Category: Curriculum

Introduction

The health sector in Australia is rapidly expanding, owing to the expanding health care needs, the growing population, and the increasing number of informed patients (Loney et al. 2013). Hence, there is a need for continuous training and development of healthcare personnel, specifically nurses and midwives, through a practical evidence-based curriculum. Such a curriculum should be anchored on outcome-based approaches supported by nursing theory and benchmarks. It should allow nurses and midwives to continue sharpening their skills and knowledge through learning and education.

One must know the extent or degree of attainment of intended outcomes for a curriculum. In other words, the right knowledge among health workers is essential in facilitating decision-making that supports safety programs and initiatives in health facilities. This situation calls for the need for a framework that can enhance the educators’ judgment when developing or adjusting assessments. This paper adopts Bearman et al.’s (2016) Assessment Design Decisions Framework. The rationale behind the choice of the framework is that it offers a platform for occupational health experts to adopt the best decisions when establishing an assessment plan. However, the main task of this paper entails designing a curriculum whose objective is to produce competent, confident, and highly compassionate occupational health nurses who are ready to meet the challenges of the Australian healthcare environment. However, the integration of an assessment framework facilitates the adjustment and attainment of new knowledge that can guarantee better outcomes in the various work environments where occupational nurses are employed.

Curriculum Document

The curriculum will be delivered through systematic knowledge-based lectures that will involve direct interactions between tutors and students or experienced occupational nurses and students. The above model of delivery is founded on the fact that occupational health nurses require a well-developed practical knowledge base and a specialized set of skills, which they deploy during health promotion and when assessing risks in a given work setting (Parkay, Anctil & Hass 2014; Boud & Soler 2016). The tutor-student and occupational nurse-student interactions will take place in class and work settings. The work setting will be reflective of areas where students who successfully complete the course would work. While the class setting will establish the theoretical foundation set of skills and knowledge, the practical environment will foster the actual implementation of the class-acquired skills and knowledge by way of watching, active involvement, and taking directions under the superintendence and control of an experienced occupational health nurse in the work environment. Units or modules will form the structure of the curriculum.

The course duration is set in a manner that upon successful completion, students can achieve the set learning outcomes, the relevant nursing qualifications, awards, and competences. This process will take 40 weeks. Each week will have 30 hours. Hence, the entire course will take a learner 1200 hours to be completed.

Regarding eligibility, students or the course participants will be comprised of nurses who have qualified and successfully graduated from recognized and accredited nursing and midwifery training institutions in Australia or a World Health Organisation (WHO) member country. The WHO member nations have established standard frameworks that guide the training and work of nurses (Landsbergis, Grzywacz & LaMontagne 2014). Australia commits to the standards. Therefore, accepting students from such nations only prevents the admission of nurses whose background training does not follow similar standards. All eligible participants must have a post-qualified experience of not less than two years.

Concerning the content, the curriculum will have seven modules. Successful completion of the course will require a nurse student to pass in all the modules. However, those who fail in certain modules can apply for re-takes. In this case, the students’ final certificate or award will show that such modules took double the number of hours required to complete them without the re-take. All the modules will emphasize the necessary knowledge and skills appropriate for the development of competent, reflective, confident, and considerate occupational health nurses.

Philosophy or Course Description

This curriculum acknowledges the critical role of occupational health nurses. It upholds the role of incorporating theory and practice in line with Lee et al.’s (2013) emphasis on the capacity of a theoretical framework in the nursing field. Hence, it offers a well-established knowledge base that can ensure that this group of healthcare providers gets the required expertise and competency in managing occupational hazards in the healthcare environment (Keating 2014). Such competency includes knowledge, as well as specialist skills in health promotion and risk assessment that is relevant to a given area of work in a healthcare setting (Van Hoorn et al. 2014). The curriculum is also founded on the belief that experience among the respective staff is key in enhancing the best healthcare outcomes. Besides, the curriculum acknowledges the application of evidence-based practice among occupational health nurses.

Aim of the Course

The curriculum aims at:

1. Producing occupational health nurses who can demonstrate their intellectual capability in applying evidence-based approaches to occupational risk assessment, the development of intervention strategies, and strategy implementation
2. Providing an educational framework to influence students to acquire skills of critical awareness and analysis to stimulate creativity in theory development and occupational health practice

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for the Course

Upon successful completion of the course, it is expected that learners will be able to:

1. Participate effectively in various aspects related to occupational health nursing such as:

1. Safety and health surveillance
2. Prevention of accidents
3. Risk assessment

2. Maintain flawless and timely completion of various nursing-related documents
3. Identify the need to provide the necessary support for people working in the organization or the work setting where an occupational nurse is employed.
4. Offer leadership that is appropriate for a particular context depending on the occupational health requirements in Australia or work setting and supported by the understanding and recognition of occupational safety risks and health concerns
5. Maintain accurate databases relating to national legislation coupled with policies that are relevant to a given work setting

Assessment Activities (and Marking Plan) to Evidence the Achievement of the ILOs

Students who will complete the course must submit three assessments with an aggregate total of 100 points. Bearman et al.’s (2016) Assessment Design Decisions Framework identify purpose, learning outcomes, tasks, and contexts as critical aspects that any assessment approach should possess. The three assessment tasks identified below reflect on the aspects.

