The UNCW Nurse Educator certificate and the practicum you arrange
UNCW's Nurse Educator Post-Graduate Certificate is 12 online credits, and its last course is a practicum with an on-site preceptor you find yourself. Cohorts from Fall 2026 take NSG 588; earlier cohorts take NSG 594. UNCW's own pages disagree on how long the certificate runs and publish no hour count for the new practicum, so each figure below comes with the place to confirm it.
Plan your certificate practicum
Share your cohort, your licensed state and when you finish your third course.
You arrange the practicum: UNCW's own words
The certificate's application details put it plainly: "The applicant will identify their own practicum site and preceptor, and will need to be available for required number of hours on-site with preceptor for mentoring." The search is part of the program from the day you apply, and the hours happen in person, not online.
The handbook that covers both UNCW's MSN and this certificate says students identify an appropriate educational site with guidance from the School of Nursing's Clinical Placement Team and faculty, then choose a qualified preceptor whose expertise fits their goals. Approval still runs through UNCW. The catalog's description of NSG 594 makes a UNCW-approved site and preceptor a condition of the course, and the Nurse Educator Programs Coordinator reviews the choice.
That pairing, your search and UNCW's approval, is where most of the practicum's risk sits. A preceptor who looks right on paper can miss one of UNCW's criteria, and any fix has to land before the course starts.
Four courses, two course lists
The certificate is four 3-credit courses, and the last one is the practicum. Which four you take depends on when you start.
| Focus | Fall 2026 cohort onward | Current cohorts |
|---|---|---|
| Educator role and foundations | NSG 518 Evidence-based Education Foundations for the Nurse Educator Role | NSG 519 The Nurse Educator Role and Evidence-Based Education Foundations |
| Curriculum | NSG 538 Evidence-based Curriculum Design, Development, and Delivery for the Nurse Educator Role | NSG 527 Evidence-based Curriculum Design and Development Across Settings |
| Assessment | NSG 548 Evidence-based Assessment of Learning and Teaching Effectiveness for the Nurse Educator Role | NSG 528 Evidence-based Assessment and Curriculum/Program Evaluation |
| Practicum | NSG 588 Nursing Education Practicum I: Teaching & Learning | NSG 594 Practicum for the Nurse Educator Role |
NSG 588 is also the first practicum course in the new MSN curriculum, so certificate students share it with degree students. The MSN Nurse Educator guide covers the full degree and its second practicum.
Two semesters, or three to four?
UNCW publishes two answers. The 2026-27 Graduate Catalog says the certificate can be completed in two semesters. The certificate's web page says three or four semesters, the same wording the 2025-26 catalog used, yet the Fall 2026 cohort table on that same page lays out 2 semesters across 4 sessions, with NSG 588 in session 4.
The catalog is the newer, dated document, and the Fall 2026 table agrees with it, so two semesters is the likely plan for new students. Current cohorts on the older course list should check their own sequence with CHHS Student Success Center advising.
Starts follow the same six-session calendar as the MSN, with two 7-week sessions beginning in each of fall, spring and summer. On a two-semester plan, the practicum arrives three sessions after you begin, which leaves little slack for a slow preceptor search.
Timing rules that can cost you a session
Several UNCW rules surround the practicum, and each one has a date attached.
NSG 588must be taken within 2 years after you completeNSG 548.- For current cohorts,
NSG 594must be taken within 2 years afterNSG 528, with a UNCW-approved site and preceptor and your health and background requirements submitted. - BSN-DNP and BSN-PhD students must finish their degree before enrolling in
NSG 594. - The After 8/2026 handbook, which covers both nurse educator programs, sets a five-week cutoff: every practicum requirement, including an executed site agreement, must be met that far ahead of the first day of
NSG 588. - Clearance runs through Certiphi, and a student who misses its published deadline is removed from
NSG 588.
The clinical compliance guide lists the clearance items and when they come due.
The two-year clock starts when you finish NSG 548, not when you find a preceptor. If you step away after that course, the clock keeps running.
Practicum hours: the figure UNCW has published
UNCW's certificate preceptor page gives one number: 150 hours over a 15-week semester, at about 10 hours a week, split into 60 direct and 90 indirect core hours. The page names no course number, and a 15-week semester matches the older NSG 594 rather than the 7-week NSG 588.
