Progression Acknowledgement GCU

The DNP Direct Practice Improvement (DPI) Project requires extensive Proposal-based work product in the relatively short course timeframe of DNP-955. Learners are required to exhibit a high level of completion for the milestone assignments in a timely manner throughout the course in order to be prepared to submit the Benchmark – DPI Project Proposal (Chapters 1-3 and Appendix A) assignment in Topic 8.

You will be required to submit your final proposal manuscript (Chapters 1-3) in Topic 8 drop box by the last day of class at midnight. You must submit this assignment in the form of a single Word document. There will be no extensions granted for this submission. Your submitted proposal will be sent to Academic Quality Review (AQR). The AQR is performed by a qualified external reviewer that provides a formal scientific merit review and quality assurance check on the DPI Project Proposal. The AQR review will be returned to your chair. This will take approximately 7-10 business days. If this manuscript proposal is not submitted prior to due date, you will receive 0 points for that assignment and will not undergo AQR, you will also not progress to DNP-960.

You must:

Confirm your project meets the GCU DPI requirements that your project translates existing knowledge or guidelines into clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.
Ensure that your clinical questions are feasible with your population and clinical site and in alignment with your method, design, data collection, and data analysis.
Remove the scoring grids/rubric and previous embedded feedback from your proposal for the Topic 8 AQR submission.
Accurate grammar, APA and scholarly writing is required. Please note that your chairperson is not an editor. You will be responsible for ensuring your compliance with APA.
Remember that your manuscript will undergo several reviews from your chairperson, content expert, AQRs, department chairperson, and dean that will require multiple iterations. Please be open to feedback and incorporate the feedback into your manuscript to improve quality and rigor.

Looking ahead:

In DNP-960 you will be completing your IRB submission. You will need to have facility IRB approval (if your facility has an IRB) prior to submitting to GCU. If your project site does not have an IRB, you will be required to have site approval. GCU IRB submission is a stop-gap in the program. If you do not submit to GCU IRB within the prescribed timeframe of the DNP-960 course, you will receive a zero for Topic 3 assignment and you will not move forward to DNP-965. Please utilize all of the IRB submission resources available in DC Network and The IRB platform.
In DNP-960 or DNP-965, once you receive GCU IRB approval, you can start your project implementation. You should never be sitting idle while waiting for IRB approval. Please start writing your templates for Chapters 4 and 5 (without data until implementation with IRB approval).
In DNP-965, you will need to submit a final completed manuscript in Topic 5 to AQR. If you are unable to complete this submission, you will be required to take an extension course to finish your project or manuscript. In Topic 8, you will submit your final committee-approved manuscript for departmental review. You will have the opportunity for one iteration with the department until your manuscript is sent to the dean. If your manuscript is not deemed ready to be sent to the dean by the department, you will be required to take an extension course to continue to work with your chair. You will need to have a dean-approved manuscript, completed all courses with a passing grade, and 1,000 practice immersion hours to be eligible forADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
  - Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  - Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.