School of Nursing Graduate Programmatic Syllabus

Students in our programs represent a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The School of Nursing is committed to providing an environment where similarities and differences are respected, supported, and valued.  While working together to build this community, we ask all members to:

• share their unique experiences, values, and beliefs, if comfortable doing so.
• listen deeply to one another.
• honor the uniqueness of their peers.
• appreciate the opportunity we have to learn from each other in this community.
• use this opportunity together to discuss ways in which we can create a welcoming and respectful environment in these courses and across the campus community.
• recognize opportunities to invite a community member to exhibit more respectful speech or behavior—and then also invite them into further conversation. We also expect community members to respond with gratitude and to take a moment of reflection when they receive such an invitation, rather than react immediately from defensiveness.
• keep confidential any discussions that the community has of a personal (or professional) nature, unless the speaker has given explicit permission to share what they have said.

As instructors, our goal is to make sure that our learning environment is effective for everyone. This means, in part, that each student is encouraged to share perspectives relevant to the course material and that our class activities and discussions are conducted in a way that supports everyone’s learning.

Students are expected to perform according to the standards of academic honesty and integrity as outlined in School of Nursing and Boise State University policies. Academic misconduct in any form may result in failure in the course and/or dismissal from the program and/or the university. (See Boise State University School of Nursing Graduate Student Handbook for definitions, policies, and grievance procedures).

Students must abide by the Boise State University Student Code of Conduct regarding Academic Dishonesty (refer to the Boise State University Student Handbook). Students may not give or receive help on any test from any other student. Students may not discuss the content of any tests with other students until all students have taken the test. This includes students who may have missed the scheduled test time due to illness or emergency. The Boise State University policies on Academic Dishonesty are located at the following website. We encourage you to read this information carefully. Students will be held to these standards in all areas of academic performance.

If you use generative AI, you must not let this tool replace your thinking and work. In fact, it’s your responsibility to ensure you are fully engaging in learning and submitting authentic work. Relying too much on AI, or not citing AI when you use its ideas or products, may constitute academic misconduct like cheating or plagiarism. To learn more about how to learn successfully and avoid academic misconduct behaviors, please review the Student Code of Conduct with special attention to Section 8: Procedures for Academic Misconduct.

It is the policy of Boise State University to comply with all federal, state and local authorities requiring nondiscrimination, including but not limited to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and Executive Orders 12898 (Environmental Justice) and 13166 (Limited English Proficiency). Boise State University is an equal opportunity employer.

The program has done its best to make courses accessible. However, students needing accommodations to fully participate in this class should contact the Educational Access Center (EAC). All accommodations must be approved through the EAC prior to being implemented. To learn more about the accommodation process, visit their website.

According to the Canvas knowledge guide, the company is committed to ensuring that the platform is both usable and accessible by everyone, regardless of age, ability, or situation. Canvas uses many measures to evaluate accessibility, including the following:

• WCAG 2.1 standards issued by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act issued in the United States federal government.

The office of the Dean of Students has links to many services for students.

C.A.R.E. stands for Campus Assessment Resource and Education and is an electronic referral system that promotes student success and retention. This web-based software enables faculty and staff to identify students who are having difficulties, connect them with campus services that can provide appropriate interventions, and receive feedback on actions taken.

Graduate school can be a significant undertaking and maintaining work/life balance will be important throughout your program of study. Do your best to take care of yourself and actively prioritize balance and overall wellness. Diminished mental health, including anxiety, worry or problems with sleeping and/or eating interfere with peak academic performance. The source of these stressors may be related to your coursework or research. If this is the case, please speak with your instructors. Other problems with personal relationships, physical health, finances, or existential concerns can also decrease academic performance, threaten your mental health, and may require additional assistance. To support you during your graduate experience Boise State offers a variety of resources, including the Graduate Student Success Center, GradWell: Be well, to do well, and University Health Services. Each of these resources can help you manage personal challenges that threaten your well-being or ability to thrive at Boise State. Accessing them sooner, rather than later is almost always more effective in helping support your academic success. 

