Curriculum Overview, Analysis, Design, Development, and Evaluation
Section One: Curriculum Overview and Analysis
The Capella University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree is a curriculum targeted at already registered nurses. The curriculum is designed to expand the knowledge and skills of professional nurses to enable them to meet the growing diversity in the needs of patients and diverse health care systems and promote positive population health outcomes. The current healthcare environment has grown complex, requiring healthcare professionals to apply effective thinking skills to solve current and emergent health issues (Baron, 2021). Health care systems are currently using patient-centered care, practical evidence, and technology-assisted approaches to improve the quality of population health (Stalter & Mota, 2018). The Capella University Bachelor of Science in Nursing curriculum is therefore designed to equip the registered nurses with the required knowledge and skills applicable in promoting population health.
Mission Statement
The Capella University School of Nursing and Health Sciences’ mission statement states the school is focused on being a leader in the provision of quality undergraduate and graduate nursing and health care education. It seeks to achieve distinction in scholarship and practice for health care practitioners and leaders who intend to maximize their personal and professional potential. The school prepares health professionals for a lifetime of learning, service, leadership, and contribution through offering innovative programs in response to the needs of adult learners and an online environment.
Course Description
The curriculum courses are divided into various groups, which include: general education courses, foundational nursing courses, effective courses, capstone courses, and courses designed for student registered nurses in the honors pathway. Effective courses are the core of the curriculum and include;
Developing a Health Care Perspective: Designed to help students build and strengthen their knowledge, skills, and abilities for success both in the program and in their workplace.
Leading People, Processes, and Organizations in Inter-professional Practice: Designed to help learners understand and develop and abilities desired to effect and manage change in interprofessional health care practice.
Improving Quality of Care and Patient Safety: Designed to enable learners to develop relevant skills for quality improvement of health care and patient safety.
Making Evidence-Based Decisions: Designed to equip the students with the right knowledge and skills to enable them to effectively interpret research and apply evidence in care planning and decisions to support and promote interventions.
Managing Health Information and Technology: Designed to equip learners with knowledge and skills to leverage technology to best achieve desired patient, health care systems, and population health outcomes,
Coordinating Patient-Centered Care: Designed to equip the learners with the required knowledge and skills to respond effectively to “unique biopsychosocial attributes and situational context of each individual patient while recognizing the patient as a full partner in all health care decision making.”
Practicing in the Community to Improve Population Health: Designed to equip the learners with the skills and knowledge to analyze community and social determinants of health within culturally diverse populations to enable them to promote health and prevent disease.
Professional Guidelines, Standards, and Student Learning Outcomes
The curriculum is accredited and recognized by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the American Nurses Association (ANA), and the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NBC). Therefore, it is designed under the guidelines of the CCNE to ensure that it meets the quality and integrity of levels of programs in nursing education. It also considers the guidelines of the ANA in its training to produce nurses who meet the quality standards and ethical obligations required in nursing care. The student learning outcomes (SLO) of the BSN curriculum include:
Applying leadership concepts and skills in interprofessional teams to promote high-quality care,
Inter-professional communication and teamwork,
Integrating evidence, clinical reasoning, and inter-professional and patient perspectives in making clinical decisions,
Demonstrating skills in the use of patient care technologies and related health information systems
Demonstrating critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Curricula Organizing Design and Demonstration
Based on the analysis of the Capella University BSN curriculum, it seeks to examine and expand concepts related to the improvement of care delivery to patients. It, therefore, applies a concept-based nursing curriculum in nursing. A concept-based curriculum promotes problem-solving and effective thinking skills to utilize and apply gained knowledge to various health care situations (Baron, 2021). The concept-based model in nursing curricula has been demonstrated in the Capella University BSN curriculum in that:
It helps registered nurses develop skills to efficiently integrate nursing practice and knowledge in interprofessional teams to better improve the quality of health services.
It provides the student registered nurses with the knowledge to effectively interpret and apply research and practice and make informed decisions.