1. Two continuous assessments tests (CAT) for each module

The first one will be completed at the end of the 15^th week while the second will be completed at the end of the 30^th week. Each CAT has a maximum of 10 points

2. One main written exam worthy 40 points for each module at the end of the 40^th week
3. Research paper based on occupational health issues and problems in Australia

The paper will be submitted one week after the main exam. It is worth 40 points

Teaching Strategies to Enable Requisite Learning

The course requires highly practical skills and knowledge that will be applied in real-life healthcare situations. To facilitate the best outcomes, the course will apply various teaching strategies as follows:

1. Active student participation through discussions, group work, and mentors will allow learners to actively engage with others in the learning process
2. Lectures will be a significant part of the teaching process in the course, especially when it comes to parting theoretical knowledge relevant to the desired course objectives
3. Reflection will be an important strategy that will be applied where students are required to keep a journal/diary for the duration of the course

Report/Discussion of the Curriculum Plan

The curriculum designed in this document embraces various educational principles. For instance, it upholds the need for students to realize that their perceptions regarding intellect can influence their cognitive functions and education capacities. This principle is reflected in the case where learners are encouraged to be actively engaged in group-work discussions as a way of learning from each other and finally learning to deliver well-thought-out contents independently. The written curriculum for the current course establishes a set of learning outcomes designated as the acceptable minimum for successful completion of the occupational health course. Coming up with the written curriculum will require close cooperation between nursing tutors and the Australian government’s educational framework since the curriculum should be in line with what the government stipulates as the standard teaching practices for nurses and midwives. Hence, the incorporation of lectures in the curriculum is meant to uphold the principle that what learners know can determine their learning.

Since some learners already enter lecture halls with some preconceptions about the content to be delivered, such knowledge may be consistent or inconsistent with what is to be delivered to them. As a result, the role of the tutors in erasing or enhancing such preconceptions is well captured in the current curriculum. As the health needs expand, the curriculum factors in the fact that the role of nurses and midwives in the country will continue to grow to meet the demand by adequately guaranteeing high-quality healthcare service delivery to all. This nurse/midwife’s involvement in healthcare delivery is founded on the principle that obtaining permanent knowledge and expertise is entirely founded on practice. As a result, the taught curriculum forms an important component of the successful program, which entails flexible instructions and processes that tutors use in their endeavor to achieve the objectives of the written syllabus (Flowerdew 2012). To ensure that the taught curriculum is triumphant, it will be important to facilitate continued learning for trainers who are highly qualified in occupational health as identified by the country’s syllabus framework.

One of the ways, which the curriculum designed here, applies to assess the students will be through sit-in exams. The curriculum accomplishes this evaluation in two stages, namely, continuous assessment tests and the main exam. Knowledge is continuously developed. An attempt to use the main sit-in exam as the only assessment tool violates this principle. It suggests an error in assessment, hence implying the existence of an instance where one would consider knowledge and skills to have fully developed (Boud & Soler 2016). As such, the curriculum designed applies continuous tests as part of other necessary assessment tools that enable tutors to track students’ ability to absorb information and/or apply it to real occupational health contexts ((Pinar 2013; Billings & Halstead 2015).

Assessment is an important process of any effective curriculum. Parkay, Anctil, and Hass (2014) assert that it provides a framework for determining how the outcomes of the course will be measured. Without it, it is impossible to know whether the course is achieving its objectives (Van Hoorn et al. 2014). The current curriculum document ensures that students develop the capacity to solve real occupational health challenges encountered in their careers. It provides an opportunity for students’ assessment to gauge their ability to use theories and evidence-based approaches to resolve occupational health issues in their work environments.

Curriculum principles form a significant part of any learning framework (Billings & Halstead 2015). This claim is also applicable to the current curriculum on occupational health learning in Australia. From the work of Iwasiw and Goldenberg (2014), the design, implementation, and maintenance of the curriculum are guided by several principles, which include:

1. The curriculum (written, taught, and tested) presents the framework for imparting knowledge on occupational health in healthcare and medical facilities
2. The curriculum discussed fosters active learning

In the current course, the instructional principles of the curriculum are as follows:

1. The curriculum is based on the understanding that teaching and learning process implementation presents the best opportunity for student achievement
2. Lecturers or instructors are encouraged to apply creativity and flexibility in the process of teaching while considerate of the occupational health situations in the country
3. Lecturers have the responsibility to follow faithfully the curriculum to guarantee the attainment of the expected outcomes after successful completion of the course
4. The instructional process requires adequate preparation of lecturers/instructors to provide high-standard teaching to the learners
5. Learners are responsible for their learning. In this case, while lecturers will provide adequate background knowledge and guidance, learners must take a proactive role in learning and grasping the required knowledge and skills

According to Iwasiw and Goldenberg (2014), the above principles aim at enhancing the learning process to ensure:

1. The identification of gaps in student learning processes
2. Understand the impact of the curriculum design, instruction, and evaluation on learners
3. Measure the students’ achievement during and at the end of the course
4. Guide the student learning process

Lastly, the management of the curriculum is an important process that will enable the successful implementation of occupational health continuing education in Australia (Laberge, MacEachen & Calvet 2014). The successful administration of the curriculum will uphold the management of the institutions/campuses where the process of learning and teaching takes place continuously, including the development of relevant documents and a working knowledge of the subjects in the course. Continued education and learning form an area of great importance to any healthcare system across the world (Moorhead et al. 2014). As such, the institutions will also offer support for trainers in the use of data and information towards improvement in instruction. Further, besides providing room for meetings, consultations, and other necessary support activities for trainers towards adequate teaching for the best outcomes, the institution will offer an enabling environment where trainers can access and participate in research-based professional activities for the development of their knowledge and skills necessary for teaching. Finally, it will pave the way for campus-based learning and training opportunities for lecturers.