Graduate Student Success Center (208) 426-1026

GradWell (208) 426-1459

If you feel your studies are being compromised because of a lack of food, shelter, or other basic needs, the university has resources that may be able to help. You can talk to me and I will provide any assistance that I can and/or refer you to an appropriate university resource. You may also visit Boise State’s Student Outreach and Assistance website, reach out directly to the outreach team in the Office of the Dean of Students at (208) 426-1527, or email studentoutreach@boisestate.edu for support.

The university has many resources designed to support you as a learner and human being. Among these are:

• Albertsons Library provides a treasure trove of physical and electronic resources.
•  The Writing Center offers individual consultations tailored to your needs, including making sense of writing assignment instructions, brainstorming, crafting a thesis, organizing an essay, revisions, citations, and more.
• Counseling Services helps you tap into your strengths and find resources to deal more effectively with concerns that impact your pursuit of personal and academic goals. It emphasizes prevention and early detection and provides a broad spectrum of short-term counseling, consultative, evaluative, teaching, and training functions. Counseling staff consists of licensed counselors, psychologists, and closely supervised trainees/post-graduate interns.
• Student Connections Center works with all students interested in equity and social justice, students from different cultures, countries and ethnicities. The staff understands cultural differences and perspectives and knows what it’s like living in a dominant culture. The training and the programs Student Equity provides can help you navigate through political correctness and into respectful dialogue. This center also provides: Support and guidance for planning cultural festivals and events; In-center tutoring and studying lounge; Volunteer opportunities; Mentoring and Training; Programs and events; Specialized, brief, no-cost, confidential support for campus members affected by: Identity-related harassment; Sexual harassment, sexual assault, unhealthy relationships, and stalking; Life experiences related to gender, sexual orientation, and allyship; Life transitions and crisis; Personal, financial, or academic roadblocks.
• Food assistance: If you are hungry and cannot afford to purchase food, the campus has some resources to help you. Visit the Dean of Students Food Assistance page, which includes info about the campus food pantry, how to get free meals in the campus dining hall, and accessing SNAP benefits.

Information in electronic form is easily reproduced and easily distributed. For this reason, it is important that you review the guidelines and limitations regarding the use of email and other technologies for your course in Boise State University’s Student Online Privacy Notice.

Discussion via Canvas is closed to anyone not enrolled in this course. All communication between students and faculty should remain professional and courteous. This is true of Canvas, email, and in-person communications. Language and grammar matter so be careful how you phrase your communication. Simplicity and directness are helpful in getting your message across (directness does not mean rudeness or angry responses to either students or faculty). It is possible to receive a failing grade (‘F’) for the Class Participation portion of the course if rude and unseemly communications via any communication mode become an issue and are not corrected. Visit Website on Net Etiquette.

The use of technologies for audio and video recording of lectures and other classroom activities is allowed only with the express permission of the course instructor, except where the University’s Educational Access Center has provided recording as an academic accommodation for a disability pursuant to federal and state law. The classroom should be a safe place where open discussion can occur, and information can be shared. This may not happen if lectures are recorded. The respect for privacy is important in the development of collegial relationships. Classroom discussion is not to be recorded without the express authorization of the instructor, and all parties being recorded should have knowledge of the recording. Authorized student-initiated recordings must only be used for the education of students enrolled in the initiating student’s class during the period in which the student is enrolled in the class. Students who receive, or are provided access to, a recorded lecture are prohibited from: (1) displaying, distributing, performing, displaying, or copying the recorded lecture to another electronic device; (2) circumventing technology controls; (3) uploading the lecture to the Internet; and, (4) sharing the recorded lecture or any portion thereof with anyone other than students currently enrolled in the student’s class without the express written consent of the course instructor.

The Canvas learning management system is an open and reliable web-based software that allows institutions to manage digital learning, educators to create and present online learning materials and assess student learning, and students to engage in courses and receive feedback about skill development and learning achievement. 