It exposes the students to health care technologies and other information systems and engages them on how to effectively apply informatics to promote patient health, develop health systems, and achieve the desired population health outcomes.
History and Concepts of the Concept-Based Nursing Curricula
Traditional nursing training has majorly focused on learning as passive, and that knowledge of facts is evidence of understanding (Lee & Willson, 2018). The curriculum relied on memorization and fragmentation of factual knowledge. This approach to learning and nursing education limited the ability of students to understand data and make clinical decisions (Lee & Willson, 2018). The approach also failed to enable students to retain knowledge or apply knowledge in diverse health situations. Nursing students were only taught only to develop a diagnosis. Despite this, the nurses were required to adapt to different patient needs irrespective of their training and competency.
The current shifts in the nursing care paradigm, such as emerging health technologies, nursing shortages, global demographics shifts, changes in population and global health, new diseases and treatment procedures, and a shift from curative to preventive approaches require a new approach to nursing education curriculum (Salvage & Stilwell, 2018). To meet these new demands in nursing practice, educators require an innovative and practical approach to nursing training. The changes led to the adoption of concept-based curricula to promote active learning and critical thinking (Repsha et al., 2020). The concept-based approach to nursing instruction is based on the concepts of informatics, evidence-based practice, client-centered care, leadership, management, health promotion, patient safety, interdisciplinary collaboration, and quality improvement (Lee & Willson, 2018). It combines these concepts with the social determinants of health for health planning (Porter et al., 2020).
Recommendations for Updating the Current BSN Curriculum
Most of the current BSN curriculum learning is focused on memorizing nursing concepts without much application of what has been learned in real-time. I recommend that the school update the approach to learning throughout the course. The students can be provided with real-life settings to apply the class knowledge. Accordingly, as the curriculum is designed for registered nurses, the update could include a more physical approach to learning, including having the RNs learn from within their work environments.
Section Two: Course Development and Influencing Factors
Course Description
The current Capella University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) curriculum aims to equip registered nurses RNs with skills necessary for interprofessional practice, making evidence-based decisions, incorporating technology in health information management, improving the quality of care, and improving patient-centered care. However, the curriculum does not fully equip the RNs with skills to incorporate and utilize both conventional and complementary approaches in patient care for better health outcomes. To better provide more patient-centered care that meets the needs of the patient as a whole, nurses need to be equipped with skills that enable them to effectively use conventional medicines and complementary and alternative care approaches from multicultural perspectives in patient care. The development of the BSN curriculum will include the addition of an Integrative Health and Patient Well-being course.
The Integrative Health and Patient Well-being course is designed to equip the RNs undertaking the course to better understand normal human physiology and pathophysiology by combining the patient’s disease, medical, family, environmental, and social histories. The student RNs upon finishing the course will be able to collaborate with all caregivers, skilled and unskilled, to design care to meet individual patient needs.
Rationale for Adding the Course to the Capella University Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Curriculum
Enormous investments have been made in health care; however, the world is still experiencing poorer health outcomes (Witt et al., 2017). The current systems of care are more focused on the diseases and developing cures for current diseases. Consequently, this has largely ignored factors that influence health outcomes, such as population and individual behaviors and the natural, social and economic environments. The integrative health care course coordinates conventional and complementary approaches to health care for better patient outcomes (Khalil et al., 2018). Integrative health care enables diverse healthcare players to coordinate conventional and complementary approaches and interventions to provide complete person-focused care (Frisch & Rabinowitsch, 2019).
