DNP Program Guidelines for Video Conferencing and Attendance Requirements

DNP Professional Examination and DNP Final Oral Examination

DNP students have the option of completing the DNP Professional Examination and the DNP Final Oral Examination at a distance via the use of synchronous videoconferencing. Any or all DNP committee members, including the advisor and/or the student, may attend at a distance. Facilities and support requirements for examinations (Graduate School Handbook Appendix B) must be met[1]. Distance attendance for examinations is not required, and in-person attendance of students and committee members is encouraged.

The OSU Graduate School provides policy guidance for the use of video conferencing and attendance requirements for doctoral examinations overseen by the Graduate School. The Graduate School policy is published in Appendix B (Guidelines for Video Conferencing Relating to Master’s and Doctoral Examinations) and may be viewed in the searchable version of the Graduate School Handbook by clicking here. The word “examination” as used in the College of Nursing guideline document refers specifically to the DNP Professional and Final Oral examinations of the DNP program. The steps for videoconferencing are listed below:

  1. Students, chairpersons, and examination committee members should carefully review the DNP-specific information in this document and the information in Graduate School Handbook Appendix B concerning Facilities and Support Requirements. The student’s examination committee chairperson is responsible for confirming that all Facilities and Support Requirements for videoconferencing and attendance are met.
  2. Prior to the student’s submission of the examination application to the Graduate School, discussion should occur with the student, advisor, and committee members in regard to the preferred attendance format/s and specific plans for videoconferencing arrangements.
  3. The chairperson and student should arrange the date/time with the committee members for the examination.
  4. Petitioning of the Graduate School for permission to use videoconferencing is no longer required by the Graduate School.
  5. All attendees should confirm that videoconferencing technology is in place and working correctly prior to the start of the examination. All attendees must be able to both see and hear each other at all times during the examination period. In the event of a technical failure, the committee chairperson, in consultation with the committee members, will decide if the examination will need to be rescheduled.2
  6. All examination attendees, including the student, committee chairperson, and committee members, must be present for the entire examination period. Absence and/or incomplete attendance of any of the required examination attendees will result in invalidation of the examination attempt by the Graduate School.[2]
  7. Committee members must record a grade for the examination promptly at the conclusion of the examination.

[1] Note: As of February 2019, the Graduate School Handbook policy for Appendix B, Section B.1, subsection 4. this policy has recently been changed by the Graduate School as of Spring 2019, such that in a fully online program, multiple sites are now permitted to be linked remotely. This change in Graduate School policy supports the ability of the student, advisor, and committee members to attend an examination at distance as desired, as consistent with the revised Graduate School policy that permits graduate students in fully online programs to complete examinations at distance that are overseen by the Graduate School.

[2] In the event of an unplanned urgent circumstance preventing attendance of a student or committee member (e.g., acute illness or other emergency), or a technical failure (e.g., videoconferencing failure) the committee chairperson should contact the Graduate School by telephone to explain the circumstance and to obtain Graduate School approval for the student to reschedule the examination without prejudice to the student. A rescheduled examination due to an extenuating circumstance beyond the control of the student/committee is not treated by the Graduate School as an invalidated examination attempt.