Rivier MSN Nursing Education: planning the teaching practicum
Rivier University's MSN in Nursing Education is fully online, and its one practicum, NURS 559P, has you teach under a master's-prepared nurse educator you line up yourself. This guide covers how the track is built, who can precept you, when the practicum runs and how to have a qualified educator confirmed before Rivier's deadline.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
How the Nursing Education track is built
Rivier's MSN in Nursing Education prepares registered nurses to teach, whether in a hospital or in an academic program. The 2026 program sheet lists it as 100% online with 32 credits on the standard path, and the program page gives a range of 32 to 42 depending on how you enter. The 2025-26 catalog puts the RN-MS and Bridge paths at 38 credits. The program is designed to take about two years of 14-week courses.
Entry is flexible, with five start terms on the sheet: you can begin in September, October, January, March or May. According to the catalog, graduates become eligible for the National League for Nursing's Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) exam once they complete the teaching experience that exam requires.
Coursework runs online. The practicum is the one part of the program that depends on someone outside Rivier: a nurse educator who agrees to let you teach alongside them for a semester.
The practicum: NURS 559P with its seminar
The 2025-26 catalog pairs the 2-credit practicum, NURS 559P, with a 1-credit seminar, NURS 559S, and offers the pair every fall and every spring. During the practicum you teach in three kinds of settings, didactic (the classroom), clinical and the skills lab, working under a nurse-educator preceptor.
The catalog lists credits for NURS 559P but not clock hours. Your Program of Studies and your course faculty set the hours you owe, so confirm the number with them before you ask anyone to commit, and give it to the preceptor in writing. The Education and Leadership practicums page compares this course with the leadership practicum.
| Item | Rivier's listing |
|---|---|
| Practicum course | NURS 559P Advanced Clinical Education Practicum, 2 credits |
| Seminar | NURS 559S Advanced Clinical Education Seminar, 1 credit |
| Terms offered | Every fall and spring |
| Teaching settings | Didactic, clinical and lab |
| Preceptor | RN with a master's degree in a nurse educator role (Handbook p. 74) |
| Clock hours | Set by your Program of Studies: confirm with course faculty |
Choosing a nurse educator who fits the course
The Handbook's rule for this preceptor is short: an RN, educated to master's level, currently working as a nurse educator in either a hospital or an academic program. Our Education and Leadership preceptors guide covers that rule in full. The practical question is which educator gives you the teaching the course asks for.
Because NURS 559P spans didactic, clinical and lab teaching, the strongest preceptor is someone whose own week touches more than one of those. A faculty member in a nursing program may lecture, run a lab section and supervise students on a unit. A hospital-based educator may teach orientation classes, lead skills sessions and coach new nurses at the bedside. Either can work if they can give you real teaching time in the settings your course faculty expect.
The Handbook also invites you to put forward clinicians you already know through work. An educator you have taught or practiced beside is often the quickest yes, as long as their role and degree match the rule and graduate faculty agree the site suits the course.
Timing your practicum around five start terms
Five start terms feed a practicum that runs only in fall and spring, so the semester you land in depends on your Program of Studies. Once you know it, work backward from Rivier's dates: a fall practicum falls under the August 1 deadline and a spring practicum under December 1. The placement deadlines page explains both, along with the older dates on Rivier's 2018 form.
- About a year outStart asking educators. Rivier's advice is to open the search up to twelve months ahead of the practicum term.
- Four months outAim to have the placement secured and your CastleBranch (myCB) records uploaded, which the Handbook asks for four months before practicum courses.
- August 1 or December 1The absolute deadline for every MSN practicum course. Site contracts take 30 days to finalize, and missing the date without a confirmed placement means Rivier asks you to defer a semester.
- First day of the semesterThe earliest your teaching hours can begin (September 8 for fall 2026, January 18 for spring 2027), provided your paperwork and the site contract have been confirmed by the Clinical Practicum Coordinator.
