Online Curriculum
The University of Rio Grande's online graduate programs in nursing and education are flexible, affordable, and grounded in a community that knows you by name.
M.Ed. – Curriculum & Instruction
Rio's fully online M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction lets you finish in about a year, taking one project at a time, so you're never choosing between your job and your degree. Every course builds a portfolio of real work you can put to use right away, whether you're a teacher moving up the salary lane or a training pro earning your credential.
Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and priced to stay within reach, it's a graduate program rooted in the communities you serve, because there's something special about earning it at Rio.
Portfolio
The Portfolio course introduces to the student the importance of the portfolio as a means of self-assessing, self-reflecting, and self-correcting by self-documenting progress throughout this graduate program. Concepts related to teacher development, student portfolios, reflective thinking, and personality types will be explored, and a Personal Development Plan will be completed as a draft for the portfolio content.
2 credits
Mentoring Models
This course examines several teaching and mentoring models. Students explore how each model may be applied in their own context.
2 credits
Learning Theory
This course explores and contrasts learning theories in light of brain research. Students consider how societal, environmental, and school or coaching influences shape learning.
2 credits
Leaders & Change
Empowering teachers as agents of change in curriculum and instruction.
2 credits
Curriculum
Students will learn how to write lesson/learning plans (create courses/programs) that are creative, pertinent, and interesting, by integrating the multiple intelligences. Emphasis will be placed upon the state curriculum models. Students will be given the opportunity to share with and gain ideas from their peers.
2 credits
Research & Evaluation Methods
This course develops research and evaluation skills for assessing learning. Students design, conduct, critique, and apply assessment methodologies through journaling, threaded discussion, and practical application (including how learners can effect change).
2 credits
Literacy in Technology
This course builds practical technology literacy for education professionals. Students explore computer applications in educational settings, including data management and content-area integration.
2 credits
Grant Writing
This course builds grant-writing skills and knowledge of funding processes. Students explore funding sources, develop a fundable idea and budget, and complete a grant proposal for foundation or corporate consideration.
2 credits
Foundations of AI in Curriculum & Instruction
This course builds working AI fluency for curriculum and instruction professionals. Students examine how rule-based, machine learning, and generative AI systems produce outputs and test those systems against real curriculum tasks from their own work.
2 credits
Assessment Design and Learning Data
This course develops assessment designers who can produce valid evidence of learning. Students evaluate assessments for validity, reliability, fairness, and alignment. Students redesign assessments to require behavioral evidence from learners. They analyze learner data, including learning analytics, and how that informs decision-making.
3 credits
Learning Experience Design: Curriculum Across Modalities
This course asks a curriculum question: what happens to curriculum when learning moves online? Students evaluate how scope, sequence, pacing, interaction, and assessment must change across face-to-face, blended, and asynchronous formats, treating the delivery modality as a design choice rather than an afterthought. They critique a unit from their own context, redesign it for a new format with a documented rationale, and prototype experiences against learning science criteria.
3 credits
Differentiation and Universal Design for Learning
This course turns accessible, learner-centered design from aspiration into revision discipline. Students design with empathy for the full range of learners, critiquing curriculum, materials, and tools for barriers to access and learning, then design and defend revisions using CAST UDL Guidelines 3.0 (2024), differentiation frameworks, and multi-tiered systems of support. Students apply the UDL lens to a project in active implementation rather than to a hypothetical.
3 credits
Curriculum Design Capstone
In this capstone, students design, implement, and evaluate a curriculum or learning solution in their own classroom, school, or workplace. Working from a design proposal grounded in their portfolio artifacts, they build the solution with backward design and run a simulation. Each student also designs and delivers a professional learning session or stakeholder presentation.
3 credits
M.Ed. – Special Education
Rio's fully online, licensure-bearing M.Ed. in Special Education helps already-licensed Ohio teachers add the Mild/Moderate K-12 Intervention Specialist credential in under a year, all while keeping their contract. Learn the science of reading, write defensible IEPs, and lead intervention with confidence, alongside faculty who understand rural Ohio schools because they're from here, too.