Therefore, the fundamental reasons for the addition of the course to the current BSN curriculum include:
The need to shift the healthcare system from a disease-focused approach to incorporate social, behavioral, economic, and environmental factors in the process of disease treatment,
The need to explore alternative approaches in disease testing in places where conventional tests fail to identify or define the nature of illnesses,
Enabling RNs to support and promote health initiatives that promote healthy practices beyond the hospital settings,
The need for health care systems to prioritize patient well-being and disease prevention,
The need to include the patient in planning care for more patient-centeredness and individualized care
Suggested Topical Outline of the Integrative Health and Patient Well-being
The suggested Integrative Health and Wellbeing course outline includes;
Introduction to integrative health care concepts
Health and illness spectrum
Determinants of health: the individual, the environment, the society, and the economy in health care
Natural approaches to improving physical and mental well-being
Integrative approach to health care
Conventional and complementary care coordination
Faculty Collaborations for the Addition of the Integrative Health and Patient Well-Being with the Current Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Curriculum
Successful curriculum development requires all-faculty support to avoid sidelining some faculty members from the process (Iwasiw et al., 2020). Collaborative and collective faculty action and responsibility are required to sustain the curriculum change. Collective faculty action will effectively integrate the Integrative Health and Patient Well-being course with the current curriculum and incorporate the course with continuing education units and continuing medical education. Faculty members include all teaching and non-teaching staff who have the power to influence processes and their direction within the organization. These include professors, librarians, students, and all faculty members.
Factors to Consider for Course Addition and their Impact on Curriculum Redesign
According to Billings and Halstead (2019), curriculum development is the process or the ability to develop a curriculum that meets dynamic health care needs and a better understanding of internal and external forces that directly impact change. Iwasiw et al. (2020) believe that such forces and their dynamics of influence are part of the curriculum development process and define its progress. The development of the Integrative Health and Patient Well-being Course has considered the internal and external factors that impact the curriculum redesign and how they impact the curriculum design. Faculty members with either informal or formal power in the school may influence the process in directions not supported by all. Consequently, some faculty and other stakeholders might feel devalued, resentful, or powerless.
Internal Factors
The identified internal factors that have an influence on curriculum design and how they influence the curriculum design are;
Organizational processes- Organizational processes directly influence the reception, resistance, and rejection of change. The organizational processes will define how the new course is implemented and incorporated into the ongoing health education and the learners’ attitudes towards the course addition and curriculum change.
Curriculum committees- The committees consider new courses and determine when and in what order and schedule the course will be implemented and incorporated into the continuing nursing education.
Internal review bodies- The review bodies influence the curriculum development process as they determine when and why the new course will and is approved.
External Factors
Funding- Funding determines administrative and implementation efficiency,
Stakeholders- Through communication, consultations, and involvement throughout the curriculum development process, stakeholders determine the success of the development and curriculum design plans.
Regulations and Accreditation- Accreditation is voluntary. However, it is important to the process as it credits the program at the regional, national and professional levels. According to Keating (2015), accreditation confirms the quality of the course and gives the course eligibility to qualify for external funding and grants. It also helps graduates qualify for certification, licensure, and scholarships.
Sociopolitical and economic factors- Sociopolitical and economic factors shape all processes and policies that govern curriculum change. Such factors will determine the resources allocated for the development of the curriculum.
Health care reforms: Health reforms determine whether the new course is future-proof concerning the current and future health reforms.
Impact of Institutional Mission, Philosophy, and Program Framework on Curriculum Design
An institution’s mission and philosophy influence its culture. The mission and the philosophy are expressions of what the institution intends to achieve, add to the society, and the values the students and others within the institutional settings are expected to live up to. The mission and philosophy outline the curriculum’s expectations in terms of quality and educational outcomes. The mission also enables the curriculum to abide by the ethics and standards outlined by the institution’s mission. On the other hand, the program framework determines the model of the curriculum, its contents, and how the curriculum fits into the context of program framework and planning.
External and Internal Stakeholder Collaborations for Curriculum Development
Multidisciplinary and multi-professional stakeholder collaborations, both internally and externally, are expected throughout the curriculum development process. As the Integrative Health and Well-Being Course intends to develop knowledge from broad healthcare practices and approaches, multi-sociocultural and multidisciplinary collaborations are needed to develop the best-fit course competencies. According to Asgary (2018), collaborative multidisciplinary collaborations in curriculum development offer motivation to get involved in health, meet learning goals, promote ethical learning, and add a service- or education-oriented international experience in health curricula.
