NR 524 Curriculum Development Week 1 Discussion
NR 524 Curriculum Development Week 1 Discussion
In this course, you will have the opportunity to work with your peers as you develop different components of a curriculum. You will be asked to choose one of three groups to participate in peer collaboration. The three groups are the following.
An Associate degree program in a community college
A prelicensure BSN program in a public university
A hospital staff development department in a Magnet Hospital
Instructions on how to join the groups can be found here: Joining a Peer Discussion Group (Links to an external site.)
Please view the presentation on How to Collaborate with Peers prior to posting in the peer collaboration area.
Please note there is a specific grading rubric for the peer collaboration area.
In this first week, you will begin to develop a Mission Statement for the program you have chosen. Write your Mission Statement and post it in the peer collaboration area. Then read and provide a substantive critique to two classmates on their mission. For the academic programs (ADN and BSN), please use the Chamberlain University Mission Statement (Chamberlain Mission Statement: To educate, empower, and embolden diverse healthcare professionals who advance the health of people, families, communities, and nations) as the mission statement of the parent organization.
For the hospital-based program, please use the mission statement from your current work setting as the mission statement of the parent organization.
Please post the parent institution mission statement, followed by your individual mission statement, in the peer collaboration area.
Introduction
Nursing as a profession has a central role in healthcare. Nursing is constantly expanding and professionals in this field are challenged to continue its education. The National League for Nursing (NLN) advocates for nursing education as well as advancing the overall scope of nursing (National League for Nursing, 2020). The focus of nursing is to promote patient care through evidence-based practice. The roles of registered nurses vary with their areas of exercise. This paper describes various aspects of the role of a nurse educator and the internal and external influences driving curriculum development.
The Role of a Nurse Educator in Curriculum Development
According to the National League for Nursing (2020), nurse educators are charged with the responsibility of formulating program outcomes and designing a curriculum that is in line with the current healthcare trends. A well-designed curriculum will eventually prepare graduates to perform their duties effectively in their respective areas. Furthermore, certified nurse educators keep revising the curriculum and making necessary updates to produce graduates that can meet their current needs of patients, families, and communities. Therefore, curriculum development has neither beginning nor end because it requires continuous revision and modification to be effective (National League for Nursing, 2020). Other responsibilities of nurse educators in curriculum development include purposeful gathering of data and analysis regarding concepts of education required to instill the knowledge in the minds of the student.
How The Nurse Educator Role Changes in Different Settings
A nurse educator can work in a variety of environments such as classrooms, clinical, bedside or simulation. Interestingly, the role of nurse educator may change depending on the environment where he/she is assigned to work (Herrman, 2019). Nurse educators in a hospital environment such as clinical and bedside help promote professional role development and growth along the continuum, for instance, from nursing novice to expert. They help nurses in developing and maintaining their competencies and advancing their nursing practice. In a clinical setting, they help nurses improve their competencies in patient examination, drug administration, and others. In the bedside environment, nurse educators teach competency skills such as cleanliness of the patient and the environment, drug administration and compassion, honesty, respect and others (Herrman, 2019). Furthermore, in simulation, they act as learning facilitators, mentors, and change agents. They create cost and time effective education using innovative teaching methods and technology.
Nurse educators in a classroom setting may teach diploma programs within a hospital setting, ADN programs through a college, or BSN programs through an accredited university. These nurse educators also teach refresher courses for nurses re-entering the field after giving themselves a break for quite a while (Herrman, 2019). The tasks of nurse educators include developing curriculum, advertising nursing programs, conducting research, monitoring, writing grant proposals, disseminating information through publications, participating in the institution’s programs or committees, and others. These educators provide students with the technical skills that they need to be successful in their nursing careers.
