The Lewis online tools a nursing student uses
Most of your Lewis admin starts in myLewis: registration through Banner Self-Service, your Degree Works audit, records and billing. Courses live in Blackboard, student email runs on Gmail, proctored exams use Honorlock, and the Office of Technology Service Desk handles access problems. Two clinical systems sit apart from all of these: the CONHS preceptor contract portal and CastleBranch.
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Tell us your Lewis program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Lewis course.
Every tool at a glance
Lewis's Current Students page links most of these, and myLewis links the rest. Here is what each one does for a graduate nursing student.
| Tool | What you use it for | Where you reach it |
|---|---|---|
| myLewis | Portal for registration, records and your pay statement | Current Students page; choose "Student" in the persona chooser |
| Blackboard (moving to Ultra) | Course sites for online and blended courses | Lewis University Single Sign-On |
| Gmail | Student email; faculty and staff use Outlook | "Gmail - Students" on Lewis's email page |
| Banner 9 Self-Service | Registration and the term course search | "Register Today" quick link and the schedules page |
| Degree Works | Degree audit and "What If" scenarios | myLewis, Resources tab |
| Honorlock | Online exam proctoring | Inside the course that uses it |
| Panopto | Course video | Inside your courses |
| Parchment | Official transcripts | Registrar's page |
| Lewis University Bookstore (Follett) | Books by course or student ID, rentals | Bookstore page |
| Service Desk | IT requests and the service status board | Office of Technology page |
myLewis and Banner: registering for practicum terms
myLewis is the front door. It opens with a persona chooser (Student, New Student, Faculty, Staff), and the catalog says students make "all registration changes online through MyLewis." Behind it sits Ellucian Banner, with registration in Banner 9 Self-Service; the schedules page sends "BrowseCourses" to the same term search.
For a practicum term, register for the practicum and its paired management course together, since each NP practicum is a corequisite of its management course: NURS 61100 with NURS 61000, NURS 62500 with NURS 62400, NURS 63300 with NURS 63200. Unofficial transcripts sit in myLewis, and billing runs through the Student Accounts Office, which used a Nelnet student account platform and Nelnet payment plans as of 2024.
Degree Works, opened from the myLewis Resources tab, builds your audit from block requirements, and its "What If" option shows how a change of track would count. Use it each term to confirm that the MSN core courses such as NURS 51700 and NURS 55900 are done before the NP specialty sequence starts.
Blackboard and Lewis email
Blackboard is Lewis's learning platform, and there is no sign of Canvas, D2L or Moodle. The catalog defines online courses as those "delivered fully online using Blackboard", and Lewis's Faculty Center is moving courses from Blackboard Original to Ultra with 8-week and 16-week templates, so the look of a course can change from one term to the next.
Student email is Gmail on your Lewis account; faculty and staff use Outlook. Your Lewis inbox matters for clinicals as well as coursework. The preceptor contract portal must be set up with your Lewis email address, and if a contract request is denied, Lewis says it tells you through your Lewis email. Check that inbox daily in the weeks before a practicum, even if you forward mail elsewhere.
Honorlock, testing and course video
Proctored online exams run on Honorlock, and the Faculty Center's student tutorial site has a guide to enabling and using it. Some online courses also require a campus visit "for placement testing or for proctored exams", so check each syllabus early if you live far from Romeoville.
Students with testing accommodations use the Accommodated Testing Center, which has sites at Romeoville (LRC 342) and at Lewis University at Oak Brook; the library and support page covers how Disability Support Services sets accommodations up. Oak Brook is also where graduate nursing's exam rooms and labs are (Lewis University at Oak Brook).
Course video runs on Panopto inside your courses, and the Lewis University Bookstore, run by Follett, lets you shop by course or by student ID and offers rentals.
The clinical systems that sit apart
Two systems that decide whether your practicum starts on time are separate from everything above. The CONHS preceptor contract portal, "Requests for Initiation of Agency Contracts", needs its own account created with your Lewis email, and Lewis says that account "is not connected" to your Lewis network or Blackboard accounts. The contract portal page explains the request and its statuses.
CastleBranch holds your health and clinical compliance records; its page for Lewis graduate nursing uses package code LE56, and CastleBranch compliance can hold up a contract (CastleBranch at Lewis). Lewis does not publicly name the system for recording clinical hours, so your practicum course and track coordinator tell you where hours are logged.
Setting up myLewis and Blackboard does not create a contract portal account. Create that account yourself, with your Lewis email, well before your first practicum semester.
When something breaks
The Office of Technology runs the Service Desk through its University Service Desk system, and its Critical Service Status board shows whether Banner, email, the myLewis portal, the network or wireless is down before you file a ticket. Account resets and access problems go through the same office, and the Service Desk portal is where requests are filed.
If an access problem hits during a proctored exam or right before a course deadline, tell your instructor as well as the Service Desk, so there is a record that you reported it at the time. The same habit helps with clinical deadlines: a screenshot of a contract portal error, sent to the Clinical Placement Office the same day, keeps a request from stalling quietly, since that office answers portal questions.
While you keep these systems in order, our placement desk handles the preceptor side: finding a preceptor near you who fits the course, preparing the site and preceptor details the contract portal asks for, and keeping agency onboarding moving. See how we work with Lewis students or start on the placement request form.
Questions Lewis students ask
Does Lewis University use Canvas or Blackboard?
Blackboard. Lewis's course site is Blackboard Learn, reached through Lewis University Single Sign-On, and courses are moving from the Original view to Ultra. The catalog describes online courses as delivered fully online using Blackboard. No Lewis page points to Canvas, D2L or Moodle.
Why doesn't a change I made today show up in Degree Works?
Degree Works data is refreshed nightly, so a registration change made today normally appears tomorrow. Lewis's Degree Works FAQ says same-day changes need a "Banner Refresh" followed by "Process New" inside the audit. If the audit still looks wrong after that, ask your advisor or the Registrar.
How do online Lewis students get a student ID card?
The Lewis University Police Department issues ID cards at West Hall, 620 Sims Drive, on the Romeoville campus, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An older Lewis FAQ points to the Student Union, but the police department's ID page is the current source, so go to West Hall.
Do Lewis graduate students pay for parking?
Graduate students who come to Romeoville still register their vehicles through the Lewis University Police Department's permit system, but Lewis says the parking fee "will be waived for graduate students and accelerated students." Register before your first campus visit so a lab day or exam visit goes smoothly.
Where do I order an official Lewis transcript?
Official transcripts are ordered through Parchment, which Lewis calls its transcript partner, and the Registrar's page also links enrollment verification through myHub. Unofficial transcripts are in myLewis. Whenever a board, school or employer asks for an official copy, order it through Parchment.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Lewis's own catalog, program pages and FAQ, its contract portal and Illinois law. Your course, your track coordinator and the Clinical Placement Office have the final word.
Lewis asks you to identify your preceptor. We do the searching.
Tell us your Lewis program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare every detail the contract portal asks for, so your request goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the practicum: primary care for
NURS 61100andNURS 61800, acute care forNURS 62500, psychiatric care forNURS 63300 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your preceptor contract request
- In your own community, anywhere Lewis enrolls you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
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