Reflection of Learning from Doing the Project

The undertaking of this project was very insightful. It offered important lessons relating to curriculum development. For instance, the project has provided insights that curriculum development initiates with the identification of needs or a problem in a particular professional field. In Australia, the need emanates from the fact that occupational health nursing is in its early developmental phase. The project has clarified the importance of setting aims, specific goals, outcomes, and teaching strategies, including the modalities of curriculum design and assessment.

The curriculum development process requires an in-depth understanding of the knowledge gaps that exist in an area of interest in a specific society. Despite the progress in financial and technological investment in nursing as identified by Billings and Halstead (2015), opportunities for continuous improvement are always present due to the changing demographics, health needs, and technologies in the sector. Caplan et al. (2014) acknowledge the crucial role that technology is playing in the health sector in terms of the way lectures are currently being delivered via the Internet, as opposed to the conventional approach of having a physical tutor presenting course materials to learners. This argument poses a question to my learning. Should the delivery mode discussed in the curriculum integrate technologies such as the Internet rather than relying only on the discussed conventional approaches?

Evidently, from the discussion, the occupational health segment in this country is still growing. Hence, a proposed curriculum in occupational health nursing will also demand changes to ensure more integration of students’ learning needs and consistency with new technological advancements. Nevertheless, the current curriculum is timely in providing updated and relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies that are required in the country.

Secondly, a curriculum development process should guarantee the realization of the needs of the targeted students. The curriculum should meet certain outcomes that reflect the nature of work undertaken by those who successfully undergo the process (Loke & Fung 2014). In the context of the current curriculum, an important insight arises that the work of occupational nursing cannot be successfully done without the party being competent in risk assessments and/or being able to make effective and practical clinical decisions and judgments promptly (Loveday et al. 2014). Occupational nurses spend their time in a work environment where injuries are likely to occur. Therefore, they must make urgent decisions on the appropriate mechanisms that are necessary to alleviate pain and excessive suffering before those who are hurt can receive more specialized care. This concept comes out clearly in the development of the current curriculum since learning outcomes emphasize occupational nurses’ anticipated role in enhancing and promoting safety and a healthy work environment.

The other important lesson from the curriculum development process is the design of the assessment approaches that allow students to be assessed on their ability relating to knowledge and skills acquisition in the course (Lee et al. 2013). In the healthcare sector, such assessments are pivotal since the nature of the work is highly sensitive to the extent that minor mistakes can be very costly.

Conclusion

The above curriculum development has offered guidelines and a framework for continued learning for occupational health practitioners in Australia. The health sector in the country is changing rapidly. With it, the need to provide a safe working environment for healthcare professionals has increased drastically. Errors and mistakes in the healthcare sector are very costly. Hence, they can lead to long-term injuries and even death to patients. Hence, the role of occupational health in the workplace is to provide a working environment that ensures that employees (nurses) are satisfied, safe, and able to deliver quality services to patients.

However, providing a safe working environment is an important step towards improving health outcomes in the Australian facilities. The curriculum document presents a framework that marks an ongoing effort that once fully developed will boost occupational health practitioners in Australia. As discussed, the curriculum will focus on providing relevant knowledge and skills that will improve the decision-making and problem-solving capabilities of the practitioners. The curriculum also sets the assessment approaches and other principles that will guarantee its successful implementation in this country. Due to its sensitive nature, the healthcare field is highly regulated in Australia. As such, the curriculum is very timely in offering an excellent opportunity for the development of skills for occupational health practitioners in Australia. The lessons learned in the development of this project provided an experience that will be useful in the designing of future curriculums in the field of nursing and health. Overall, the curriculum is expected to enhance service delivery among occupational health officers in this country.

Reference List

Bearman, M, Dawson, P, Boud, D, Bennett, S, Hall, M & Molloy, E 2016, ‘Support for assessment practice: developing the assessment design decisions framework’, Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 545-556.

Billings, D & Halstead, J 2015, Teaching in nursing-e-book: a guide for faculty, 5th edn, Elsevier Health Sciences, New York, NY.

Boud, D & Soler, R 2016, ‘Sustainable assessment revisited’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 400-413.

Caplan, W, Myrick, F, Smitten, J & Kelly, W 2014, ‘What a tangled web we weave: how technology is reshaping pedagogy’, Nurse Education Today, vol. 34, no. 8, pp. 1172-1174.

Flowerdew, L 2012, Needs analysis and curriculum development in ESP: the handbook of English for specific purposes, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, NJ.

Iwasiw, C & Goldenberg, D 2014, Curriculum development in nursing education, 2nd edn, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, New York, NY.

Keating, S 2014, Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing, 3rd edn, Springer Publishing Company, New York, NY.

Laberge, M, MacEachen, E & Calvet, B 2014, ‘Why are occupational health and safety training approaches not effective? Understanding young worker learning processes using an ergonomic lens’, Safety Science, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 250-257.

Landsbergis, P, Grzywacz, J & LaMontagne, A 2014, ‘Work organisation, job insecurity, and occupational health disparities’, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 495-515.

Lee, A, Steketee, C, Rogers, G & Moran, M 2013, ‘Towards a theoretical framework for curriculum development in health professional education’, Focus on Health Professional Education: a Multi-disciplinary Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 70-83.

Loke, A & Fung, O 2014, ‘Nurses’ competencies in disaster nursing: implications for curriculum development and public health’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 3289-3303.

Loney, T, Aw, T, Handysides, D, Ali, R, Blair, I, Grivna, M, Shah, S, Sheek-Hussein, M, El-Sadig, M, Sharif, A & El-Obaid, Y 2013, ‘An analysis of the health status of the United Arab Emirates: the ‘Big 4’public health issues’, Global Health Action, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 20100-20100.

