UT Tyler's MSN in Nursing Education: the academic practicum and who mentors it
UT Tyler's MSN in Nursing Education is 36 credits, fully online, with no direct patient care. Its placement moment is NURS 5329, a practicum completed inside an academic pre-licensure RN program, with an optional staff development experience at a clinical facility. You propose the mentor and the program, faculty approve them, and our placement desk finds a nursing program and faculty mentor near you that fit the course.
Find your NURS 5329 mentor
Tell us your term, where you live and the kind of program you want to teach in. A placement advisor replies with next steps.
The degree in brief
The MSN in Nursing Education prepares nurses to teach, and UT Tyler points its graduates toward the NLN CNE exam. Coursework is 100% online in Canvas, and the catalog states plainly that the program involves no direct patient care. Practice hours still run through most courses, and students whose first enrollment was Fall 2025 or later complete 500 of them across the degree.
Two related options share the specialty courses. The post-baccalaureate Nursing Education certificate is nine credits, made up of NURS 5327, NURS 5328 and NURS 5329, with practice hours beginning in Spring 2026. The RN-MSN lets associate-degree RNs who qualify enter UT Tyler's non-APRN graduate tracks early, Education among them.
Nursing Education is also one of the five concentrations in UT Tyler's BSN to DNP, where the same academic practicum sits inside a longer doctoral plan with 1,000 hours in total.
Courses and practice hours
Hours below come from Fall 2026 syllabi and the 2026-27 catalog. Even the credit split is disputed: the program page describes 18 core credits, six elective credits and 12 in the specialty, while the catalog counts 15, 6 and 15.
| Course | Title | Practice hours | When it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
NURS 5301, NURS 5302, NURS 5321, NURS 5324, NURS 5325 | MSN core: Translational Science I and II, Health Policy, Informatics, Organizational Leadership | 10 each | 7-week Flex sessions |
NURS 5327 | Nursing Education Curriculum Development | 50 | Flex I |
NURS 5328 | Evaluation in Nursing Education | 50 | Flex II |
NURS 5329 | Nursing Education Strategies and Practicum | 125 | 15 weeks |
NURS 5355 | Integrated Advanced Health Assessment, Pathophysiology, and Pharmacology | 50 | 15 weeks, fall and spring only |
NURS 5382 | Nurse Educator Capstone | 125 (the same syllabus also says 50) | Final two semesters |
| Electives | 6 credits | Not stated | Varies |
Inside NURS 5329
The Fall 2026 syllabus places NURS 5329 practicum hours in an academic pre-licensure RN program, meaning a program that prepares students for their first RN license. It also offers an optional staff development educator experience at a clinical facility, for students who want to see hospital-based education alongside academic teaching.
UT Tyler's 2022 Education guides set the mentor standard. In the academic setting, the mentor must be a nurse faculty educator with an MSN or higher, such as a PhD or DNP. For the staff development experience, the student identifies a staff development nurse educator at the facility. An older InPlace how-to notes that NURS 5329 may need two Self-Placement Request forms, which fits a course with two possible settings.
The academic guide's wording is less settled. It refers to "the assigned preceptor", while the how-to and the staff development guide have students propose their own. Expect to propose both the program and the faculty mentor, and let your course faculty tell you if they already have a placement in mind. The Self-Placement Request page explains what the form asks for.
125, 112.5 or 91 hours: which practicum count applies
UT Tyler's sources disagree on the size of the practicum, and the difference mostly tracks the catalog year you entered under.
- 125 hours: the 2026-27 catalog and the Fall 2026
NURS 5329syllabus, which applies it to students whose first enrollment was Fall 2025 or later and counts it toward the 500-hour program total - 112.5 hours: the 2025-26 catalog, UT Tyler's online-program site and the 2022 Education preceptor guide
- 91 hours on site: a figure from the older InPlace how-to, which no longer loads on UT Tyler's site
The syllabus for your term is the document your course is graded against, so read its hours section in the first week it posts in Canvas.
The mistake to avoid: quoting a prospective mentor 112.5 hours from an older page, then asking for more time in the middle of the semester. Confirm the count in your own syllabus before you make the request.
Approval, agreements and clearance
Once you propose a mentor, UT Tyler's Education guides give faculty the job of approving both the preceptor and the facility. The Clinical Coordinator then verifies the mentor's information and emails a Preceptor Agreement, a short online survey the mentor completes to accept. The preceptor agreement and approval page covers that step in detail.
The nursing school or hospital hosting you also needs an affiliation agreement with UT Tyler, signed on paper, before any practicum hours begin. Policy also wants the site and mentor signed off ahead of the first class day, and a host program may add its own onboarding forms. Graduate clinical management now runs through Exxat, although some UT Tyler pages still mention InPlace from before the Spring 2024 changeover.
Where you can live and which license you need
Because Nursing Education is a non-APRN track, the 2026-27 catalog lets you hold your RN license in the state or states where your practicum will occur rather than in Texas. UT Tyler lists the program as open to online students outside Texas, with conditions, and the program page reminds out-of-state applicants that reciprocity agreements may affect clinical hours.
UT Tyler's licensure chart says the Nursing Education MSN leads to licensure or certification in all states, while the School of Nursing's own state page lists 48 states as undetermined. State authorization sets the two side by side so you can check your state before you enroll. For the practicum itself, the practical question is simpler: your license has to be valid in the state where the host program sits, so a mentor across a state line may mean a second license.
How our placement desk helps Nursing Education students
The hardest part of NURS 5329 is finding a nursing program with a faculty member ready to take you on. That search is where our placement desk puts its effort.
- Map programs near youWe list the pre-licensure RN programs within reach of your home, from associate degree programs to BSN programs, and note which settings fit your teaching goals.
- Find a qualified mentorWe look for nurse faculty with an MSN or higher who can host you for the full practicum, plus a staff development educator if you want the optional hospital experience.
- Package the detailsYou receive the mentor's credentials and contact details in the shape the Self-Placement Request needs, ready for faculty review before the semester.
- Cover changesIf a mentor's teaching assignment shifts, your placement advisor starts a replacement search right away.
Begin through the form below a full term before NURS 5329.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
Can I switch from UT Tyler's education MSN to the FNP later?
Not by internal transfer. School of Nursing policy 5.1 says students in the MSN Administration, Education and Informatics tracks are not allowed to transfer to the MSN FNP or PMHNP degree programs. If a nurse practitioner role is your goal, apply to that track on its own terms, and note that it requires Texas residence and a Texas RN license.
Can I complete my education practicum at the school where I already teach?
UT Tyler's Education guides do not address this directly. Other UT Tyler tracks bar students from being precepted by a direct supervisor, so a mentor who does not evaluate your work is the safer proposal. Raise the question with your course faculty before you ask a colleague, since faculty approve every mentor and site.
How early should I line up my NURS 5329 placement?
Before the semester starts, at the very latest. School of Nursing policy requires every clinical site and preceptor to be approved before the term begins, and the host program's affiliation agreement and onboarding can take weeks on top of that. Starting the search a full semester ahead leaves room if the first program you ask says no.
Is the NURS 5329 practicum in person?
Your coursework is online, but the NURS 5329 hours are completed in an academic pre-licensure RN program, so plan on time at that program under your mentor. The optional staff development experience takes place at a clinical facility. Choose a program within a realistic drive of home and work, since you will return to it across the semester.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.