6.
Name and outline the sequence of courses that form the program’s course of study.
Writing the course descriptions and objectives will help clarify the focus of each course. Importantly, the brief course descriptions should highlight relevant content, competencies to be achieved in the course, if applicable, and clinical applications. Course objectives for both didactic and clinical courses should also be written at the application or higher level of cognition. Completion of the initial draft of course descriptions and objectives provides an opportunity to review the span of the curriculum by asking yourself the following questions: § Can the objectives of each course be categorized according to the program goals? Developing a chart that categorizes the course and/or clinical objectives by specific program goal is a straightforward way to see if the course objectives are congruent with program goals and if they are appropriately distributed across the curriculum. § Do the course objectives and competencies, if included, represent essential knowledge and skills required by regulators and accreditors as students move through the program (e.g., categories of the NCLEX-Test Plan for undergraduate programs)? § Are the course and clinical objectives in the correct course and are there gaps and overlaps throughout the curriculum? If competencies are used to measure student outcomes, review of the AACN Competencies 2 will be helpful in constructing competencies, regardless of the level of your program.
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