Loveday, H, Wilson, J, Pratt, R, Golsorkhi, M, Tingle, A, Bak, A, Browne, J, Prieto, J & Wilcox, M 2014, ‘Epic3: national evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections in NHS hospitals in England’, Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 1-70.

Moorhead, S, Johnson, M, Maas, M & Swanson, E 2014, Nursing outcomes classification (NOC)-e-Book: measurement of health outcomes, 5th edn, Elsevier Health Sciences, New York, NY.

Parkay, F, Anctil, E & Hass, G 2014, Curriculum leadership: readings for developing quality educational programmes, 10th edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, NJ.

Pinar, W 2013, International handbook of curriculum research, 2nd edn, Routledge, London.

Van Hoorn, J, Nourot, P, Scales, B & Alward, K 2014, Play at the centre of the curriculum, 6th edn, Pearson, London.

Introduction

The School of Nursing at King Saud University was established in 1977 as one of the academic departments of the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences. It was the first program that offered a Bachelor’s degree in nursing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and despite the general lack of demand for medical specialties during that period, the College of Applied Medical Sciences continued to provide these disciplines drawing on the role of King Saud University in satisfying the needs of the Kingdom in providing professionals to handle comprehensive health services and guiding citizen on matters touching on public health. In the year 1988, the university began offering a Master’s program in nursing science and since then, the university has continued to offer world-class education, in fact, a number of persons holding senior positions in Saudi Arabia in the field of nursing were once students at the King Saud University.

School of Nursing Curriculum

The development of the curriculum to be used at the School of Nursing involved various processes with setting out goals in order to cover the curriculum objectives and fulfill the goals of the programs that were to be offered. These processes were essential for the success of the educational goals and all the stakeholders were included so as to get divergent opinions regarding the curriculum’s contents.

The development of a curriculum is a complex and critical issue in Saudi Arabia and the dilemma of who is involved in the process and the knowledge gap of the curriculum development are major factors to be considered. The Ministry of Health, The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, the Ministry of Civil Service, the School of Nursing at King Saud University, students, and parents are all supposed to be involved in the process, unfortunately, this is never the case.

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) plays a very important government role in supervising and guiding the inclusion of the health-relatedated issue in the curriculum. SCHS’s objective is to develop professionalism during curriculum development and encourage skill contribution, scientific intellect, and proper practical application in various health specialities (SCHS, 2010).

A well-laid curriculum should facilitate the realization of the School of Nursing’s mission statement for the undergraduate program, part of which reads, “through distinguished quality education and scientific research, the school of the nursing curriculum was designed to prepare students to be competent in their profession, health organization, and communities and prepare students to improve practice and to incorporate nursing science and health care technology to achieve a high level of quality of patient care.” Effective use of the curriculum should enable students to acquire knowledge, skills, and attitude to provide holistic patient care.

Unfortunately, The School of Nursing at King Saud University offers a Master’s degree in nursing for females only. Hence, the Master’s postgraduate program does not cope with the requirements of the labor market, a problem that can be traced back to the curriculum development process.

The Curriculum

The word curriculum has different meanings depending on the context. To some teachers, the curriculum is what the students learn intentionally or not, and to others, it is a system that integrates the aims of the learning process, describes the content to be covered during the process and the learning activities and outlines the evaluation methods to be used. Contrary to popular belief, the objective of the curriculum is not complicated. Taylor proposed that the approach to curriculum involved detailed attention to what people needed to know. The curriculum entails what is taught, and if it is not taught, then it should not be on the curriculum.

Wiggins and MMcTighe’sSea Pie

The government of Saudi Arabia has been keen on encouraging students, particularly those who are gifted, to work hard so that the country can keep up with developed countries in various fields, especially in the field of education. Consequently, it established the King Abdul-Aziz Foundation with was tasked with identifying and educating gifted and creative young persons, both male and female. The objective of this move was to support the nation’s capacity to generate innovative ideas and a quest to find pioneers in science and technology.

Ironically, in a number of education and training institutions, the curriculum does not give consideration to important facets of education that include thinking, adaptation and reflection, critical analysis and innovation, flexibility, and teamwork. These facets are very important and do not merely entail grasping the ideas taught in class, rather, they help one to have the ability to perform specific tasks that are fundamental to traditional systems of education and training.

The teaching method used should be organized according to the purpose of the institution and be in accordance with what the learners already know. In addition, the methods should be linked to the culture of the learners and should be designed to create an effective model that can be distinguished from traditional methods.

The education system used in Saudi Arabia and a number of neighboring countries stress memorization as the best method of knowledge transfer and uses traditional methods of education such as punishment to ensure that learners grasp what they are taught. This system is referred to as indoctrination and it has a weakness because it does not leave room for the learners to develop an understanding and perception of what they are taught. Besides, learners are not allowed to ask questions.

Indoctrination does not allow information interchange among learners and reduces the teacher’s role in dumping information. This method results in the teacher controlling and dominating the classroom environment and this hampers participation and discussion among students.

According to Wiggins and McTighte, constructivism is not applied and may not exist in classrooms that use an indoctrination approach. There are many factors that play significant roles in inhibiting constructivism. For instance, the culture of the schools in the country. In Saudi Arabia, a majority of schools have adopted the indoctrination method of teaching without knowing its effects. Secondly, the role and the power accorded to teachers in the classroom discourages students from engaging in interactive classroom sessions and hence learners neither understand whatever is taught to them nor do they comprehend its importance. Questions asked by students about the strategies and the use of active techniques are not encouraged as well. Therefore, to correct this scenario, educators should intervene so that students can be helped to construct their knowledge. The teachers should provide and help students with problem solving and questioning techniques so as to develop and encourage them. Such a system would help students to gain an understanding of concepts rather than continue with the traditional method of memorization.

