The Troy systems an online nursing student uses, and what each one holds
Troy University runs an online nursing student's program through a handful of systems: TROY Online for support, Canvas for courses and yearly training, Student Self-Service for registration, ViewPoint Screening for compliance, and Shadow Health and APEA for FNP courseware and exam preparation. Knowing which system holds which piece keeps a clinical semester from stalling on something small.
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Every system at a glance
Here is each system Troy names for its online nursing students, what you will find in it, and the point where it meets your clinical courses.
| System | What it holds | Where it meets clinicals |
|---|---|---|
| MY portal (my.troy.edu) | Single sign-on to Canvas, Self-Service, the Helpdesk and more; safety and outage notices | The starting point for everything below |
| TrojanPass | One account for TROY Email, Canvas, Self-Service, the Helpdesk and Microsoft 365 | Keep it working before any deadline week |
| Canvas | Courses, announcements, assignments, grades and the Canvas Inbox | The MSN Student Shell, the RN to BSN preceptor form, DNP planners |
| Student Self-Service | Registration, drops and the graduation application | Paired didactic and preceptorship courses go in together |
| TROY Email (Microsoft 365) | Official student email with two-factor authentication | Due dates and faculty replies arrive here |
| ViewPoint Screening | Background check, drug test results and the health portal | Compliance clears before clinical courses |
| Quest | Drug-test collection | Results report to ViewPoint |
| Shadow Health | FNP courseware | Runs alongside FNP courses |
| APEA | Nurse practitioner certification preparation | Bundles tied to four FNP semesters |
| Omnilert and TrojanTXT | Safety alerts; opt-in texts on registration, aid, drop/add and billing deadlines | Reminders around the drop date |
| IT Helpdesk | Tickets, a knowledge base and a service catalog | Access problems fixed fast |
TROY Online, the home of online nursing
The catalog describes TROY Online as the unit of Troy's Global Campus that offers undergraduate and graduate programs online, and it is where Troy lists the MSN tracks, the post-master's certificates, the DNP and the RN to BSN (RN Mobility). Your courses run in Canvas, but the support around them belongs to TROY Online.
Its support list is long: Academic Services Associates in every course, NetTutor online tutoring, Online Proctoring Services, Online Library Services, Career Services, Student Disability Services, the Center for Student Success, Student Orientation, Canvas tutorials, the IT Helpdesk and Microsoft 365. Canvas help is listed around the clock by chat, email and phone, which matters most when an upload fails late on the night before a deadline.
Troy's libraries serve online students with e-books, databases, interlibrary loan and live chat during the Troy campus library's hours. A librarian can also be embedded in an online class at the faculty member's request, a useful option to raise with course faculty during an evidence-heavy course or a DNP Synthesis Project.
Canvas and the MSN Student Shell
Canvas carries more of your clinical paperwork than a course site might suggest. The MSN Student Shell holds the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen training and the HIPAA review, both due every year, and Troy also accepts employer-signed verification of that training. DNP students find semester planners and project guidelines in the DNP Student Organization course, and RN to BSN students find the RN to BSN Program Preceptor Information and Acknowledgement Form, which lead faculty approve.
Canvas is a notice board too. BSN and RN to BSN students learn their ViewPoint due dates by Canvas announcement and Troy email, and the MSN manual says semester planners are provided, which come through Canvas, so open your courses in the first week of each term. Message instructors through the Canvas Inbox, and save any reply that confirms an approval or a date. Our page on OSHA, HIPAA and the other required forms lists everything the shell and ViewPoint expect.
Student Self-Service and a clinical semester
Student Self-Service handles registration, course drops and the graduation application; Trojan Web Express is retired, and its splash page now sends students there. One registration rule matters above the rest for nursing students: the MSN manual says paired didactic and preceptorship courses must be registered together in Self-Service, in a single submission.
Registration and preceptor paperwork run on the same clock. The MSN deadline for NSG 6619 forms, and the DNP deadline for all forms, is the last day to drop without academic penalty. If MSN forms run late, the manual requires dropping the clinical course along with its co-requisite, and faculty make that drop themselves if you leave it, so Self-Service and the preceptor packet meet at the worst possible moment. Full withdrawal from Troy is the exception to all of this: it cannot be done in Self-Service and needs the official withdrawal form.
The form deadlines guide sets the MSN and DNP dates side by side, and the academic calendar page lists the published drop dates.
ViewPoint Screening and Quest
ViewPoint Screening is the document system behind your compliance file. The background check, the urine drug screen that Quest collects, titers, the yearly physical on Troy's form, CPR, health insurance proof and the signed forms all go there, and every document must stay valid from registration through the last day of the semester. Additional drug testing can come for cause or under an agency's affiliation agreement, at the student's expense.