Section Three: Course and Curriculum Evaluation
Overview of Curriculum Evaluations
As it has previously been discussed, curriculum development is a process that includes multiple steps and levels. Previous sections have covered the overview and analysis of the current curriculum, the development of the additional course, and factors that influence the development of the course and redesigning of the current curriculum. This section covers the evaluation of the curriculum to determine its worth and value to the intended curriculum goals and objectives and the philosophy, mission and values of the institution and school.
Curriculum evaluation is an important part of curriculum change and development (McCormick & James, M. (2018). Evaluating a curriculum is not the end of the curriculum development process but rather a continuous activity that complements other curriculum development processes. In addition, it requires focusing on various players involved in developing the curriculum. Therefore, curriculum evaluation is not only a responsibility of nurse educators but also requires the involvement of both the internal and external stakeholders. According to Billings and Halstead (2019), the evaluation process of a curriculum is both formative and summative.
Formative evaluation of a curriculum occurs during the learning process. It includes identifying the need for the curriculum development, who needs it, how great is the need for the development, and how improvements can be made to meet such needs. The formative evaluation includes the learners in order to obtain the necessary information to develop and improve the curriculum. On the other hand, a summative evaluation of the curriculum is carried out on the outcomes of the learning process. Essentially, summative evaluation occurs after the full implementation of the courses and related materials to examine their effectiveness. Ultimately, summative curriculum evaluation helps determine whether it has achieved the expected learning outcomes and results.
In summary, curriculum evaluation seeks to test whether the redesigned curriculum and the added courses, programs, learning activities, and learning opportunities as designed can add value to the existing curriculum and help produce the desired learning outcomes. It also aims to explore and identify ways in which the developed curriculum can be improved. Thus, curriculum evaluation assists stakeholders in deciding whether to adopt, reject, or revise the curriculum as a whole or some of its sections.
Importance of Curriculum Evaluation
Curriculum development, as noted earlier, is an integral part of the curriculum development and improvement process. Therefore, curriculum evaluation is of importance to the development and improvement process in that;
It helps identify and determine the appropriate value of the curriculum as per the needs of the learners,
It helps determine if the approaches to instructional design for the curriculum are helping meet the set objectives of the curriculum,
It helps align course content, materials, and instructional methods with curriculum objectives,
It helps determine the learning outcomes and how far they have been attained,
It aids in deciding on whether to add, remove or keep some components of the curriculum,
It helps identify the gaps in course content and plan for improvement,
It helps determine whether the course content needs to be revised to meet the learning demands,
And most important, it helps determine if the course has achieved its learning and teaching purposes.
Important Criteria to Consider in Curriculum Evaluation
Most of the curricula in other disciplines may fit to generalized evaluation criteria; however, the evaluation of curriculums in the health disciplines, especially in nursing education curricula including for registered and in-practice nurses, should focus on specific criteria in line with the health and curriculum goals and objectives. According to Button (2021), curriculums are evaluated based on how they align with the existing standards, continuity, comprehensiveness, and consistency with the set learning goals, objectives, and outcomes. The curriculum evaluation criterion is important as it ensures that the evaluation covers the entire range of the curriculum’s objectives. Therefore, the criteria for the evaluating the nursing curriculum include:
The curriculum and course content: The content is the main component of the curriculum. It ensures that what is taught in the nurse education meets the standards that promote nursing education integrity and the goals of nursing in general. Accordingly, the content of nursing education is expected to produce graduates with skills that meet the health needs of the local communities they serve (Bvumbwe & Mtshali, 2018).
Learners’ attitudes towards curriculum content: The attitudes of the learners towards the curriculum content are essential to consider during curriculum evaluation as they reflect not only on how they understand the course learning content but also on how they relate the content to their future practice.
Modes of teaching: Modes of teaching are reflective of the learning environment and impact the learners’ attitudes towards the curriculum and the content taught. This criterion also helps identify how the learning environment interacts with the curriculum content and influences the learners’ attitudes, behaviors, and performance.
