.
Who is admitted
Admission to the education option matches the rest of Clarkson's MSN. Expect to show:
- A BSN from an accredited program: the MSN page names ACEN or CCNE, and Policy AD-1 also accepts NLN CNEA.
- A 3.0 GPA.
- An unencumbered RN license valid where you practice or where the practicum will take place.
- Two professional recommendations.
Clarkson's 2021-22 graduate handbook also required every graduate nursing student to keep working as an RN throughout the program. Where you live matters too: the state workbook's single graduate nursing verdict applies to nurse educators too, with 38 states at Meets and 12 at Does Not Meet. Check your state on our state authorization page before you apply, and again before any move.
The teaching practicum, NRS 894
NRS 894 is where the option turns into practice. The 2026-27 course page sets it at 150 practicum hours for three credits, placed in a school of nursing or a clinical education setting alongside nurse educators or health care educators, and registration waits for preceptor and site approval. Policy AA-55's 45-hours-per-credit ratio yields 135 instead, the figure older catalogs printed; our practicum guide explains which to plan for.
The preceptor standard in Clarkson's 2021-22 graduate handbook is specific: a nurse educator's role, academic or clinical, held for at least two years, an MSN or higher, and one preceptor for the whole course. Your hours belong in an area separate from the job you hold. The practicum has its own version of the Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form, which Clarkson's 2025 resources page called the Nurse Education Preceptor Agreement Form, filed through DocuSign.
The practicum cannot be registered until Clarkson approves the preceptor and site, so the educator search starts in the term before, not the week the course opens.
Two related certificates
Nurses who already hold an MSN or higher can take the Post-Graduate Certificate: Nurse Educator instead, at 23 credits. It starts with NRS 807, ends in the same NRS 894 practicum, and runs fully online. Admission asks for an MSN from an ACEN, NLN CNEA or CCNE program, a 3.0 graduate GPA, an RN license effective where the practicum will happen, an essay, a CV and two recommendations. All certificate courses are taken at Clarkson, though Clarkson graduate-degree holders can bring in as many as 9 graduate credits. Our post-graduate certificate guide compares every certificate.
The shorter Nursing Clinical Practice Instructor Certificate shares two course numbers with this option, NRS 822 and NRS 823, plus DNP 933, one course a semester for three semesters and 8 credits in all. It prepares nurses to teach and precept ADN, PN, RN and BSN students in the Nebraska Shared Clinical Model, is run with the Nebraska Center for Nursing Innovation Project under LB227, and lists no clinical hours. Clarkson does not say whether those credits carry into the MSN, so ask your Graduate Nursing advisor before counting on it.
Finding an educator who fits NRS 894
Clarkson's graduate handbook makes the practicum search yours. Nurse educators plan their teaching terms well ahead, whether they teach in a school of nursing or run orientation and competency programs in a hospital, so an early request that already carries the details Clarkson's form needs is the one most likely to get a yes.
That is where Clarkson students lean on our placement desk. We look for educators near you who meet the two-year and MSN tests, at a school of nursing or clinical education department that can host 150 hours and sits outside your own unit. We confirm the institution's exact legal name for the agreement, flag whether the Compliance office will have to draw up a new affiliation agreement, a step Clarkson said can run two months, and aim everything at the term's paperwork date in our deadlines guide. Tell us your practicum term with the form on this page.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Does Clarkson's MSN in Nursing Education include clinical hours?
It has no nurse practitioner clinical courses. The one precepted course is NRS 894 Nursing Education Practicum, listed at 150 hours with a nurse educator in a school of nursing or clinical education setting. Registration opens to you only after Clarkson signs off on the preceptor and site.
Is there an on-campus visit in the Nursing Education option?
Clarkson publishes no campus requirement for it. The Graduate Weekend in Omaha is tied to NRS 830 Advanced Physical Assessment, which only the nurse practitioner tracks take. Everything else in the education option runs online through Canvas, and the practicum happens in a setting near you.
Can someone I work with be my practicum preceptor?
Clarkson's 2021-22 graduate handbook asks for practicum hours in an area separate from your own job and rules out family members as preceptors. A colleague in a different department who has two years as a nurse educator and an MSN may fit; our workplace practicum guide covers the separation rules.
How is the Nurse Educator certificate different from the MSN option?
The certificate is for nurses who already hold an MSN or higher. It is 23 credits against the MSN option's 39, starts with NRS 807, and finishes with the same NRS 894 practicum and the same preceptor approval before registration.
How long does the MSN Nursing Education take?
Clarkson lists the MSN at seven to nine semesters full-time and 12 to 14 or more part-time, a range that covers all five options. Clarkson caps any program at seven years, counting leave. Your advisor can map the option's 39 credits onto a term-by-term plan with the practicum at the end.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
- Clarkson College 2026-27 Catalog: Master of Science in Nursing
- Clarkson College 2026-27 Catalog: NRS 894 Nursing Education Practicum
- Clarkson College: Master of Science in Nursing
- Clarkson College 2026-27 Catalog: Nursing Clinical Practice Instructor Certificate
- Clarkson College Graduate Nursing Student Handbook 2021-22 (archived)
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.