One wrinkle: Troy's MSN web page instead lists LabCorp and Certified Background for testing and verification, while the manuals name Quest and ViewPoint. Follow the instructions your program sends and ask your faculty advisor if they differ. Our ViewPoint Screening guide walks through each upload and the validity window.
Shadow Health and APEA for FNP students
FNP students meet two systems that other tracks do not. APEA is required as preparation for the nurse practitioner certification exam, and Shadow Health supplies FNP courseware. The MSN manual lists both among the costs outside tuition, together with the ViewPoint package and the lab fee that applies to clinical courses from Fall 2026.
The manual's APEA list ties its bundles to four clinical semesters: semester one with NSG 6619, semester two with NSG 6665, semester three with NSG 6667 and semester four with NSG 6670. The same list pairs NSG 6649 with a pathophysiology question bank and NSG 6671 with a prescribing one, while the manual's course text calls NSG 6649 Advanced Pharmacology and NSG 6671 Advanced Pathophysiology. If a bundle looks mismatched to your course, ask course faculty which applies.
Neither system logs clinical hours, and Troy's manuals leave the method for recording hours to each course, so follow what course faculty set. The placement costs page explains who pays for what.
Email, alerts and help
Microsoft 365 is Troy's official email for every registered student, protected by two-factor authentication, and Troy IT names TROY Email and Self-Service as its regular channels to students. Faculty replies about your preceptor, agreement updates and compliance due dates come this way, so check the Troy inbox daily during a clinical semester.
Omnilert sends safety notices by email and optional text. TrojanTXT is an opt-in text service for registration, financial aid, drop/add and billing deadlines, a handy backstop in a semester built around a drop date. When something will not open, the IT Helpdesk at helpdesk.troy.edu takes tickets and keeps a knowledge base and a service catalog, and the MY portal posts outage notices for the whole university.
The one job no Troy system does
Every system above assumes a preceptor already exists. Troy's manuals put the first contact with a preceptor on you, and the packet travels by email to your faculty advisor: a typed Preceptor Information Form in Word format, the Preceptor Biosketch and the preceptor's license copy.
That is where Troy students bring us in. We find preceptors who fit your course's rules in your own area, gather what the form, biosketch and license copy need, and time the work around your Self-Service registration and form deadline so the two never collide. Troy faculty make the approval; you hand them a packet built around their checklist. Start with the form or read how it works.
Questions Troy students ask
What is the MSN Student Shell at Troy?
It is a Canvas course space for MSN students. Troy's MSN manual places the yearly OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen training and the HIPAA review there. Finish both early each year, because they belong to the compliance file you keep current for every clinical semester, and an employer-signed verification is the accepted alternative.
Do Troy nursing students still use Trojan Web Express?
No. Trojan Web Express is retired, and its splash page directs students to Self-Service, which now handles registration, drops and the graduation application. MSN students registering for a clinical semester should submit the didactic course and its preceptorship at the same time, in one Self-Service transaction.
Can I get Canvas help at night as a TROY Online student?
Yes. TROY Online lists Canvas help around the clock by chat, email and phone. For problems outside Canvas, such as TrojanPass access or your Troy email, open a ticket with the IT Helpdesk, which also keeps a searchable knowledge base of common fixes.
Are APEA and Shadow Health included in Troy tuition?
The MSN manual lists APEA and Shadow Health among FNP costs outside tuition, with the ViewPoint package, background checks and drug tests, and the clinical-course lab fee from Fall 2026. The manual sets out the amounts; ask the School of Nursing if a charge on your account looks unfamiliar.
Do Troy's online nursing programs use one system for everything?
No. Each system does one job: Canvas for coursework and training, Self-Service for registration, ViewPoint for compliance documents, email for approvals and dates, and APEA and Shadow Health for FNP study. The preceptor packet itself goes to your faculty advisor by email, outside all of them.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Troy's own 2026-27 MSN, DNP, AMSN and RN to BSN orientation manuals, program pages, degree maps and state authorization pages. Your faculty advisor, your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.
Troy asks you to recruit your preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Troy program, where you live and which semester your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who meet Troy's rules for the course, check the setting against Troy's limits, and prepare everything the Preceptor Information Form and biosketch ask for, well ahead of the form deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: a graduate-prepared NP or physician for
NSG 6619, pediatrics and women's health forNSG 6666, adults and older adults forNSG 6668 - Preceptor Information Form details, a biosketch and a copy of the preceptor's license, ready for your faculty advisor
- In your own area, in Alabama or a state where Troy can offer clinicals, never in your own work setting
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