Portfolio
The Portfolio course introduces to the student the importance of the portfolio as a means of self-assessing, self-reflecting, and self-correcting by self-documenting progress throughout this graduate program. Concepts related to teacher development, student portfolios, reflective thinking, and personality types will be explored, and a Personal Development Plan will be completed as a draft for the portfolio content.
2 credits
Mentoring Models
This course examines several teaching and mentoring models. Students explore how each model may be applied in their own context.
2 credits
Learning Theory
This course explores and contrasts learning theories in light of brain research. Students consider how societal, environmental, and school or coaching influences shape learning.
2 credits
Leaders & Change
Empowering teachers as agents of change in curriculum and instruction.
2 credits
Curriculum
Students will learn how to write lesson/learning plans (create courses/programs) that are creative, pertinent, and interesting, by integrating the multiple intelligences. Emphasis will be placed upon the state curriculum models. Students will be given the opportunity to share with and gain ideas from their peers.
2 credits
Research & Evaluation Methods
This course develops research and evaluation skills for assessing learning. Students design, conduct, critique, and apply assessment methodologies through journaling, threaded discussion, and practical application (including how learners can effect change).
2 credits
Literacy in Technology
This course builds practical technology literacy for education professionals. Students explore computer applications in educational settings, including data management and content-area integration.
2 credits
Grant Writing
This course builds grant-writing skills and knowledge of funding processes. Students explore funding sources, develop a fundable idea and budget, and complete a grant proposal for foundation or corporate consideration.
2 credits
Foundations of Mild/Moderate Intervention: Law, Ethics, and High-Incidence Learners
This course introduces the legal and ethical foundations of special education. Students learn how laws like IDEA and Section 504 apply to identifying and evaluating students with disabilities, and how to apply professional ethical standards to real-world situations.
3 credits
Special Education Assessment and Individualized Planning: Eligibility, IEPs, and FBA/BIP
This course covers the special education process from eligibility through planning. Students learn to review evaluation data, develop IEPs, and create behavior intervention plans based on functional behavioral assessments.
3 credits
Specially Designed Instruction: Methods, Co-Teaching, and Transition for Mild/Moderate Learners
This course focuses on turning assessment data into instruction. Students learn to design specially designed instruction, plan for co-teaching, and develop transition plans that prepare students for life after high school.
3 credits
Science of Reading: Foundations for Intervention Specialists
This course introduces the science of reading and its role in supporting students. Students learn to recognize different types of reading difficulties and how reading policy shapes classroom practice.
3 credits
Phonics in the Context of Reading, Writing, and Spelling
This course covers phonics instruction and its connection to reading, writing, and spelling. Students learn to design phonics lessons and use word study to support students at different levels.
3 credits
Reading Assessment and Development
This course focuses on assessing reading skills across grade levels. Students learn to review reading assessments and use the results to understand a student's strengths and needs.
3 credits
Structured Literacy and Intensive Reading Intervention
This course covers structured literacy approaches for students with reading difficulties, including students with disabilities. Students learn to design reading interventions using evidence-based practices.
3 credits
Intervention Specialist Practicum (Mild/Moderate K–12)
This practicum gives post-licensure candidates supervised, hands-on experience in the intervention specialist role. Students apply their coursework in a school setting under university supervision.
3 credits
M.Ed. – Educational Leadership
Rio's online M.Ed. in Educational Leadership prepares experienced educators to lead in K-12 schools, higher education, and adult education and training. On a flexible online schedule with summer coursework, you can finish in as little as one year. Move from leading your classroom or your team to leading your organization, with the support of a program rooted in the communities you'll serve.
Portfolio
The Portfolio course introduces to the student the importance of the portfolio as a means of self-assessing, self-reflecting, and self-correcting by self-documenting progress throughout this graduate program. Concepts related to teacher development, student portfolios, reflective thinking, and personality types will be explored, and a Personal Development Plan will be completed as a draft for the portfolio content.
2 credits
Mentoring Models
This course examines several teaching and mentoring models. Students explore how each model may be applied in their own context.