Criteria for assessment of Learners’ performance: The learners’ performance is reflective of how well they understand the course content and the effectiveness of the instructional materials and approaches. However, using the wrong criteria in assessing learners’ performance may distort the actual effectiveness of the curriculum content and the instructional methods.
Changes in health markets and health demands: The prevailing conditions of the health care market determine the kind of skills that future nurses are expected to poses in order to provide care that meets the needs of the population at an individual level. The current health care environment also requires reliable multidisciplinary teamwork to manage health conditions. Therefore, the need for competency-based training arises (Barton et al., 2018). In addition, it is important to consider the changes in the nature of health market demands as a criterion for curriculum evaluation.
Role and Rationale for using Pilot Testing in Curriculum Evaluation
The decision to fully implement a curriculum requires that the curriculum meet the required learning outcomes and results; it is broadly acceptable, appropriate for the required skills, and efficient to implement and run. A pilot test of the curriculum during the evaluation process involves the implementation of the designed and developed curriculum at a small scale over a short period. The pilot testing process during the curriculum development process is identified as an essential component of the evaluation stage of the curriculum before implementation (Homburger et al., 2019). The pilot test collects data on the efficiency and effectiveness of the curriculum before it is considered for full implementation. The pilot testing process includes collecting empirical data on the various factors and criteria used in the evaluation of the curriculum within real-teaching settings. The empirical data collected is used to analyze the curriculum performance based on its relevance to the learning process, the validity of the curriculum content, the usefulness and reliability of the instructional methods and materials, and the efficiency of implementing the curriculum on a large scale or in full.
Empirical data collected during pilot tests assist the various stakeholders in making evidence-based decisions on the required revisions and modifications of the curriculum content and instructional methods. The data also enables the stakeholders to identify ways in which the curriculum can be improved in terms of learning resources required, extra content, instructional structure, and the number of sessions to best achieve the required objectives and goals of the curriculum. The pilot testing period is also essential in the curriculum development process that enables the developers to determine what is required in terms of resources and skills if the curriculum gets implemented in full. Therefore, pilot testing in the process of curriculum development of the new BSN curriculum at Capella University is a process that will allow the testing of the level of appropriateness of a curriculum to be implemented in full and its potential to achieve the desired learning objectives and outcomes.
Short-term and Long-term Curriculum Evaluations for Process Improvement
The BSN curriculum is designed to facilitate long-term learning and the development of nursing practice to deliver more patient-centered and person-specific care as needed. According to Wesley et al. (2018), the core design focus of medical and clinical education curriculums is on the value the curriculum adds to clinical practice. Although designed for long-term learning, the curriculum development and change process take time to actually determine the efficacy and effectiveness of a new curriculum and its components. Therefore, both short-term and long-term evaluations are required to improve the process of curriculum development.
Short-term curriculum evaluations are conducted within a short period of time. Most of the evaluation data required to carry out such evaluations are collected from learners and educators. The data collected from students, such as attitudes towards the curriculum content, their behaviors, and involvement in learning practice, is used as evidence to reinforce and improve the process of curriculum development. An example of a short-term evaluation of a curriculum to improve the development process is the collection of learners’ feedback over a few learning sessions and using student performance based on short tests after a few learning sessions.
On the other hand, long-term curriculum evaluation for process improvement is the kind of evaluation carried out through the entire evaluation process within the curriculum development process. It combines multiple strategies, including the use of short-term evaluation data. It also focuses on the measurable results of the curriculum by analyzing the correlation between teaching and learning over a long time. The long term evaluation has broad involvement and includes feedback from all stakeholders: both internal and external. The long-term evaluation seeks to develop empirical data that can be used to revise the curriculum components to improve the effectiveness of the curriculum in the long term.