What goes to Rivier before you teach
An Education placement moves through the same approval path as every graduate practicum. You send the Preceptor Request Form, the Clinical Practicum Coordinator and graduate faculty look it over, and the site signs an agreement with Rivier. The pieces to gather:
- The educator's nursing license, credentials and CV, attached to the Preceptor Request Form
- The school's or hospital's name, address and signing contact for the affiliation agreement
- An RN license for the state you will teach in (see the license rule)
- The Student Information Sheet for Clinical Experience, your CastleBranch (myCB) records and an up-to-date resume
Rivier's older 2018 form adds that the site's rules come first where they differ from Rivier's, so ask early what the school or hospital will need from you, such as its own orientation or badge process.
Certificate students and out-of-state students
Nurses who already hold a master's can reach this same teaching practicum through the Nursing Education post-master's certificate, which starts at 16 credits. Rivier's 2026 sheet and its 2025-26 catalog disagree on one course in that certificate, so confirm your list with the Program Director. The certificates page sets out the course lists and the NP certificates.
Rivier's State Guide has one Education column covering both the MSN and the certificate, summarized in the table below. One difference from the nurse practitioner columns stands out: Alabama is green for Education. The State Guide page lists every state.
Nurse Educator students are named in the Handbook's change-of-residence policy, so if you relocate after acceptance, the Dean needs your written notice a full 90 days before the move. Checking the new state's rules stays your job.
| Status | States |
|---|---|
| Red: unable to accept | California, Iowa, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming |
| Yellow: call the Program Director | Colorado, New York, South Dakota |
| Green: OK to accept | Every other state the guide lists, Alabama included |
Why Rivier Nursing Education students choose us
We are specialists in Rivier's clinical process, and Education placements get the same care as nurse practitioner placements. We look for master's-prepared RN educators near you, in hospitals and nursing programs, and check each one's role and degree against the Handbook's rule before you ever speak to them.
When an educator says yes, we gather the educator's license, credentials and CV plus the details the site contract needs, so your Preceptor Request Form goes in complete. We plan to your fall or spring deadline, keep a second educator in view, and step in with a replacement if your first choice withdraws. The decision on site and preceptor belongs to Rivier's graduate faculty and its coordinator, and we see that the packet they review is whole and matches Rivier's rules.
Use the form below to tell us your start term and where you want to teach; how it works lays out each step we take.
Questions Rivier students ask
How many hours is Rivier's Nursing Education practicum?
The 2025-26 catalog lists NURS 559P at 2 credits with a 1-credit seminar but gives no clock hours. Your Program of Studies and course faculty set the number. Get it in writing before you approach a preceptor, since an educator deciding whether to host you will want to know how many days you need in their classroom, lab or unit.
Can a nurse educator without a master's degree precept me?
Not under the Handbook as written, which requires master's preparation on top of the educator role and RN license. A highly experienced educator holding only a bachelor's falls short of that line, so check the degree before you ask. Graduate faculty make the final call on every site.
Do I have to come to campus for the MSN in Nursing Education?
The 2026 program sheet describes the MSN in Nursing Education as 100% online, and Rivier's graduate program sheets note that practicums may be completed where you live. Your teaching practicum therefore takes place at a hospital or school near you, with an educator you arrange, rather than at the Nashua campus.
Does Rivier's MSN in Nursing Education lead to the CNE exam?
The 2025-26 catalog says graduates are eligible for the National League for Nursing's Certified Nurse Educator exam once they have completed the required teaching experience. The practicum is part of your preparation, but the exam's experience requirement is separate, so check the NLN's current criteria when you plan your first teaching role.
When should I start looking for an Education preceptor?
Give yourself close to a year, as the Handbook suggests; the hard deadline is August 1 for a fall practicum or December 1 for spring. Educators plan their own teaching semesters in advance, so an early request gives them room to fit you into their classes, labs and clinical groups.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.