How Nursing Education Theories Influence the Nurse Educator Role
Learning theories are primary guide for nursing educational systems planning in the classroom and clinical training. Over the past years, searchers and educational theorists have developed theories explaining how students acquire knowledge. These have influenced the nurse educator’s role in one way or the other to ensure effective learning (Presti, 2016). They have enabled nurse educators to be creators of an effective learning environment and to improve the efficiency of the education system. These theories are classified into three groups such as behaviorism, cognitive, and constructivism. For example, behaviorism suggests that learners experience can impact their behavior and eventually their performance in class and clinical setting (Presti, 2016). Under this theory, educators can use positive reinforcement strategies such as giving awards to top students to motivate them and improve their performance.
Cognitive theorists, on the other hand, believe that learning is a targeted internal process that focuses on thinking, understanding organizing, and consciousness. With these theories, nurse educators equip students with questioning and problem-solving skills (Presti, 2016). These skills help the students to explore and process information to enable them to learn effectively. For instance, before the educator teaches about a topic, he/she might ask the students to explain whatever comes in their mind. Students may go and explore the topic before the teacher begins providing explanations.
Explain What the Curriculum Is and Summarize the Curriculum Design Process
Curriculum can be defined as the lessons and academic content taught in a school, college, or university. In most cases, teachers are charged with the role of developing their own curricula which are revised and updated after several years (Alsubaie, 2016). Curriculum may also entail academic requirements of a school such as a capstone project and credit that students must achieve to pass. Curriculum design involves six steps. The first step is establishing the principles and purpose of the curriculum that reflect the school’s values, context, pedagogy, and needs. The second step involves developing pupil entitlement and should show the school intends to enrich its curriculum with educational visits, extra-curricular activities and specific entitlements (Alsubaie, 2016).
Step three includes developing the content of the curriculum. This step shows what school should cover and how it covers them. Step four is the teaching narrative, which is planning the delivery of the designed curriculum. The teaching narrative should be vibrant and cohesive (Alsubaie, 2016). It creates a medium-term plan that can be used as a starting point for shorter-term plans. The fifth step involves identifying the resources needed to execute the curriculum. These resources include human resources, practical equipment, and teaching resources. Step six includes evaluation and review. A school must identify the best strategies it will use to review the curriculum.
Internal and External Influences on Curriculum Development
Curriculum development faces both internal and external forces that might hinder its implementation. Curriculum committees is an internal factor that impacts the design of a curriculum. The curriculum committee only accepts the design they are satisfied with, otherwise, the curriculum hits a dead end. The organizational process is the second internal factor influencing curriculum design (Nicholls & Nicholls, 2018). The curriculum design must support and be in line with the flow of activities within the organization. For instance, the school of nursing must design a curriculum that synchronizes with the university program. The third internal factor is the review body and the institutional policies. The body ensures that all curriculum programs designed at the learning institutions meet the set standards and requirements.
The first external factor is the learning institution’s stakeholders. The external stakeholders such as donors and private partners among others may have ideologies on how the curriculum should be designed. Another external factor that may influence curriculum design is regulatory and accrediting agencies (Nicholls & Nicholls, 2018). The curriculum developer will be faced with many challenges when seeking accreditation from these agencies. The third external factor is the funding of the program that will greatly affect the curriculum development. It may be rejected if the college or university lacks the necessary resources to implement the curriculum.
Conclusion
Nurse educators are charged with the responsibility of formulating program outcomes and designing a curriculum that is in line with the current healthcare trends. Curriculum development faces both internal and external forces that might hinder its implementation. Nurse educators work in various places such as classroom, clinical, and bedside settings. They use nursing education theories to guide learning in nursing schools.
References
Alsubaie, M. A. (2016). Curriculum Development: Teacher Involvement in Curriculum Development. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(9), 106-107. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1095725.pdf
Herrman, J. W. (2019). Creative teaching strategies for the nurse educator. Philadelphia: FA Davis.
Nicholls, A., & Nicholls, S. H. (2018). Developing a curriculum: A practical guide. London: Routledge.
National League for Nursing. (2020). Voice of Nursing Education: Nurse Educator Core Competency. Washington D.C: National League for Nursing.
Presti, C. R. (2016). The flipped learning approach in nursing education: A literature review. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(5), 252-257. 10.3928/01484834-20160414-03
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).
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• 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.
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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:
o 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.
o 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.
