I too earned my MSN (masters of science in nursing) predominantly online. The university is a state brick and mortar type, but their nursing program is a well known distance program dating back to the early 1980’s. After years of holding classes every other week at hospital locations throughout the state, the natural outgrowth of their distance program became online. It is well respected in the nursing community.
After obtaining my BSN through this state univ., I took two years off and then started looking for MSN programs. Since I’d moved to a semi-rural area I really wanted an online program. My alma mater didn’t have their MSN up and running online, so I looked at many other programs throughout the country. There were similarities in the core classes, but variances in the degree of specialization. Just before I signed up with a mid-western univ. I received a notice from my alma mater indicating they were enrolling students for the online MSN program. The reduced tuition (state univ.) and known quantity of that program drove my decision to enroll there.
I found the online classes to be of the same cailber or tougher than the “live” classes. Students interacted via online discussion forums, e-mail, and phone (when desired). What I disliked most was the group work since there is really no remedy for non-performing peers.
The distance formats for nursing BSN and MSN meet the needs of most RNs who work. The majority of the RNs in this country are educated in community college settings and receive an Associate degree. Many go out into the workforce for many years before heading back to college for a BSN. By then, they have many life and work experiences. They usually prefer a adult learning style and coursework relevent to their job. The distance formats accomplish these well, often allowing the nurse-student to set up their own preceptorships (internships) to accomplish clinical course objectives. It’s so much more relevant for a Labor and Delivery nurse to be able to individualize her coursework to that specialty, rather than to take a traditional clinical course that would make her do clinical hours in an adult surgical unit.
On the other hand, there are some distance programs for LPNs to become RNs. Those are much more concerning to me. These lower division course are supposed to be ones in which basic sciences and basic nursing care is learned. I believe that close “live” supervision of that learning is prudent.
So, this is a very long post, but in summary I think the worth of the online degree depends on the school, the individual, and the field of study.