NURS6108 provides a comprehensive overview of curriculum design in nursing education, teaching students to examine curriculum frameworks and models, develop curricula that reflect professional nursing standards, and align program design with contemporary healthcare trends and accreditation requirements. Students begin constructing curricular products that demonstrate this understanding.
Curriculum design process in nursing education
| Phase | Activities | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Needs analysis | Assess healthcare trends, community needs, employer expectations, regulatory requirements | Justification for curriculum content and focus |
| Framework selection | Choose philosophical and theoretical framework guiding curriculum design | Conceptual framework document |
| Outcome development | Define program and course learning outcomes aligned to competency standards | Outcome statements tied to AACN/NLN standards |
| Content sequencing | Organize content from foundational to complex; ensure progression and integration | Program map and course sequence |
| Evaluation plan | Design systematic processes to assess curriculum effectiveness | Evaluation tools, data plan, improvement cycle |
What NURS6108 covers
The course examines curriculum frameworks and models used across nursing education, from Tyler's classic objectives model to outcomes-based approaches aligned with AACN Essentials and NLN competencies. Students analyze how frameworks shape every downstream curriculum decision — what content is included, how courses are sequenced, what teaching strategies are used, and how student learning is measured.
NURS6108 addresses the tension between tradition (how nursing has always been taught) and evidence (what the research on nursing education actually supports). Healthcare is changing rapidly — telehealth, interprofessional teams, population health, genomics, and systems thinking are now essential nursing competencies. Curricula built on traditional medical-model frameworks often leave graduates underprepared for these realities, making curriculum revision a continuous professional responsibility.
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Key topics in NURS6108
- Curriculum frameworks and models: philosophical foundations of program design
- AACN Essentials and NLN competencies as curriculum organizing principles
- Needs analysis: healthcare trends, community needs, and regulatory requirements
- Program outcome development: writing measurable, standards-aligned outcomes
- Content sequencing and integration across a nursing program
- Curriculum mapping: ensuring all outcomes are taught and assessed
- Systematic curriculum evaluation: data-driven continuous improvement
AACN Essentials domains (2021) shaping contemporary nursing curricula
- Knowledge for nursing practice: integrating sciences, nursing theory, and liberal education
- Person-centered care: individualized, culturally sensitive, evidence-based care
- Population health: addressing health across aggregates, communities, systems
- Scholarship for nursing practice: generating and using evidence
- Quality and safety: improving systems and processes to reduce harm
- Interprofessional partnerships: collaborative, team-based care
- Systems-based practice: navigating and improving healthcare systems
- Informatics and healthcare technologies: using data and technology competently
- Professionalism: ethical, advocacy-oriented, accountable nursing practice
- Personal, professional, and leadership development: lifelong growth
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Frequently asked questions
A curriculum framework is the philosophical and theoretical foundation for what a program teaches, why, and in what order. It shapes every downstream decision. A framework based on medical-model thinking produces graduates who think like physicians' assistants; a framework based on nursing theory and population health produces graduates who practice as nurses. NURS6108 helps students understand and articulate these foundational choices explicitly.
Through curriculum mapping — laying out which courses address which Essentials and at what depth. A curriculum map makes explicit where students develop each competency across the program, identifies gaps (no course teaches interprofessional collaboration), and reveals redundancies (five courses address hand washing). NURS6108 teaches students to build and use curriculum maps effectively.
Continually, not periodically. Best practice is systematic ongoing evaluation — tracking NCLEX pass rates, graduate competency surveys, employer feedback, and accreditation findings — with responsive updates rather than waiting for a comprehensive overhaul every decade. NURS6108 teaches evaluation as a continuous cycle rather than a one-time event.
Yes. CCNE and ACEN accreditation standards significantly shape what nursing curricula must include and how programs must demonstrate effectiveness. NURS6108 addresses these external requirements as curriculum drivers alongside internal professional standards, preparing students to participate meaningfully in accreditation preparation processes.