Student success begins with the course guide.

Nursing faculty have seen enrollments increase over the past few years. Many of these students are from non-traditional applicant pools: minority groups, re-entry students, second career starters, males, and culturally diverse individuals. Greater numbers of nurses and nursing students from a broader population base represent a very positive trend for the nursing profession as a whole. This new trend can be credited as a result of extensive efforts beginning in the 1980's to ease the nursing shortage in the United States. Yet teaching students with such a wide variety of backgrounds can be quite a challenge for faculty. Many students have special learning needs that are addressed poorly in the traditional academic setting, but funding cuts and faculty shortages have limited opportunities for universities to provide special programs. Faculty must become more creative in their efforts to meet students' needs with fewer resources. One teaching/learning tool that is literally within the grasp of every course instructor, but is highly underrated and inefficiently prepared or used, is the course syllabus or guide. Adult learners of all populations benefit from a well organized course guide, and it remains one of the most basic and cost-effective instructional aids that any teacher can supply for a student.