NURS 5362 Teaching Practicum: 135 precepted hours
NURS 5362 is the final course in UTA's online MSN in Nursing Education: a 3-credit, Pass/Not Pass preceptorship with 135 precepted hours. Your preceptor has to work in nursing education, and UTA expects you to find that person, with help from the department if you run into difficulty.
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Tell us when NURS 5362 starts for you and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the kinds of educators and settings worth approaching.
NURS 5362 at a glance
NURS 5362 closes the program: the catalog makes every other Nursing Education course a prerequisite. Here is what UTA's catalog and online program pages publish about it.
| Item | What UTA publishes |
|---|---|
| Catalog title | Teaching Practicum (the online pages call it Nursing Education Practicum) |
| Credits and grading | 3 credits, graded Pass/Not Pass |
| Hours | 135 precepted clinical hours |
| Online length | 10 weeks on the program page; 11 weeks in the 2026 online schedule |
| Prerequisite | All other Nursing Education courses completed and a GPA of 3.0 |
| Catalog description | “Nursing education preceptorship in selected health care sites” |
| Preceptor | Works in nursing education; active, unencumbered license; at least 1 year in the role |
UTA's RN-to-MSN page lists the same course as NURSG 5362 with “135 preceptor hours required.” The two lengths conflict, so check the start and end dates of your own section before you offer a preceptor a weekly schedule.
The other Education courses that carry hours
NURS 5362 is not the only course in the program that asks for time outside the online classroom. UTA's online Education page puts hours on two more courses, and the online schedule marks a third as clinical.
| Course | Title | Credits | Length | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NURS 5312 | Assessment and Evaluation Strategies in Nursing Education | 3 | 5 weeks | “45 hours of clinical application required” |
NURS 5360 | Simulation Application in Nursing | 3 | 5 weeks | 45 hours of clinical application; the RN-to-MSN page says 45 logged hours with a community partnering project |
NURS 5150 | Advanced Care of a Client Population | 1 | 5 weeks | Not stated now; a January 2022 course list gave 45 lab hours |
NURS 5362 | Teaching Practicum | 3 | 10 or 11 weeks | 135 precepted hours |
UTA does not say whether the 45-hour blocks count inside the 135 or on top of it. Ask your course faculty early, because the answer changes how much time you need to arrange. An older version of the program, on that January 2022 list, had 39 credits and 225 clinical hours; the current program is 34 credits. Every track's figures are on UTA clinical hours by track.
Who can precept NURS 5362
UTA's preceptor page gives this track its own rule: the preceptor “must be in nursing education (nurses or nursing students),” working in a clinic, hospital or academic setting. The general minimums apply too: an active, unencumbered license and at least one year of experience in the role.
Read plainly, you need someone whose job includes teaching nurses or nursing students. Roles that fit that wording include nursing school faculty, clinical instructors, and hospital nurse educators or professional development staff who run orientation and continuing education. Your course faculty and the approval process make the final call on any individual.
UTA's online Education page also asks for a preceptor “with expertise in their advanced nursing practice specialty.” Nursing Education is the only non-NP track with its own line on UTA's preceptor page. The general rules and what is not published are on UTA preceptor requirements.
What earlier UTA syllabi said the practicum involved
Current syllabi sit in Canvas and are not public. Earlier UTA syllabi, from Spring 2017, described “a 135 hours practicum in either a clinical or academic setting,” which worked out to 12 to 14 hours a week over 10 weeks.
Graded work in the Spring 2017 syllabus
- A teaching assignment
- Initial, midterm and final learning plans
- 10 logs
- Midterm and final evaluations of the student by the preceptor
- The student's evaluation of the preceptor
- At least 5 clinical conferences
That syllabus also said students were responsible for arranging their own preceptors and clinical sites according to UTA's guidelines. Treat all of this as history. It shows the kind of commitment a preceptor was asked for, but your current syllabus sets the real assignments.
Planning 135 hours in 10 or 11 weeks
Spread 135 hours over 10 or 11 weeks and you need roughly 12 to 14 hours a week (our arithmetic). Your preceptor has to offer that much teaching time every week, which matters if they work on an academic calendar with breaks inside your course dates.
Three things have to be in place before the course opens:
- Clearance. UTA's Graduate Nursing Clinical Clearance Requirements policy names MSN Education students and expects compliance within 60 days of admission. See UTA clinical clearance.
- An approved preceptor and site. UTA posts the program's placement policies in Exxat, available from admission.
- A license where you teach. You must be licensed in any state where you complete clinical work, and UTA wants an email to NursingSOA@uta.edu before you seek a preceptor in another state.
UTA's state map lists the MSN in Nursing Education for every state and DC except Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, New York, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. More on that at out-of-state clinicals.
Why Education students choose us for NURS 5362
UTA calls placement for this program “a collaborative process”: you locate a preceptor aligned with program requirements, and the Graduate Nursing Department helps if you experience difficulty. The pool is narrower than for bedside precepting, because the person has to work in nursing education.
That narrower pool is where a dedicated search pays off. A placement advisor looks for nurse educators, clinical instructors and academic faculty near you who are open to a NURS 5362 student, checks each one's license and year in the education role before you hear a name, and has the CV and license details ready for UTA's reviewers, so the approval decision starts from a complete request. If your preceptor has to step back partway through the 135 hours, we are on call to search for a replacement. Use the form below or contact the placement desk.
Questions UTA students ask
Can I do NURS 5362 at the hospital where I work?
UTA has not published an employer rule for NURS 5362 specifically. UTA's online FAQ, written for clinical hours generally, allows employer sites outside your own department and with a preceptor who is not your current supervisor. For a teaching practicum, that could mean your hospital's education department if you work elsewhere in the building. Ask your course faculty first, and see clinical hours at your employer.
Does the Teaching Practicum have to be in a school of nursing?
No. UTA's preceptor rule allows a clinic, hospital or academic setting, as long as the preceptor works in nursing education. Earlier UTA syllabi also described the 135 hours as taking place in either a clinical or an academic setting. Pick the setting that matches the kind of educator you want to become, then confirm it with your course faculty.
Does UTA's Nurse Educator certificate include a practicum?
No. The post-baccalaureate Certificate in Nursing Education is 12 credits across NURS 5329, NURS 5302, NURS 5310 and NURS 5312, and it has no practicum course. The only hours it carries are the 45 clinical application hours in NURS 5312. UTA's catalog lists no post-master's certificate in Nursing Education. The MSN in Nursing Education is where NURS 5362 lives.
Do I need a Preceptor Agreement for NURS 5362?
UTA's public statement about the Preceptor Agreement, signed by the preceptor and due by the first clinical day, appears on its FNP page, not on a Nursing Education page. The Education program's placement policies and forms are posted in Exxat, so check there for what your preceptor signs. Ask your course faculty which forms apply, and leave time for signatures before your first hour.
Is NURS 5362 pass/fail?
The catalog grades it Pass/Not Pass. That does not make it light: earlier UTA syllabi tied the grade to learning plans, 10 logs, clinical conferences and two formal evaluations by the preceptor. A preceptor who cannot commit to evaluating you at midterm and at the end is a risk for this course, whatever the grading scale.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.
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