2 credits
Learning Theory
This course explores and contrasts learning theories in light of brain research. Students consider how societal, environmental, and school or coaching influences shape learning.
2 credits
Leaders & Change
Empowering teachers as agents of change in curriculum and instruction.
2 credits
Curriculum
Students will learn how to write lesson/learning plans (create courses/programs) that are creative, pertinent, and interesting, by integrating the multiple intelligences. Emphasis will be placed upon the state curriculum models. Students will be given the opportunity to share with and gain ideas from their peers.
2 credits
Research & Evaluation Methods
This course develops research and evaluation skills for assessing learning. Students design, conduct, critique, and apply assessment methodologies through journaling, threaded discussion, and practical application (including how learners can effect change).
2 credits
Literacy in Technology
This course builds practical technology literacy for education professionals. Students explore computer applications in educational settings, including data management and content-area integration.
2 credits
Grant Writing
This course builds grant-writing skills and knowledge of funding processes. Students explore funding sources, develop a fundable idea and budget, and complete a grant proposal for foundation or corporate consideration.
2 credits
Activities and Sports in Education
In this course, students explore leadership in the areas of extracurricular activities, athletic programs, and physical wellness within school systems.
3 credits
Educational Law
Local, state, and federal law governing school operation and administration, with emphasis on current legislation and the ethical/legal issues affecting school personnel and community.
3 credits
Data Based Decision Making
How data drives education policy and school improvement — collecting, organizing, analyzing, and communicating data and using it for instructional improvement.
3 credits
School Finance and Economics
Sources of public-school funding and state tax allocation; resource management, budget planning, financial analysis, and how economic factors affect local schools.
2 credits
Supervision and Evaluation
Perspectives on supervision and organizational theory of the school setting — planning, facilities, assessment, promoting achievement, and the external environment.
3 credits
MSN – Family Nurse Practitioner
In our fully online MSN — Family Nurse Practitioner program, you'll learn to care for patients across the lifespan, supported by faculty who know you by name and a schedule built around your life as a working RN. Seven-week terms and a sustainable clinical pace let you keep working while you grow — with 750 supervised clinical hours and roots in the rural communities we serve.
Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing
This course supports the transition from registered nurse to advanced practice nurse, exploring the theoretical, professional, and ethical foundations of the APN role. Topics include scope of practice and regulatory frameworks governing APRNs in Ohio and nationally, models of advanced practice nursing, interprofessional collaboration, healthcare leadership, and political advocacy. Students develop a professional identity grounded in the AACN 2026 ACE framework of access, connection, and engagement.
3 credits
Advanced Pathophysiology
Focuses on pathophysiologic processes across the lifespan that cause organ and system alterations. Explores etiology, pathogenesis, developmental and environmental influences, lifestyle behaviors, clinical manifestations of disease, and management of various health problems. Provides a foundation for differential diagnosis and clinical decisions in advanced practice nursing.
3 credits
Advanced Health Assessment & Differential Diagnosis
The course focuses on advanced health assessment of all human systems of individuals across the lifespan with an emphasis on adults and older adults. Students will differentiate normal and abnormal findings with consideration of variations for developmental, cultural, and ethnic groups. The course requires analysis of assessment findings for differential clinical diagnosis.
3 credits
Rural and Underserved Population Health
This course is a differentiating element of the program, directly addressing the rural and telehealth mission. Students analyze the unique health challenges, social determinants, and structural disparities affecting rural, frontier, and underserved populations in the United States. Content includes care delivery models for rural settings (FQHCs, rural health clinics, critical access hospitals), community health worker roles, rural NP practice management and sustainability, and strategies for addressing systemic barriers to care. Aligned with AACN 2026 Competencies 3.4 and 9.6.
3 credits
Advanced Pharmacology
Focuses on pharmacotherapeutic (pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, and pharmacogenomics) principles, evidence-based guidelines, and outcomes for major categories of pharmacotherapy prescribed for common and complex health problems across the lifespan. Presents the legal, ethical, and professional dimensions for safe, high quality, and cost-effective prescribing by advanced practice nurses.