Importance of Short-term and Long-term Curriculum Evaluations in Curriculum Development
Both the short-term and long-term curriculum improvements are equally significant to the curriculum development process in that:
They maintain an active engagement and involvement of the stakeholders throughout the curriculum development process,
The short-term curriculum evaluation allows for the development of short term results on the progress of the curriculum based on feedback and periodic tests. As a result, this allows for the development of data to further improve the curriculum,
Short term evaluations of the curriculum based on periodic tests and results create a perspective of the curriculum from the students and enable the development team to improve specific components of the curriculum. Such data is used in carrying out necessary curriculum revisions.
The data collected from short-term evaluations is critical in the long term development of the curriculum. The data collected and evaluated at all levels of the curriculum development process is used in designing and deciding on the proceeding phase in the curriculum development and implementation process,
Both the short-term and long-term curriculum evaluations help identify opportunities to align the curriculum goals with the institution’s mission, vision and objectives and with the demands of the markets,
Both short term and long term evaluations provide a comprehensive reflection of the progress made in the curriculum and can be used to inspire stakeholders to invest more in the curriculum,
Both short term and long term curriculum evaluations help confirm the competence of the content and acquired skills against existing standards that are essential for learner certification and the accreditation of the curriculum.
Application of Evidence-Based Nursing Concepts, Theories, and Best Practices to Improve Curriculum Development
Evidence-based nursing concepts, theories, and best practices can be applied throughout the curriculum development process: from the design, development, evaluation, and implementation to better inform and improve the development process. Essentially, evidence-based concepts can help design and develop a nursing curriculum that equips the nurses with skills that enable them to apply research evidence to make optimal care decisions. According to Schaefer and Welton (2018), although a lot of research evidence is available in the nursing field, some nurses are unaware of such evidence, what it involves, and how it can be applied in patient care and be used to consolidate nursing practice. The evidence-based nursing concepts can help revise the existing nursing education curriculum to include programs and courses that focus on equipping nurses with the skills to identify, understand, and use evidence from theory in practice.
Theories related to curriculum development can be used to inform and shape the entire process of curriculum development. Firstly, theories expound on the objectives, content, procedures, and evaluation components of a curriculum. Theories can be used to explain and justify why certain items are included in the curriculum content and procedures, how they are arranged, how they are related, and why some need to be excluded (Lindén et al., 2017). Theories can be applied to improve the curriculum development process to explain and provide a background that defines the learning process and a reference to determine whether the implementation process is successful.
On the other hand, best practices include the standards, practice guidelines, ethics, and other ideas that present the most acceptable course of action during practice. They may originate from regulators, governing bodies, or a health organization’s management. According to Wijngaards-de Meij and Merx (2018), the alignment of the curriculum is an essential part of achieving the set learning objectives and learning results; however, the alignment of the curriculum with objectives is faced with practical problems. These problems result from a lack of practical skills in real-life settings. Nonetheless, best practices in the development process of a curriculum can help design courses and programs that teach the learners skills and techniques based on set standards and enable them to utilize various approaches to achieve the best health outcomes.
Appropriate Accreditation Body for Redesigned Capella University Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Curriculum
The Capella University BSN curriculum aims to equip nurses with skills that enable them to utilize health data, technology, and evidence from research to provide patient-centered and evidence-based care. However, the curriculum requires accreditation to enable the graduates to be certified and licensed. Accordingly, accreditation ensures that the integrity of nursing education programs is maintained. The Capella University BSN curriculum will seek to be accredited by the following accreditation bodies:
National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC)
Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEAN)
Appropriate Accreditation Evaluation Criteria
The appropriate accreditation evaluation criteria for the redesigned Capella University BSN curriculum will be based on:
The mission of the institution, in reflection to its operations,
The ethical responsibilities of the institution as reflected in the curriculum,
The quality of education and availability of support resources for teaching and learning,
The willingness of the institution to improve the curriculum,
The institution’s readiness in terms of resources, processes and planning to sufficiently support the mission of the curriculum,
Finally, its ability to meet the needs of future opportunities and challenges.
