YSU's MSN in Nursing Education and the post-master's educator certificate
Youngstown State University teaches Nursing Education two ways online: a 33-credit MSN and a 15-credit post-master's certificate. Both finish with the same 150-hour practicum, 50 hours in NURS 7022 and 100 in NURS 7023, in education and health care settings. YSU has not published who arranges that practicum, so settle the route with your advisor early and have a site in view before the specialty courses end.
Plan your educator practicum
Tell us your start term, your state and whether you are in the MSN or the certificate. A placement advisor replies with a plan for NURS 7022 and NURS 7023.
Two ways into the same educator practicum
The MSN is the full master's program. The certificate, as its name says, follows a master's you already hold and keeps only the education courses and the practicum. The 2026-2027 catalog describes both as delivered fully online, and YSU's online pages list the same four 7-week starts as its other online nursing programs: two in fall and two in spring.
The difference is the graduate core and the capstone. MSN students take five core courses and NURS 7005 Capstone Practicum on top of the education sequence; certificate students skip both.
| Courses | MSN (33 credits) | Certificate (15 credits) |
|---|---|---|
NURS 6900 to NURS 6904, graduate core | Required, 15 credits | Not in the certificate |
NURS 7018 to NURS 7021, specialty courses | Required, 12 credits | Required, 12 credits |
NURS 7022 Nurse Educator Practicum 1 | 1 credit, 50 hours | 1 credit, 50 hours |
NURS 7023 Nurse Educator Practicum 2 | 2 credits, 100 hours | 2 credits, 100 hours |
NURS 7005 Capstone Practicum | 3 credits | Not in the certificate |
The core covers health care issues and trends, theory and research, advanced pathophysiology, advanced pharmacology and advanced health assessment: the same five courses that open YSU's nurse practitioner tracks.
What the program and certificate prepare you for
YSU's catalog names three kinds of educator the program is built for: academic nurse educators, patient educators, and educators who work in health care agencies or in the community. It says MSN graduates may sit for the national exam that leads to the Certified Nurse Educator credential, and the certificate page says its coursework helps prepare students for the National League for Nursing's Certified Nurse Educator examination. Eligibility rules for that exam belong to the certifying body, so check them against your own teaching and nursing history.
This is not an APRN track. Ohio's advanced practice designations are nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist and nurse anesthetist, and teaching is none of them. If you are still choosing between teaching and practice, the MSN FNP guide shows what YSU's primary care route asks of you.
YSU's online pages put the MSN at as few as 14 months and the certificate at as few as 8. The catalog requires a B or better in every Nursing Education course and allows one repeat per course, and the grades and time limits page covers the rest of the progression rules.
The 150-hour practicum in brief
Both practicums come after the four specialty courses: the catalog lists NURS 7018 through NURS 7021 as prerequisites for each one. NURS 7022 is a 1-credit supervised practicum of 50 hours in a variety of education and health care settings. NURS 7023 doubles the time to 100 hours for 2 credits and adds a focus on nursing education.
If each practicum fills one 7-week term, 50 hours works out to about 7 hours a week and 100 hours to about 14. That pacing is our arithmetic, not a YSU figure; your syllabus sets the real schedule. The graduate handbook also keeps practicum and didactic courses in separate terms, and the prerequisites put both educator practicums at the end of the plan.
MSN students finish with NURS 7005. Its catalog entry accepts the NURS 7022 and NURS 7023 pair, completed with a B or better, as a prerequisite or corequisite, so the capstone can overlap with the second practicum or follow it. The course-by-course detail for both practicums is on the Nursing Education practicum guide.
Education settings and health care settings
The catalog uses one phrase for both courses, education and health care settings, and narrows the second toward nursing education. Read against the roles the catalog names, that points to a school or college of nursing for the academic educator, a hospital or agency education department for staff teaching, and patient or community teaching programs for the patient educator. Because the second course leans toward nursing education, a nursing program is a natural home for the 100 hours.
Your clinical faculty decide what fits. YSU's graduate handbook lists approving clinical sites and preceptors among clinical faculty duties, and it makes the student responsible for having compliance items, any affiliation agreement and preceptor approval complete before hours begin.
What YSU expects of the educator who supervises you is not in any public document. The preceptor rules in the online FAQ and the handbook are written around FNP and AGACNP students, so ask your clinical faculty what an educator mentor needs before you approach one.
