Students will:

• Analyze relationships among Walden’s vision, mission, goals, and social change initiatives to professional and academic goals
• Analyze the relationship between MSN program outcomes and perspectives to professional and academic goals
• Identify academic and professional collaborators for academic and professional success
• Identify concepts for Walden student readiness
• Identify individuals or teams to collaborate with for success in the MSN program and as a practicing nurse

In this module, you begin laying the foundation for your academic and professional success. Your efforts begin with a vision that includes your own definition of success. Your vision may vary from those of your colleagues, but this does not mean you have to take these first steps alone.

Walden University and the College of Nursing also have a vision and mission, which include helping you to make your own vision a reality. Members of your new academic community, such as faculty, support teams, and fellow students, can also be helpful. Current practitioners and other member of the professional community can also help you to clarify your vision.

This Module’s Discussion asks you to consider how the Walden mission and vision as well as the College of Nursing’s mission and vision apply to your professional and academic goals. You will also begin to identify individuals and teams who can help you along the way as you begin designing the “blueprint”—your Academic Success and Professional Development Plan—that will guide you toward your own vision for academic and professional success.

To Prepare:

• Review the Walden and College of Nursing mission and vision statements, Walden’s goals and University Outcomes, and the MSN Program Learning Outcomes presented in this Module’s Learning Resources.
• Reflect on your professional and academic goals as they relate to your program/specialization.
• Consider how the information in these resources fit with your own goals and to your becoming a scholar-practitioner.
• Also consider academic and professional individuals and teams with whom you may collaborate in support of your efforts as a student at the university and as a professional within your organization and career.

Post a brief introduction of yourself to your colleagues. Include an explanation as to how Walden’s vision, mission, goals, and social change initiatives relate to your professional and academic goals and to your becoming a scholar-practitioner. Also include an explanation for how the Walden MSN Program Outcomes and perspectives relate to your professional and academic goals and to your becoming a scholar-practitioner.

Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ posts by suggesting additional individuals and/or teams with whom you wish to collaborate or by offering additional networking strategies.

You probably have a lot of questions (and perhaps some hesitation) about the journey you are undertaking. How do I navigate the online classroom? How can I have access to a library in this environment? The Student Readiness Orientation (SRO) minicourse available on your MyWalden page provides answers to such questions and helps ensure you understand how to navigate the online classroom and utilize the many resources available to you as a student at Walden.

The Readiness Check will help you determine your prepardness for navigating the online classroom.

The questions presented on the Quiz are derived from the readiness check presented in the SRO.

Click on the Week 1 Quiz link after you have read the directions carefully.

The readiness check includes 15 questions in various formats including true/false and multiple choice. If you score 12 or below, please retake the exam. You may retake the exam as many times as you would like in order to achieve your desired score. Your highest score will be recorded. To retake the Quiz, click on “Take Test Again” (this does not appear as a hyperlink but works as a hyperlink when you click on the area).

To view the questions you answered correctly and incorrectly, click on your score in the “My Grades” area.

To Prepare:

• Review the Walden’s SRO found on your MyWalden page.

Complete the quiz.

When was the last time you read Meditation XVII of John Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions?

Unless you are a student of seventeeth-century poetry, you may not be all that familiar with this piece. However, you may be much more familiar with one of its well-known phrases: “No man is an island…”.

As you begin your journey toward achieving your academic and professional goals, you have a great opportunity to network with academics and professionals who can help ensure you do not travel alone. This network can help to clarify your own vision for success and can help guide you now and in the future. To paraphrase Donne, no one is an island.

Begin creating an academic and professional network by identifying which academic and professional connections and resources with which you need to collaborate to succeed in your MSN program and as a practicing nurse.

To Prepare:

• Consider individuals, departments, teams, and/or resources within Walden University and within your profession that you believe can support your academic and professional success.
• Identify at least two academic and at least two professional individuals, colleagues, or teams that might help you succeed in your MSN program and as a practicing nurse.
• Download the Academic Success and Professional Development Plan Template.

The Assignment:

Academic and Professional Network

Complete Part 1 of your Academic Success and Professional Development Plan Template. Be sure to address the following:

• Identify at least two academic and at least two professional individuals or teams to collaborate with to be successful in your MSN program and as a practicing nurse.
• Explain why you selected these individuals and/or teams and how they will support your success in the MSN program and as a practicing nurse.

Submit Part 1 of your Academic Success and Professional Development Plan Template.

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 1 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 1 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.