The complexities of the traditional methods of teaching that have been used for decades in schools sometimes tend to depend on memorization, which does not value meaning. The role of the learner is not recognized. It is worth mentioning that this self-directed approach is very ineffective. In addition, what the learners already know and what they want to know to play a significant role in their understanding of the concepts taught in the classroom.

The current nursing program focuses neither on the subject matter nor on student understanding and making meaning out of class activities. This has created a curriculum gap. I believe that the 3S understanding is a way of connecting the subject matter with a student’s environment, i.e. the people and the society. However, an understanding of the 3S approach is currently low and some researchers have said that the nursing program curriculum does not fit in this paradigm (Henderson &Rosemary, 2007). An examination of the graduate nursing school curriculum reveals that the six facets of understanding are absent and this makes it difficult for students to obtain a true understanding of classroom concepts. The designers of the curriculum should revise the current curriculum so that students can know how to apply what they are taught since “understanding involves the appropriate application of concepts and principles to question or problem that is newly posed” (Wiggins).

It is important to note that the process of making students understand what they are taught or analyze the results of an experiment is not currently on top of the list of the curriculum objectives. The supporting materials that have been used traditionally to facilitate understanding are simply ineffective. Teachers must act fast and help students have a true understanding not only of the concepts but also of the expectations and goals of the curriculum (Wiggins). In addition, after graduation, students do not apply thinking, inquiry, and practical approaches because they are not trained on the applicability of what they get in the classroom.

The sense of critical thinking is obviously absent from the curriculum. This means that the students do not develop their critical thinking prowess not only in the classroom but also in the clinical situation. Critical thinking among students is important in understanding any complexities arising out of their nursing practice. The ability of the student to think critically will allow them to examine and solve problems that they face from different perspectives, rather than follow the traditional route. This ability will again allow them to use focused, deliberate thoughts with a mind that is open to different alternatives, different explanations, and possibilities.

In a clinical situation, educational curriculum designers in Saudi Arabia discovered that the nursing program curriculum does not prepare students and nurses to adequately meet the accepted Western standards. This gap opened the door towards reforming the current curriculum to one that would meet the students’ needs in the classroom before they ventured into practical work. Educators and curriculum designers should focus on how to enhance the students’ knowledge and skills not only theoretically, but also practically. In addition, the teacher should play a significant role in encouraging students to understand the causes and reasons of their observations to increase their ability to deal with the complexities of the nursing practice.

Assessment

Since the curriculum lacks a platform where students can set their goals and connect the subject matter to practical applications, the teachers should develop such a platform while the students should improve their ability to create meaning out of what they learn. The gap between the knowledge gained by the learner and its applicability is simply large. This gap still concerns curriculum designers even with the use of technological tools in education. The positive transfer of the knowledge allows students to work effectively towards solving new or complex problems.

Educators should work together with students to minimize the negative transfer of knowledge. This would enable students to deal with societies’ problems rather than avoid them. The challenge of effecting a positive transfer of knowledge exists in how to adapt and modify the ideas so that students can have a holistic comprehension of the nursing practice since a “student should not be able to solve the new problems and situation by remembering the solution.” The keys to having this comprehension lie in the ability to thoughtfully and actively work while applying critical thinking methodologies. It should be pointed out that both learner-acquired knowledge and skills are important and must be extended beyond the narrow context.

Educators should work with the students to develop and improve their constructivist practices. The application of this process will enhance the teachers’ ability to work towards the students’ knowledge and understanding of classroom concepts. The students should be encouraged to engage more actively in the learning processes.

Overall evaluation

The curriculum action that I used limited the teachers’ role by using a systematic approach without any further consideration about the student’s creativity. Teachers must not focus on textbooks alone, instead, they should focus on how the students learn and apply what they taught.

Wiggins’s six facets approach does not fit this curriculum action. Under the current curriculum, teachers do not encourage or work with students to develop their ability to develop critical thinking methods. By applying the six facets, students will be able to understand and apply what their teachers impart to them. In order to come up with a good curriculum design, the six facets should be used as an assessment tool and students should be encouraged to give constructive feedback that will help in achieving the desired teaching goal.

Introduction

A curriculum is broadly defined as the experiences that a student is supposed to undergo during a learning process. The term curriculum primarily refers to a sequence of planned instructions that educators use to attain institutional goals. In higher education, different institutions have different curriculums, which they utilize to coach different skills. Nursing programs entail integrating coursework and clinical experience to incorporate diversity and provide solutions to varied global health problems. Institutions offering nursing programs tend to tailor their programs to ensure that their students acquire the best knowledge and skills that would make them able to adjust to the ever-changing global health issues. While some institutions utilize a concept-based curriculum, others use a blocking course, which is different in design and aims at attaining varied goals. An example of a concept-based nursing curriculum is maintained at Albany State University, where I undertook my BSN course. This model benefits nursing as the faculty becomes less concerned about covering all the topics (Harrison, 2020). It provides in-depth guidance while developing clinical reasoning skills that meet the learners’ diverse needs.

