To better serve students in the RN to BSN program, Old Dominion University's Office of Distance Learning will offer the entry classes Nursing 401 and Nursing 403 in the fall, spring and summer semesters. This will increase the opportunity for students to begin a bachelor's program in nursing - either while they are attending community college to pursue a registered nursing license or after they have received the R.N. license.

"This change will provide total flexibility for what meets [a student's] needs," says Janice Hawkins, chief academic adviser for ODU's School of Nursing. "The more flexibility we can give them the better, so we can move them through the program at their pace."

This idea blossomed out of advisers' concerns for busy students. Nursing students often work full time while taking classes, and the transition from community college to ODU can be challenging. Many of the Virginia Community College System's nursing programs do not have classes in the summer, so ODU's schedule change could provide an ideal opportunity for these students to complete bachelor's work.

The RN to BSN program has become extremely popular as the nursing field is moving toward requiring bachelor's degrees. For more information on this program, please visit online.odu.edu/rn-bsn

Old Dominion University, located in the coastal city of Norfolk, is Virginia's entrepreneurial-minded doctoral research university and has been delivering distance learning programs for 30 years. ODU offers more than 100 programs through ODUOnline in a variety of formats, allowing students to complete degree programs across the world. ODU serves about 24,500 students annually by providing the same rigorous academics online and on-campus. Learn more about ODUOnline's programs by visiting online.odu.edu.