Section Four: Conclusion
Capella University is fully committed to the improvement of the curriculums it offers. The analysis of the university’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree curriculum justifies the need to add an extra course that enables the institution’s mission to produce skilled healthcare workers focused on providing more patient-centered care. The curriculum development process has to be a multi-stage process in which all levels of curriculum development are inter-linked. The development process requires inputs from internal and external stakeholders. The process is also impacted and influenced by both internal and external factors. The development process requires continuous evaluation, both in the short-term and long-term, to identify new opportunities to improve the curriculum, decide on the curriculum’s effectiveness, worth and value, and decide on the components of the curriculum to remove or add before it can be fully implemented. Even though the curriculum may be fully implemented within the institution, it requires accreditation from governing bodies to be fully recognized and for the learners to be certified and licensed.
References
Asgary, R. (2018). A collaborative multidisciplinary and without-walls research curriculum in global health. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 99(5), 1283.
Baron, K. A. (2021). Changing to concept-based curricula: The process for nurse educators. The open nursing journal, 11, 277.
Barton, G., Bruce, A., & Schreiber, R. (2018). Teaching nurses teamwork: Integrative review of competency-based team training in nursing education. Nurse education in practice, 32, 129-137.
Billings, D., & Halstead, J. (2019). Teaching in nursing (5th ed.). Elsevier Inc.
Button, L. (2021). Chapter: Factors That Influence Curriculum and Curriculum Evaluation. Curriculum Essentials: A Journey.
Bvumbwe, T., & Mtshali, N. (2018). Nursing education challenges and solutions in Sub Saharan Africa: an integrative review. BMC nursing, 17(1), 1-11.
Frisch, N. C., & Rabinowitsch, D. (2019). What’s in a definition? Holistic nursing, integrative health care, and integrative nursing: report of an integrated literature review. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 37(3), 260-272.
Homburger, S. A., Drits-Esser, D., Malone, M., Pompei, K., Breitenbach, K., Perkins, R. D., & Stark, L. A. (2019). Development and pilot testing of a three-dimensional, phenomenon-based unit that integrates evolution and heredity. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 12(1), 1-17.
Iwasiw, C., Goldenberg, D., & Andrusyszyn, M. (2020). Curriculum development in nursing education (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Keating, S., & DeBoor, S. (2015). Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing education (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing.
Khalil, M. K., Al-Eidi, S., Al-Qaed, M., & AlSanad, S. (2018). The future of integrative health and medicine in Saudi Arabia. Integrative medicine research, 7(4), 316-321.
Lee, S. K., & Willson, P. (2018). Concept-based curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation: A systematic review. Int J Nurs Clin Pract, 5(271), 2.
Lindén, J., Annala, J., & Coate, K. (2017). The role of curriculum theory in contemporary higher education research and practice. In Theory and method in higher education research. Emerald Publishing Limited.
McCormick, R., & James, M. (2018). Curriculum evaluation in schools. Routledge.
Porter, K., Jackson, G., Clark, R., Waller, M., & Stanfill, A. G. (2020). Applying social determinants of health to nursing education using a concept-based approach. Journal of Nursing Education, 59(5), 293-296.
Repsha, C. L., Quinn, B. L., & Peters, A. B. (2020). Implementing a concept-based nursing curriculum: A review of the literature. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 15(1), 66-71.
Salvage, J., & Stilwell, B. (2018). Breaking the silence: a new story of nursing. J Clin Nurs, 27(7-8), 1301-3.
Schaefer, J. D., & Welton, J. M. (2018). Evidence based practice readiness: A concept analysis. Journal of nursing management, 26(6), 621-629.
Stalter, A. M., & Mota, A. (2018). Using systems thinking to envision quality and safety in healthcare. Nursing management, 49(2), 32-39.
Wesley, T., Hamer, D., & Karam, G. (2018). Implementing a narrative medicine curriculum during the internship year: an internal medicine residency program experience. The Permanente Journal, 22.
Wijngaards-de Meij, L., & Merx, S. (2018). Improving curriculum alignment and achieving learning goals by making the curriculum visible. International Journal for Academic Development, 23(3), 219-231.