If you have never taken an online course in Canvas and/or need additional accessibility information and resources, please see detailed information at:

OIT Teaching and Learning Canvas Website

Email: helpdesk@boisestate.edu

Phone: (208) 426-4357 

Web: Help Desk at the Zone (Zone technical support, physical location, and hours of availability)

Some of the materials in this course may be copyrighted. They are intended for use only by students registered and enrolled in this course and only for instructional activities associated with and for the duration of the course. They may not be retained in another medium or disseminated further. They are provided in compliance with the provisions of the Teach Act.

An official closing and/or cancellation of classes may occur due to severe weather conditions, non-functioning of university mechanical systems, or other unforeseen circumstances. The Boise State Provost makes the decision regarding university-wide class cancellation or university closing.

Students, faculty and staff are advised to refer to the Boise State University homepage or myBoiseState for updated information regarding campus closures or technology interruptions.

BroncoAlert is a phone and text-based system allowing the university to proactively notify students, faculty, and staff when an emergency is taking place on or near campus. BroncoAlert will only be used in critical situations, including weather emergencies, with potential to affect health or safety.

Students will automatically receive an e-mail in their BroncoMail account. Boise State University will only activate the system in the event of an immediate threat to safety, or in a serious emergency. All personal information submitted remains private. The phone and text-based system allows the university to notify students, faculty, and staff when an emergency is taking place on or near campus.

The BroncoAlert emergency notification system is administered by members of Boise State University’s Emergency Response Team. A text message to your cell phone is the quickest way to receive emergency notifications. This link provides information on updating your contact information for BroncoAlert notifications.

On rare occasions, faculty members may be delayed or unable to attend a scheduled activity due to unforeseen circumstances. The faculty member will make every effort to notify students of the cancellation in advance of the activity through use of a course announcement or an email. If an instructor does not appear in the scheduled activity due to an unexpected delay and has not notified class of his/her expected arrival time, the activity is cancelled 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.

Boise State is committed to protecting the overall health and safety of its university community, including protecting the safety of our in-person education experience. For its part, the university has developed a Communicable Disease Policy (Policy 9270) to outline Boise State’s response to communicable diseases that may significantly threaten the health and safety of the University community. The policy requires that anyone who contracts a communicable disease listed as reportable by the policy must report it to Boise State’s Public Health Office. Please familiarize yourself with the full list of reportable diseases in the policy.

As students and faculty, our part of this work is to understand and adhere to the rules and strategies outlined in this policy. Contact Boise State Public Health at publichealth@boisestate.edu or (208) 426-2968 if you or another member of the Boise State university community have tested positive for, have symptoms of, or are
concerned about a potential exposure to someone who has tested positive for a reportable communicable disease. Boise State Public Health will connect individuals with appropriate guidance on isolation, testing, masking, etc. and initiate appropriate email notifications to faculty and supervisors indicating a temporary inability to conduct in-person campus activities.

You are encouraged to learn about other precautions you can take to keep yourself and your peers safe from communicable and other public health diseases; you can find the latest recommendations on the University’s Public Health Response website.

In this course, I want to see your thoughts, understand your reasoning, and hear your voice. However, there are moments in this course where you might find it useful to use AI tools in support of your learning.

You may use generative AI tools for specified activities and assignments if their use supports, rather than undermines, your learning. While AI can help to advance your learning, its usefulness depends on the purpose of each activity or assignment. You will find guidelines for AI use in the instructions for each assignment; please read them very carefully, as these guidelines differ by assignment.

If you use ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E, or other AI tools in support of your work in this course, cite any ideas, text, images, or other media generated by the tool using the instructions and format of the American Psychological Association (APA). When you use a tool in an assignment, include a brief, clear description of how you used it.
If you’re unsure of whether or when to use AI tools in this course, please reach out to me. I’m eager to learn about how we might use them in new ways to meaningfully advance your learning and prepare you for your future beyond Boise State.