3 credits
Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice
This course prepares advanced practice nurses to critically evaluate research evidence and apply it to clinical practice and quality improvement. Students examine quantitative and qualitative research designs, conduct systematic literature searches, and apply evidence appraisal frameworks. The course introduces competency-based education assessment methods and quality improvement models relevant to NP practice. Students develop skills in translating research findings into actionable practice changes.
3 credits
Primary Care Across the Lifespan I
This course develops advanced clinical competency in the assessment, diagnosis, and management of acute and chronic conditions in adult and geriatric populations. Content covers the major organ systems relevant to primary care including cardiovascular, pulmonary, endocrine, musculoskeletal, dermatological, and neurological conditions. Students apply evidence-based clinical guidelines, health promotion frameworks, and pharmacological principles to develop comprehensive management plans. The course addresses NONPF FNP population-focused competencies for adult-gerontology primary care.
3 credits
Primary Care Across the Lifespan II
This course completes the lifespan primary care curriculum by developing advanced competency in pediatric, adolescent, and reproductive health. Students conduct well-child visits, developmental surveillance, and age-appropriate screenings; manage common pediatric acute and chronic conditions; and apply evidence-based frameworks for women's health and prenatal care within the primary care scope of practice. The course addresses NONPF FNP population-focused competencies for pediatric and reproductive health and emphasizes family-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive care.
3 credits
Epidemiology and Population Health
This course applies epidemiological principles to the analysis of population health data and the design of health promotion and disease prevention strategies. Students examine social, economic, environmental, and behavioral determinants of health disparities and learn to use surveillance data to identify at-risk populations. The course emphasizes community health assessment, public health policy analysis, and population-level intervention design with particular attention to rural and underserved communities.
3 credits
FNP Clinical Practicum I
This foundational clinical course provides the first supervised primary care placement, focused on building competency in health promotion, wellness care, and acute condition management across the lifespan. Students practice comprehensive health assessment, differential diagnosis, clinical documentation, and beginning-level prescriptive practice under direct preceptor supervision. Preferred settings include rural health clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and community health centers that serve diverse and underserved populations.
3 credits
FNP Clinical Practicum II
This intermediate clinical course advances competency in complex chronic disease management, pediatric and women's health care, and interprofessional collaboration. Students manage increasingly complex patient presentations with greater independence, applying evidence-based guidelines and pharmacotherapy principles. A portion of clinical hours is completed in a rural health clinic, FQHC, or telehealth-enabled setting to develop competencies specific to the program's mission. Preceptor evaluations use a competency-based rubric aligned to NONPF 2022 domains.
3 credits
Healthcare Information & Technology
The course explores the use of health information, communication technologies, and informatics to manage and improve the delivery of safe, quality, and efficient nursing and healthcare services. Examines best practices and professional and regulatory standards for application of healthcare technology in a variety of settings for adult/gerontology care.
3 credits
FNP Clinical Practicum III — Capstone
This capstone clinical course represents the culmination of the MSN-FNP program. Students demonstrate advanced clinical competency across the full primary care lifespan scope, managing a diverse and complex caseload with minimal supervision. Students complete at least one telehealth clinical encounter and compile a comprehensive capstone portfolio demonstrating achievement of all end-of-program SLOs and NONPF 2022 NP Role Core Competencies. The course prepares students for independent FNP practice and both AANPCB FNP-C and ANCC FNP-BC certification examinations.
3 credits
Telehealth and Rural Primary Care Practice
This differentiating course prepares FNP students for advanced practice in rural, frontier, and telehealth-enabled primary care settings. Students learn to apply synchronous and asynchronous telehealth clinical protocols, navigate rural-specific triage and referral pathways, manage scope of practice in low-resource environments, and develop practice management competencies for FQHC and rural health clinic settings. The course also covers integration of remote diagnostic tools such as digital stethoscopes, point-of-care testing, and remote monitoring devices. Aligned with AACN 2026 Competencies 8.3 and 3.4.