Who arranges the practicum, and what to ask
No YSU source says who locates the educator practicum site. The online FAQ's placement answers speak to the nurse practitioner tracks, and the catalog describes NURS 7022 and NURS 7023 without saying whether the student or the school finds the setting. The handbook's general wording is that placements are arranged together with the Program Director, clinical faculty and approved clinical agencies.
That leaves a short list of questions for your advisor in your first term, well before the specialty courses end:
- Do you propose the site and the supervising educator, or does the program assign them?
- What education, experience or teaching role must the supervising educator have?
- Can one site host both practicums, or does the program want two different settings?
- How far ahead is site information due, and does the facility need an affiliation agreement with YSU?
- Which Exxat compliance items must be cleared first? The handbook's deadline for graduate students is 30 days before the first practicum.
Every graduate nursing student keeps an active Exxat account from admission to graduation; the Exxat guide covers uploads and expiration tracking.
States and licenses for online educator students
YSU's pages disagree on the fourth state. The online Nursing Education page says students must complete the program in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia. The 2026-2027 catalog, the graduate handbook revised in August 2026, the educator certificate page and YSU's online program map all say Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Michigan, and the map marks Indiana unavailable for both the MSN and the certificate. Get a written answer before you apply from Indiana or Michigan; the state authorization page follows the conflict.
The handbook also ties your RN license to the practicum: it must be current and unencumbered in the state where you are licensed, where you practice and where you complete practicum experiences. An educator practicum across a state line counts, so line up the license before the site.
How we help Nursing Education students
Educator practicums are shorter than NP rotations, but they still need a willing mentor, a setting that matches the catalog's wording and paperwork cleared before the first hour. Your placement advisor carries the search and the fit; your clinical faculty make the approval.
- Map your timelineWe place
NURS 7022andNURS 7023on your term plan and work back from them, so the search starts while you are still in the specialty courses. - Find the setting and the mentorWe look for a nursing program, hospital education department or community teaching setting near you with an experienced educator ready to supervise, matched to the practicum it serves.
- Package it for approvalYou receive the site details, the mentor's credentials and the facility contact for any agreement, organized for your clinical faculty and for Exxat.
- Line up the second practicumWhile
NURS 7022runs, we confirm the 100-hourNURS 7023placement, keeping the same mentor when the setting suits a nursing education focus.
Share your start term, your state and your program on the request form, and a placement advisor will reply with a plan.
Questions YSU students ask
Does the YSU Nursing Education MSN qualify me to work as a nurse practitioner?
No. It prepares nurses to teach in nursing programs, in health care agencies and with patients and communities. YSU's nurse practitioner options are the MSN and post-master's certificates in family practice and adult-gerontology acute care, which carry five practicums each and far more clinical time than the educator track's 150 hours.
Can I complete my educator practicum hours at the hospital where I work?
YSU's graduate handbook says employment hours never replace practicum hours, even at your own employer. The workplace limits in the online FAQ (not your own unit, not your supervisor, never on the clock) are written for the NP tracks, so ask your clinical faculty how they apply to NURS 7022 and NURS 7023 before you plan around your job.
How many credits can I transfer into the YSU Nursing Education MSN?
The graduate handbook allows up to 9 transfer credits for Nursing Education, against 12 for the NP tracks. Courses must come from a regionally accredited school, be no more than four years old and carry an A or B. Core courses such as advanced pathophysiology or pharmacology can qualify; practicum courses must be completed at YSU.
How long does the YSU post-master's Nursing Education certificate take?
YSU's online page says as few as 8 months for the 15-credit certificate, compared with as few as 14 months for the 33-credit MSN. You can start in either of the two fall or two spring 7-week terms, and the two practicums come last, once the four specialty courses are done.
What grade do I need in the educator practicums?
A B or better. The catalog applies the same rule to Nursing Education courses as to the NP tracks: a C or lower means repeating the course, and each course can be repeated only once. For MSN students, finishing the NURS 7022 and NURS 7023 pair with a B or better also clears the way for NURS 7005.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against YSU's own catalog, graduate handbook, online program pages and FAQ, and Ohio rules. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
YSU asks you to secure your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your YSU track, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the practicum, check YSU's rules and hand you what the preceptor request needs, two months ahead, with the next term's preceptor already in view.
- Primary care preceptors for FNP practicums
NURS 7061toNURS 7065, acute care for AGACNPNURS 7071toNURS 7075 - Outside your own unit and away from your supervisor, in a state YSU accepts
- Across Ohio, from the Mahoning Valley to Cincinnati, and in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.