The block course curriculum in other institutions covers all relevant nursing topics to enhance learning experiences. An example of such a program is maintained at Roseman University of Health Sciences, where the curriculum design ensures that students undertake one topic at a time. Such a model ensures no competing priorities in the learning process (Lipsky et al., 2019). This model promotes corporative learning as teachers can take advantage of frequent and small group lessons and quality time where the instructors can interact with fewer students within the day. The instructors can focus on the students, where they can explore various concepts simultaneously, making it easy to develop a team (Lipsky et al., 2019). The professional staff, the students, and all other staff become a design team for curriculum development. The main challenge of the block course curriculum is that the pace of teaching is high as time is rushed, which may be challenging to the students. Aspects of quality teaching due to the structure, content, and assessment raise concerns about the effectiveness of the block course curriculum model.

The nursing curricula at Albany State University and Roseman University of Health Sciences are entirely different as they vary teaching practices and how they undertake practical aspects. Albany State University focuses on content-based lessons, while Roseman University of Health Sciences utilizes a model that focuses on one core subject at a time, referred to as the Six-Point Mastery Learning Model (ASU, 2019: RUHS, 2020). These models differ in lesson delivery, where the former emphasizes teaching key concepts and incorporating them with practical skills. At the same time, the latter focuses on reinforcing learning for the year. At Albany State University, the curriculum prepares the students to assume responsibilities as leaders, change agents, client advocates, healthcare providers, consumers of research, and health educators through evidence-based teaching and practice (ASU, 2019). Such skills and knowledge enable the students to provide nursing care in traditional and non-traditional settings. On the contrary, Roseman University of Health Sciences emphasizes teaching to attain high scores, enhancing teamwork among the students and faculty to detect areas of misunderstanding (Lipsky et al., 2019). Some aspects of hands-on experience are also emphasized at Roseman University of Health Sciences.

Evidence-based Findings in Curriculum Analysis

An analysis of the content-based curriculum shows a structured framework that enhances learning outcomes through instructional delivery of concepts, lesson objectives, and student assessments. A content-based curriculum in nursing programs entails examining concepts linked to the effective delivery of patient care. The execution of nursing lessons focuses on key and established examples and their interconnected nature to ensure that the nursing students can easily recognize features of health conditions and apply learned concepts (Harrison, 2020). Concept-based learning promotes teaching key concepts effectively applied in different conditions and hands-on experience type of learning (Ambler et al., 2021). Students under the concept-based curriculum can break the boredom that comes with undertaking long classroom sessions, which are present in institutions with the block course curriculum.

The effectiveness of nursing curricula involves how teaching models influence learning attitudes. A study undertaken by Rohatinsky et al. in 2018 examined students’ preference for nursing curricula and discovered that most nursing students prefer the non-block curriculums since they promote critical reflection of the concepts taught, attainment of a balanced lifestyle, and simultaneous combination of practice and theory. Such features are contrary to those attained through block curriculum, characterized by aspects like assimilation, socialization, and consolidation (Lipsky et al., 2019). Concept-based and block course clinical models are effective within undergraduate nursing curricula due to their effective learning processes (Ambler et al., 2021). Evaluation of different clinical learning models shows that the main themes are learning and applying concepts, evaluation process, growth time, reflection, immersing and integrating into the clinical environment, and transitioning and assimilation into the real nursing world.

Theoretical and contextual Approach to Curriculum Analysis

The two nursing curricula use numerous theories and models to teach nursing ideas, standards, principles, and changes in the models utilized. Both curricula introduce their students to various nursing theories reflecting the metaparadigm concepts of health, person, environment, and nursing as a whole (ASU. 2019: RUHS, 2020). Theoretical and clinical learning models incorporate these themes differently, influencing the students’ attitudes when subjected to curricula in their learning process. The nursing teaching curriculum’s focus is significant in determining the model’s effectiveness in the students’ future practice (Harrison, 2020). The institution’s culture influences the choice of curriculum, how they approach their students’ ever-changing work environments, their adaptation to the actual nursing world, and their approach to solving the different clinical conditions they encounter (Rohatinsky et al., 2018). Therefore, each institution has various goals that they aim to achieve. They use their curricula for marketing their programs to viable students who want to pursue such objectives in their careers. For example, the generic 2+2 nursing model applied at Albany State University requires students to undertake two years of classroom learning and a similar period in practical learning.

Implications of Curriculum Analysis

The effectiveness of the concept-based curriculum is perceived to influence the transition of learning strategies in numerous institutions across the United States. Such a transition is perceived to enhance nursing programs’ learning process, evident in the increased graduation rates, higher pass rates, retention rates, and standard examination scores. Like the block course curriculum, the concept-based learning model is student-centered and incorporates numerous active learning strategies (Harrison, 2020). In this case, the students are the main focus of the learning process, and the instructors ensure that the students can attain both knowledge and skills in dealing with different health care conditions.

Concept-based learning allows nursing students to study critical concepts in classrooms and then be allowed to practice such skills in real life. These practices allow them to gain the confidence and courage to interact with individuals with varied conditions as they continue to learn (Rohatinsky et al., 2018). Such an aspect is different from the block course curriculum, where the students are taught for longer times on specific subjects before they are allowed to undertake practice in real-life situations (Lipsky et al., 2019). Due to this reason, a concept-based curriculum is more effective in the delivery of nursing programs.

Suggestions for Curriculum Improvement

A critical analysis of the block nursing curriculum’s drawbacks shows that it needs to be adjusted to make it comfortable for the students to feel comfortable and change their attitude toward the learning model. Among the main challenges linked to the block, the curriculum is student time management, where the students feel that the curriculum is a barrier to personal betterment. The model should reduce the workload and assignments to give students time to reflect on the real world of nursing, as learning for long hours on the same topic creates boredom and demotivation. Institutions should incorporate time and stress management programs in the curriculum to enhance the emotional support for the students. Such adjustments can enhance the curriculum’s effectiveness and student outcomes in nursing programs.