3 credits
Health Policy and Advocacy
Course focuses on the basic principles of health policy and the leadership role of nurses in advancing specialty practice and health at the local, state, and national/international levels. Addresses the skills, techniques, and approaches for the critical analysis of health policies and issues from ethical, equity, quality, financial, and political perspectives of patients, professionals, and organizations. Explores advocacy from an advanced practice nursing perspective.
3 credits
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Rio's fully online MSN — Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program prepares you to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health across the lifespan — from crisis intervention to telemental health. Built for working nurses, with supportive faculty and a pace that respects your time: 750 supervised clinical hours, and a place among friends who are in it with you.
PMHNP I: Assessment, Diagnostics, and Psychotherapies
This course develops foundational PMHNP competency in psychiatric assessment, diagnostic formulation, and evidence-based psychotherapy. Students learn to administer and interpret standardized psychiatric assessment tools, apply DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria to formulate accurate psychiatric diagnoses, and construct comprehensive differential diagnoses for complex presentations. Evidence-based psychotherapy modalities are examined in depth, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, and trauma-informed care frameworks, with application to individualized care planning.
3 credits
PMHNP II: Lifespan Mental Health and Telemental Health Practice
This course addresses mental health conditions across the full developmental lifespan and introduces evidence-based telemental health delivery, directly addressing AACN 2026 Competencies 8.3 and 9.6. Students examine the presentation, diagnosis, and management of psychiatric conditions in children, adolescents, adults, and older adults, with dedicated content on substance use disorders, personality disorders, ADHD, and sleep disorders. The second half of the course focuses on telemental health delivery in rural and underserved communities, including clinical protocols, ethical and legal frameworks for remote psychiatric practice, and program design.
3 credits
Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing
This course supports the transition from registered nurse to advanced practice nurse, exploring the theoretical, professional, and ethical foundations of the APN role. Topics include scope of practice and regulatory frameworks governing APRNs in Ohio and nationally, models of advanced practice nursing, interprofessional collaboration, healthcare leadership, and political advocacy. Students develop a professional identity grounded in the AACN 2026 ACE framework of access, connection, and engagement.
3 credits
PMHNP III: Crisis Intervention, Family Systems, and Complex Care
This course is taken as a solo bridge term immediately before clinical placement begins, providing intensive preparation for the most challenging aspects of PMHNP practice. Students master crisis intervention frameworks, suicide and violence risk assessment methodologies, and safety planning. Family systems theory is applied to mental health care across the lifespan. Trauma-informed care, involuntary treatment law, co-occurring psychiatric and medical conditions, and transitions of care are examined in depth. The course directly prepares students for the complex presentations they will encounter in clinical practicums.
3 credits
PMHNP Clinical Practicum I
This foundational clinical course provides the first supervised psychiatric mental health placement, focused on developing competency in psychiatric assessment, diagnostic formulation, therapeutic relationship-building, and beginning-level prescriptive practice. Students work under direct preceptor supervision in community mental health centers, outpatient psychiatric practices, or telemental health platforms, applying knowledge from the specialty didactic sequence to real patient encounters.
3 credits
PMHNP Clinical Practicum II
This intermediate clinical course advances competency in complex psychiatric case management, integration of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, and crisis response. Students manage patients with greater diagnostic complexity and comorbidity, applying clinical judgment with growing independence. A portion of clinical hours is completed in a rural health clinic or telehealth-enabled mental health setting, developing competencies specific to the program's mission. Preceptor evaluations use a competency-based rubric aligned to NONPF 2022 domains.
3 credits
Advanced Pathophysiology
Focuses on pathophysiologic processes across the lifespan that cause organ and system alterations. Explores etiology, pathogenesis, developmental and environmental influences, lifestyle behaviors, clinical manifestations of disease, and management of various health problems. Provides a foundation for differential diagnosis and clinical decisions in advanced practice nursing.
