NURS 677, 678 and 679: the Nurse Educator practicum

The three Nurse Educator courses

The concentration moves from clinical depth to teaching to curriculum. The 2026-27 catalog lists the three practicums this way, each worth 3 credits:

Older course numbers with the same titles, NURS 617, 618 and 619, still sit in the course list. If a dated handbook or an old plan uses them, it is describing the earlier version of this sequence.

300 hours, with no per-course split

The catalog footnote ties 300 practicum hours to NURS 677, 678 and 679 together, and the online MSN page calls it a minimum of 300 clinical hours across three practicum courses. How the hours divide between the courses is not published, and Liberty has no public telehealth or simulation allowance for MSN practicum hours.

An earlier plan, set out in the 2022-23 MSN handbook, used 200 hours for this track, split 75, 75 and 50, and required the first course's hours in a direct-access patient population setting rather than a classroom or online. That handbook predates the current total, so use it to shape questions for your faculty, not to plan your term.

Some of its working rules may still apply: one practicum course per sub-term, hours logged only inside the course's term dates, and a first meeting with your preceptor before any hours count. Confirm them through NURS 527, the MSN Practicum Gate. The hours overview compares every track.

Prerequisites: NURS 504, 505 and 506

NURS 677 requires the master's-level foundations, NURS 504 Advanced Pharmacology for the Nurse Educator, NURS 505 Advanced Health/Physical Assessment and NURS 506 Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology, plus NURS 521 and the Gate, NURS 527. NURS 678 requires the same three foundations plus NURS 600 Evaluation Strategies for Nurse Educators and NURS 677. NURS 679 follows NURS 678.

NURS 505 has a preceptor step of its own, well before the practicum. Its final exam is a head-to-toe physical assessment, and it has to be proctored by a nurse with a master's degree whom you recruit yourself. Per the course guide, you record and narrate the assessment on a consenting adult, then upload the video alongside the rubric your proctor grades.

Admission also matters here: you need an undergraduate health assessment course before NURS 505, and the online page lists NURS 211 and MATH 201 as undergraduate prerequisites for the track.

The preceptor and the site

Liberty describes the Nurse Educator preceptor two ways. The course descriptions for NURS 677 and NURS 678 call for an approved nurse educator preceptor. The plan footnote asks for a preceptor site contract with an approved MSN- or doctorally prepared nurse leader preceptor. Ask the MSN practicum staff which description governs your approval.

Settings shift across the sequence. NURS 677 centers on advanced assessment in a population you pick; NURS 678 puts you in clinical and classroom teaching. The dated handbook was more specific: a clinical-specialty preceptor with an MSN or higher, such as a CNS, NP, CNM or CRNA, for the first course, with physicians and physician assistants excluded, then an education setting for the second and third. It also warned that Nurse Educator students may need more than one agreement.

A workplace practicum is possible under the dated rules when the hours are unpaid, a Clinical Program Affiliation Agreement is signed and the work sits outside your usual unit. The employer site page covers the details.

What to clear before NURS 677

For the MSN, Liberty puts the paperwork before registration, not after. Before you enroll in NURS 677:

1. Pass NURS 527The MSN Practicum Gate sits in your first semester and must be passed before any practicum course.
2. Secure the site agreementAn education site affiliation agreement with an approved facility that you select.
3. Set up the preceptor contractA practicum contract with an approved preceptor who meets the catalog's MSN or doctoral standard.
4. Meet pre-practicum requirementsAn AHA CPR card; MMR, TB, varicella, Hepatitis B and influenza records; HIPAA and bloodborne pathogens modules; plus the criminal background check and 10-panel drug screen.

Sites may add requirements of their own, and the catalog says students assume all practicum costs. This track may train in Washington but not in DC or the territories, and your RN license must be valid in the practicum state. The preceptor site contract page explains the contract step.

Carrying the educator search with you

Nurse Educator students carry the whole search: a facility, an agreement and a preceptor who fits Liberty's description, all before NURS 677. We look for educators and clinical-specialty nurses near you who can take a Liberty student, and we help you assemble the preceptor CV, license details and site information for NURS 527. We also find a master's-prepared nurse to proctor the NURS 505 assessment if that is your first hurdle.

If your preceptor changes between the clinical and classroom courses, we search again for the teaching setting. Liberty's MSN staff approve every preceptor and site, and each one we bring fits the description Liberty gives. Start with the form and tell us which course is next.