Conclusion

In summary, different nursing curriculums have varied benefits and drawbacks. The difference in the curricula maintained in teaching nursing programs in different institutions aims to enhance students’ skills and knowledge transfer. Institutions use such strategies to market their programs in the global market. It is perceived that regardless of whether an institution maintains a concept-based or block course curriculum, the knowledge instilled in the nursing students is based on the theories and knowledge taught through the curricula. The analysis shows that the main aspects that influence student preference in any given curricula depend on aspects like learning and application of the concepts, evaluation process, growth time, reflection, immersing and integration into the clinical environment, and transitioning and assimilation into the real nursing world. Therefore, educators should ensure that the students develop a positive attitude towards the program by tailoring the curriculum to fit their preferences and enable them to manage their emotions while undertaking the program.

References

Ambler, T., Solomonides, I., & Smallridge, A. (2021). Students’ experiences of a first‐year block model curriculum in higher education. The Curriculum Journal, 32(3), 533-558. Web.

ASU. (2019). Albany State University Darton college of health professions department of nursing associate of science in nursing student handbook. Asurams. Web.

Harrison, C. (2020). Concept-based curriculum: Design and implementation strategies. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 17(1). Web.

Lipsky, M., Cone, C., Watson, S., Lawrence, P., & Lutfiyya, M. (2019). Mastery learning in a bachelor’s of nursing program: The Roseman University of Health Sciences experience. BMC Nursing, 18(1). Web.

Rohatinsky, N., Chachula, K., Sedgwick, M., Press, M., Compton, R., & Lane, B. (2018). Comparison of nursing student and instructor preferences for block and nonblock clinical models. Nurse Educator, 43(4), E1-E6. Web.

Roseman University of Health Sciences: 2020-2021 Student Handbook. (2020). Roseman. Web.

The given case study course is devised as a part of the Master’s program for nursing educators with a BSN degree level. The course aims to prepare nurse educators in terms of theory and praxis behind general and specialized nursing curriculum development. The syllabus provides the following course objectives: professionalism; nursing process; therapeutic communication and intervention; leadership, collaboration, and advocacy; and evidence-based practice (EBP). Professionalism intertwines the theory behind curriculum development and nursing concepts. The nursing process is for analyzing the internal curriculum implementation environment. In turn, therapeutic communication and intervention focus on external factors. Leadership, collaboration, and advocacy emphasize teamwork principles at peer and medical community levels. Finally, EBP distances from general concepts and concerns a more specialized approach to curriculum development.

The syllabus manages to incorporate best practices required regarding curriculum development. First, it devotes sufficient attention to collaboration during the process, which belongs among the goals of current nursing educational reforms (Neville-Norton et al., 2019). Second, the given course incorporates the EBP approach to curriculum development. Bianchi et al. (2018, p. 919) stress the evidence-based practice importance, noting that “EBP is a core competency requirement for nursing practice internationally.” Respectively, the course places EBP among its core goals and objectives, proving its value. Nevertheless, there is still a possibility of improving the course. Parson et al. (2018) illustrate the importance of student engagement in the learning process compared to traditional teaching types. Consequently, the course should additionally include innovative approaches to curriculum development.

Apart from that, the course adequately reflects essential external and internal factors. Regarding the former, the course clearly and explicitly states nurse educators’ desired competencies and social expectations in objectives, standards in its policies, and guidelines that follow in the document’s second half, along with applied regulations. As for the latter, the course ensures the learner’s needs are addressed by providing necessary contact details and regular – even obligatory – feedback sessions.

According to the syllabus, the course implementation is scheduled for the Spring semester. The critical path would be the path that takes the longest time for implementation to be completed; thus, a key to developing it is to map and evaluate all possible activities first (Atin & Lubis, 2019). A faculty rector should assume the original responsibility; however, rational delegation is possible if needed. Overall, the course’s implementation will allow the current faculty to diversify their Master’s degree specialization, encouraging new students to enroll.

References

Atin, S., & Lubis, R. (2019). Implementation of critical path method in project planning and scheduling. In IOP conference series: Materials science and engineering. IOP Publishing.

Bianchi, M., Bagnasco, A., Bressan, V., Barisone, M., Timmins, F., Rossi, S., Pellegrini, R., Aleo, G. & Sasso, L. (2018). A review of the role of nurse leadership in promoting and sustaining evidence‐based practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 918-932. Web.

Neville-Norton, M., & Cantwell, S. (2019). Curriculum mapping in nursing education: a case study for collaborative curriculum design and program quality assurance. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 14(2), 88-93. Web.

Parson, L., Childs, B., & Elzie, P. (2018). Using competency-based curriculum design to create a health professions education certificate program the meets the needs of students, administrators, faculty, and patients. Health Professions Education, 4(3), 207-217. Web.

Introduction

Curriculum is a basic element of education and training in all fields. One of the main requirements to the curriculum is correspondence to the needs of the students’ and trainees’ current or future profession. This work is aimed at considering the peculiarities of curriculum in health care education and, particularly, in medical-surgical nursing. The research includes the overview of the American printed and electronic sources devoted to curriculum design in practice-based professional education.

The Notion of Curriculum

Curriculum is an integrated set of educational activities developed for any educational or training program. The structure and content of a curriculum depends substantially on current or expected professional field of the trainees.

The importance of curriculum development activity exceeds planning and development of educational programs. A curriculum is a strategic element which defines the whole concept of education by means of combining different approaches and methods used in teaching. A curriculum developer should understand education as an integral process with all its elements harmonized.

