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Think further formal education is beyond your reach because your schedule’s tight and you don’t live anywhere near a university nursing school? Think again: The Internet offers avenues for RNs looking to improve themselves and give their careers a healthy boost.

Online education lets students log on to the World Wide Web to access course content, discussions, and assignments at a convenient time and place. Typically, online nursing students log on several times a week to participate in “classroom” give-and-take. Assignments can be turned in online, and exams may be taken via computer, as well. Clinical experience, however, is completed in the students’ own communities.

There is a lot of education out there in cyberspace, and you’ll find a variety of online programs, including RN-to-BSN, RN-to-MSN, BSN-to-MSN, and PhD. The question, of course, is what you should look for in picking an online nursing education program.

Here are a few things to think about in making your choice:

• Is the program part of an established, reputable school of nursing?

• Is the program accredited by both the National League of Nursing and Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education?

• Is the program approved by your state board of nursing?

• Is the program part of a university that has several years of experience in online teaching?

• What are faculty members’ backgrounds and professional experiences?

• Is the program content what you really want to study?

• Are there opportunities to interact with other students?

• Does the program attract high-caliber students who will help make the classes challenging? Does the program offer enough opportunity for interactive learning? In other words, is the course merely a cyber textbook, or does it offer an actual teaching-learning modality?

• Is the program rigorous enough to give you the skills you need?

Online education isn’t for everyone. Like traditional coursework, online classes require lots of hours of quiet, uninterrupted time to read, write, and complete assignments. Keep in mind, too, that some nurses need the face-to-face interaction with faculty and peers and the structure of classroom meetings to stay motivated, so they may not get much out of an online experience. Another roadblock: Some RNs are technophobic — the last thing they want to do is learn via their computer screen. Whatever your situation, ask yourself whether online education is right for you at this point.

With the nursing shortage and the changing dynamics of America’s health care system — let alone the graying of nursing faculty and management — there has probably never been a better time to go back to school for an advanced nursing degree. And now, as online education matures, even the barriers of time and distance have started coming down. So check out your options and do your homework. And if online learning looks good to you, then by all means go for it!

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Nancy Rudner Lugo, RN, MSN, DrPH, is on the nursing leadership faculty at the University of Central Florida, Orlando.