No hour total for NSG 588 as a certificate course appears in UNCW's public materials. Treat 150 as the current-cohort figure and get the new number from your course faculty or syllabus before you settle a weekly schedule with your preceptor. The Nurse Educator practicum guide tracks the MSN's practicum hours, which follow a different total.
Whatever the total turns out to be, your preceptor confirms the logged hours in Typhon and completes UNCW's Preceptor Review Form there, and faculty reach out to your preceptor in the first week of the course.
Preceptor profile, licensing and grades
The certificate uses the same preceptor standard as UNCW's MSN. The person must hold a license issued by the practicum site's state, hold a master's or higher from an accredited nursing program (a nursing education focus is preferred), have taught for three years or more in an education or practice setting, and work at the site. Their role is to mentor you and report on your work; grading stays with UNCW faculty.
Your own license follows the MSN's admission rule. North Carolina is the default, a compact license from your home state also works, and a distance student not practicing in North Carolina during the program may enroll on a home-state license. Because the preceptor's license tracks the site's state, the practicum can take place outside North Carolina; see UNCW online programs outside North Carolina for states with their own approval rules.
Grades mirror the MSN too. Each course needs a B or higher, your overall average must stay at 3.0 or above, and you may retake one course a single time. With only four courses, a single repeat can reshape your timeline, so the grades and progression guide is worth a read.
Why certificate students choose our placement desk
The certificate asks you to arrange the practicum from the moment you apply, and our service is built for exactly that job. Your placement advisor finds a nurse educator in your licensed state who meets every line of UNCW's profile, at a site that can host the teaching and learning work NSG 588 expects.
We confirm the preceptor's license, degree, teaching years and employment at the site before an introduction, then package what UNCW's reviewer looks for: the preceptor's degree and license details, a summary of their teaching, the site's legal name and location, and who at the site signs agreements. UNCW makes the approval decision, and our job is to hand the Nurse Educator Programs Coordinator a request with nothing missing, early enough to clear the five-week window and your two-year limit.
If your preceptor's plans change, we find a replacement. Read how it works or share your cohort and state in the form below.
Questions UNCW students ask
Is this the same as UNCW's old Nurse Educator Post-Master's Certificate?
It replaced it. UNCW's archived catalogs mark the Nurse Educator Post-Master's Certificate as inactive in 2019-20 and 2020-21, and the Nurse Educator, Post-Graduate Certificate appears from the 2023-24 catalog onward. If you hold coursework from the older certificate, ask CHHS advising how it is treated.
Can a UNCW BSN-DNP student add the nurse educator certificate?
For the current-cohort practicum, NSG 594, the catalog says BSN-DNP and BSN-PhD students must complete their degree before enrolling. UNCW's pages state no matching rule for NSG 588, so a doctoral student planning around the new course should confirm the sequence with the program coordinator before registering.
How many hours a week will the certificate practicum take?
UNCW's only published guide is about 10 hours a week across a 15-week semester, which fits the older NSG 594. The new NSG 588 runs in a 7-week session and its hour total is not public, so ask course faculty for the figure and build the weekly schedule with your preceptor once you have it.
Who approves my certificate practicum site and preceptor?
UNCW does. The catalog requires a UNCW-approved site and preceptor, and the Nurse Educator Programs Coordinator reviews both. Approval depends on the preceptor meeting UNCW's educator criteria and on a signed agreement with the site, all in place at least five weeks before the practicum course begins.
Can I start the nurse educator certificate in any semester?
Yes. The certificate admits on the same six-session calendar as the MSN, with two 7-week sessions starting in each of fall, spring and summer. Pick a start that leaves time to find your preceptor before the practicum session, which comes fourth on the two-semester plan for Fall 2026 cohorts.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against UNCW's catalog, handbooks and School of Nursing pages. Your course, your cohort's handbook and UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UNCW asks you to find your own North Carolina preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UNCW program, your practicum course and where in North Carolina you can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and agency details UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews, well before the deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care, pediatrics and women's health for
NSGL 650toNSGL 653, adult and older-adult care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Preceptor CV with dates and site, license number and agency details ready for your submission
- In Wilmington, the Cape Fear region or wherever in North Carolina your clinicals can happen
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.