Witt, C. M., Chiaramonte, D., Berman, S., Chesney, M. A., Kaplan, G. A., Stange, K. C., & Berman, B. M. (2017). Defining health in a comprehensive context: A new definition of integrative health. American journal of preventive medicine, 53(1), 134-137.
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Assessment 3 Instructions: Curriculum Evaluation
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Create a 9-18 page curriculum evaluation that incorporates the curriculum analysis and course design you created for Assessments 1 and 2.
Curriculum Overview, Analysis, Design, Development, and Evaluation
Introduction
Nurse educators are responsible for many areas of evaluation, including students, curriculum, and program evaluation. Additionally, they have a responsibility to the internal and external stakeholders when it comes to the evaluation process. There are two types of evaluation: summative and formative evaluation. Formative evaluation takes place during the learning process (Billings & Halstead, 2019). Summative evaluation refers to the outcomes of the learning when the learning environment has ended (Billings & Halstead, 2019.)
Reference
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2019). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (6th ed.). Saunders Elsevier.
You will use the work you completed for Assessments 1 and 2 as parts of this assessment. Combine Assessments 1 and 2, and add a section about curriculum evaluation. The evaluation you create should flow smoothly as one cohesive document. When combining the previous assessments, make revisions based on feedback you received from faculty.
Preparation
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.
Who should perform curriculum evaluation: individual faculty, a curriculum committee, or full faculty?
When should curriculum evaluation be done: each semester, each academic year, at the end of a program cohort, or prior to accreditation visits?
How can a curriculum be revised to ensure that program outcomes are met without compromising the whole curriculum?
How can a curriculum be revised to reflect changes in society, nursing, health care delivery, health care needs, educational practice, learner diversity, and emerging technology when curriculum revision entails a lengthy process involving state regulations and accreditation standards?
Requirements
Consider curriculum evaluation and address the following:
Explain the importance of ongoing curriculum evaluation, why it is important, and for whom it is important.
List criteria that are important to consider in curriculum evaluation.
Explain how and why pilot testing can be used in curriculum evaluation.
Provide examples of both short-term and long-term curriculum evaluations for process improvement, and explain why both types are necessary to curriculum development.
Describe how to apply evidence-based nursing concepts, theories, and best practices to improve curriculum development.
Identify the appropriate accreditation body for a selected curriculum and describe appropriate accreditation evaluation criteria.
For example, a school of nursing might be accredited by CCNE or ACEN, whereas a hospital staff development program might be accredited by JCAHO, HFAP, or others.
Additional Requirements
To achieve a successful project experience and outcome, you are expected to meet the following requirements:
Written communication: Written communication is free from errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
Number of resources: Cite a minimum of five resources that are not included in the resource activities for this assessment.
Length of evaluation: 9-18 typed double-spaced pages, excluding the title page and the reference page.
Appendix: Included appropriate material from Assessments 1 and 2. The appendix will not be included in the page count.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
Competency 1: Examine the development of a curriculum for a nursing program.
Describe how evidence-based nursing concepts, theories, and best practices can be applied to improve curriculum development.
Competency 2: Analyze factors that impact the design of a nursing curriculum.
List criteria that are important to consider in curriculum evaluation.
Competency 3: Select an appropriate organizing/curriculum framework for the design of nursing curriculum.
Explain the importance of ongoing curriculum evaluation, including why it is important and for whom it is important.
Explain how and why pilot testing can be used in curriculum evaluation.
Identify the appropriate accreditation body for a selected curriculum and describe appropriate accreditation evaluation criteria.
Competency 4: Select a curriculum evaluation process that facilitates continuous quality improvement.
Provide examples of both short-term and long-term evaluations for process improvement, and explain why both types are important to curriculum development.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with the expectations of a nursing education professional.
Apply academic writing skills to incorporate faculty feedback in the creation of a complete, succinct, professionally flowing curriculum design evaluation.
Write effectively using appropriate spelling, grammar, punctuation and mechanics, and APA style and formatting.