3 credits
PMHNP Clinical Practicum III
This advanced clinical course develops expertise in specialty psychiatric populations and expands prescriptive autonomy. Students manage patients with geriatric psychiatric presentations, pediatric and adolescent mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and complex trauma histories. Students apply measurement-based care principles and demonstrate growing clinical independence in prescribing, diagnostic formulation, and treatment planning. Clinical placements should reflect the lifespan breadth required for ANCC PMHNP-BC certification.
3 credits
Advanced Health Assessment & Differential Diagnosis
The course focuses on advanced health assessment of all human systems of individuals across the lifespan with an emphasis on adults and older adults. Students will differentiate normal and abnormal findings with consideration of variations for developmental, cultural, and ethnic groups. The course requires analysis of assessment findings for differential clinical diagnosis.
3 credits
Rural and Underserved Population Health
This course is a differentiating element of the program, directly addressing the rural and telehealth mission. Students analyze the unique health challenges, social determinants, and structural disparities affecting rural, frontier, and underserved populations in the United States. Content includes care delivery models for rural settings (FQHCs, rural health clinics, critical access hospitals), community health worker roles, rural NP practice management and sustainability, and strategies for addressing systemic barriers to care. Aligned with AACN 2026 Competencies 3.4 and 9.6.
3 credits
Advanced Pharmacology
Focuses on pharmacotherapeutic (pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, and pharmacogenomics) principles, evidence-based guidelines, and outcomes for major categories of pharmacotherapy prescribed for common and complex health problems across the lifespan. Presents the legal, ethical, and professional dimensions for safe, high quality, and cost-effective prescribing by advanced practice nurses.
3 credits
PMHNP Professional Practice, Prescribing, and Clinical Transition
This course serves as the professional and logistical bridge between didactic preparation and clinical placement in the PMHNP program. Running in the same term as NUR 50403, it complements the clinical content of that course by developing the practical competencies required to function as a prescribing psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. Content includes: DEA registration and controlled substance prescribing compliance; mental health billing, CPT coding, and prior authorization; psychiatric EHR documentation standards; preceptor relationship and clinical learning contracts; structured case conceptualization and presentation; and rural PMHNP practice management and sustainability. Students complete this course fully prepared for the professional and regulatory demands of supervised clinical practice.
3 credits
Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice
This course prepares advanced practice nurses to critically evaluate research evidence and apply it to clinical practice and quality improvement. Students examine quantitative and qualitative research designs, conduct systematic literature searches, and apply evidence appraisal frameworks. The course introduces competency-based education assessment methods and quality improvement models relevant to NP practice. Students develop skills in translating research findings into actionable practice changes.
3 credits
Advanced Psychopharmacology Across the Lifespan
This course provides the advanced psychopharmacological foundation required for safe and effective psychiatric prescribing across the lifespan. Students examine the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and mechanisms of action of major psychotropic drug classes including antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics, hypnotics, and stimulants. Content includes psychogenomics, individualized treatment planning, adverse effect monitoring, drug interaction management, and patient and caregiver education. Developmental considerations for pediatric, adult, and geriatric prescribing are integrated throughout.
3 credits
Epidemiology and Population Health
This course applies epidemiological principles to the analysis of population health data and the design of health promotion and disease prevention strategies. Students examine social, economic, environmental, and behavioral determinants of health disparities and learn to use surveillance data to identify at-risk populations. The course emphasizes community health assessment, public health policy analysis, and population-level intervention design with particular attention to rural and underserved communities.
3 credits
Healthcare Information & Technology
The course explores the use of health information, communication technologies, and informatics to manage and improve the delivery of safe, quality, and efficient nursing and healthcare services. Examines best practices and professional and regulatory standards for application of healthcare technology in a variety of settings for adult/gerontology care.
3 credits
Health Policy and Advocacy
Course focuses on the basic principles of health policy and the leadership role of nurses in advancing specialty practice and health at the local, state, and national/international levels. Addresses the skills, techniques, and approaches for the critical analysis of health policies and issues from ethical, equity, quality, financial, and political perspectives of patients, professionals, and organizations. Explores advocacy from an advanced practice nursing perspective.
3 credits