Late Assignment Policy
Students are expected to submit assignments by the time they are due. Assignments submitted after the due date and time will receive a deduction of 10% of the total points possible for that assignment for each day the assignment is late. Assignments will be accepted, with penalty as described, up to a maximum of three days late, after which point a zero will be recorded for the assignment.
In the event of an emergency that prevents timely submission of an assignment, students may petition their instructor for a waiver of the late submission grade reduction. The instructor will review the student’s rationale for the request and make a determination based on the merits of the student’s appeal. Consideration of the student’s total course performance to date will be a contributing factor in the determination. Students should continue to attend class, actively participate, and complete other assignments while the appeal is pending.
This Policy applies to assignments that contribute to the numerical calculation of the course letter grade.
Evaluation Methods
The maximum score in this class is 1,000 points. The categories, which contribute to your final grade, are weighted as follows.
| Graded Item | Points | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Discussion (50 points, Weeks 1–7; 25 points, Week 8) | 375 | 37.5% |
| Shared Governance Model Paper (Week 3) | 200 | 20% |
| Management of Power Paper (Week 5) | 200 | 20% |
| Executive Summary (Week 7) | 225 | 22.5% |
| Total | 1,000 | 100% |
No extra credit assignments are permitted for any reason.
All of your course requirements are graded using points. At the end of the course, the points are converted to a letter grade using the scale in the table below. Percentages of 0.5% or higher are not raised to the next whole number. A final grade of 76% (letter grade C) is required to pass the course.
| Letter Grade | Points | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| A | 940–1,000 | 94% to 100% |
| A- | 920–939 | 92% to 93% |
| B+ | 890–919 | 89% to 91% |
| B | 860–889 | 86% to 88% |
| B- | 840–859 | 84% to 85% |
| C+ | 810–839 | 81% to 83% |
| C | 760–809 | 76% to 80% |
| F | 759 and below | 75% and below |
NOTE:To receive credit for a week’s discussion, students may begin posting no earlier than the Sunday immediately before each week opens. Unless otherwise specified, access to most weeks begins on Sunday at 12:01 a.m. MT, and that week’s assignments are due by the next Sunday by 11:59 p.m. MT. Week 8 opens at 12:01 a.m. MT Sunday and closes at 11:59 p.m. MT Wednesday. Any assignments and all discussion requirements must be completed by 11:59 p.m. MT Wednesday of the eighth week.
Students agree that, by taking this course, all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com site.
Participation for MSN
Threaded Discussion Guiding Principles
The ideas and beliefs underpinning the threaded discussions (TDs) guide students through engaging dialogues as they achieve the desired learning outcomes/competencies associated with their course in a manner that empowers them to organize, integrate, apply and critically appraise their knowledge to their selected field of practice. The use of TDs provides students with opportunities to contribute level-appropriate knowledge and experience to the topic in a safe, caring, and fluid environment that models professional and social interaction. The TD’s ebb and flow is based upon the composition of student and faculty interaction in the quest for relevant scholarship. Participation in the TDs generates opportunities for students to actively engage in the written ideas of others by carefully reading, researching, reflecting, and responding to the contributions of their peers and course faculty. TDs foster the development of members into a community of learners as they share ideas and inquiries, consider perspectives that may be different from their own, and integrate knowledge from other disciplines.
Participation Guidelines
Each weekly threaded discussion is worth up to 25 points. Students must post a minimum of two times in each graded thread. The two posts in each individual thread must be on separate days. The student must provide an answer to each graded thread topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT, of each week. If the student does not provide an answer to each graded thread topic (not a response to a student peer) before the Wednesday deadline, 5 points are deducted for each discussion thread in which late entry occurs (up to a 10-point deduction for that week). Subsequent posts, including essential responses to peers, must occur by the Sunday deadline, 11:59 p.m. MT of each week.
Direct Quotes
Good writing calls for the limited use of direct quotes. Direct quotes in Threaded Discussions are to be limited to one short quotation (not to exceed 15 words). The quote must add substantively to the discussion. Points will be deducted under the Grammar, Syntax, APA category.