Curriculum Development in Health Care

Health care education has its peculiarities defined by this practice area and sets a range of tasks for the curriculum developer. Separate requirements for the curriculum design in this field are considered below.

An important aspect which should be considered when developing a curriculum in health care education is continuity, as health care is a field where the knowledge and experience are passed through generations. For example, Putnam’s article about education in nursing (2010) describes the experience of interaction between nursing students of Bachelor level and the high school “protégés”, which promises faster development of the higher school students’ skills and knowledge.

The modern USA training programs provide the opportunities for the international exchange of knowledge and experience. Nowadays the curricula should meet the requirements of the modern multicultural educational environment: they should stimulate sharing the experience between the professionals from different countries of the World (Baka et al 181).

Surgical Nursing as a Practice Area

Medical-surgical nursing is focused on care for primarily adult patients. The responsibilities of a medical-surgical nurse may include home health care, long-term care, urgent care, or work in the surgical centers. A medical-surgical nurse provides pre-operative care, which implies monitoring a patient’s condition, preparing him for the operation, and providing necessary information to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon, as well as post-operative care, which includes monitoring different aspects of a patient’s recovery.

The profession of a medical-surgical nurse always stays on the cutting edge and absorbs all the new tendencies, that is why curriculum for education in this field also should be flexible and innovative.

Curriculum Development in Medical-Surgical Nursing

Besides the general requirements for the curriculum in health care education mentioned above, it is possible to outline some specific features of a curriculum in medical-surgical nursing. The basic criteria for the curriculum in nursing education are its relevance to the context, feasibility, providing opportunities for the students to achieve the planned results; the curriculum should be logical and integrated (Iwasiw, Goldenberg, & Andrusyszyn, 2009). The curriculum should also provide the optimal proportion between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Internship and volunteering give a perfect opportunity to approach close to the practical activity.

As well, a curriculum designed for preparing nurses should be oriented on bringing up the professionals able to meet the requirements of their country in terms of professional competencies, ethical principles, quality control etc. (See-Educoop.Net).

Another important aspect is providing career opportunities for the students. Modern career opportunities in every profession, besides the professional activity itself, are extended by research and lecturing, consulting, public speaking and writing, working in governmental organizations, etc. That is why the curriculum in health education should provide opportunity to obtain skills in critical thinking, goal setting and teamwork, analysis and synthesis, public speaking and academic writing. The second pillar of providing career opportunities is the interdisciplinary approach in education: it helps to bring up broad-minded specialists, competent in different fields, and competitive in the labor market.

Conclusion

A curriculum designer working in the field of health care education has a complicated task, which implies developing a complex educational program aimed at bringing up specialists who will be able to meet the requirements of their patients, future employing organizations, and the whole national health care system. In the modern world, the curriculum in nursing education should provide interdisciplinary knowledge, diverse skills, and international exchange in experience in order to make the trainees competitive in the labor market.

References

Baka, A., et al. (2007). A Curriculum for Training Healthcare Workers in the Management of Highly Infectious Diseases. Eurosurveillance, 12. Web.

Curriculum Design for Practice-Based Professions. (n.d.). See-Educoop.Net. 2010. Web.

Iwasiw, C.L., Goldenberg, D., & Andrusyszyn, M.-A. (2009). Curriculum Development in Nursing Education. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Putnam, J., Lasiter, S., & Colon, T. (2010). Pumping up the Protégées: Innovative Social Learning Using Psychomotor Learning Strategies. Journal of Nursing Education 49(1), 60-64.

Adolescence is a stage in life that is characterized by the many needs. These needs have to be satisfied for any meaningful learning to take place. The adolescent students require attention as well as emotional support. Faced with this kind of challenge, the teacher has to adopt all means possible to understand the adolescents (Wormeli, 1). In a Mandarin Chinese class, for example, students may not value the effects of the subject to their later life. The teacher has to create an enabling environment while at the same time implement the syllabus. Following the example of Angiline transforming a mathematics class, a teacher is bound to succeed (Powell & Seed, 44). This is the reason why we have focused our attention on creating a caring ethics as a way of making the students learn and succeed. That is why the first thing to be learnt in the foreign language will greetings. Greetings show caring by asking how the other person is fairing. According to Ladson-Billings as cited in Powell and Seed (44), without the use of caring approach to the adolescent learning, the entire process is bound to fail.

We have changed the school to a caring community where the interests of all the members and particularly the students are taken care of. This has seen the establishment of a sound relationship where the students are made free to express their feelings (Powell & Seed, 45). The teachers inculcate the concept of caring by being an example. The students are given an opportunity to discuss the meaning of ‘caring’ and extend the same to their colleagues. Mandarin Chinese lessons are no longer about working individually but as a group. This has seen the attitude towards the subject change marginally and even the students who did not like the foreign language have now made it their favorite subject. The adolescents also learn well when the teachers recognize them. This comes after the teachers have known their students. The end result is a creation of self-confidence in the students.

The curricular has to be responsive to the needs of the students. The curriculum has various components that include core subjects, related domains, organized school activities, clubs and societies and athletics (Manning & Bucher, 82). It is an integrated curriculum tailored to take care of students’ developmental needs and particularly the physical and psychological aspects (Manning & Bucher, 84). Apart from the core component of the curriculum, the integrated approach which gives to students a chance to join any part depending on interests and talents. For the core part, the lessons are organized in a way that discourages subjects with similar concepts following one another. This curbs boredom and maintain attention of the students.

The related domains include information literacy, arts, music, physical and career education (Manning & Bucher, 88). These domains assist in ensuring that the students are ready to face the college and work life. The domains are used with the core curriculum to give guidelines on what is to be taught (Manning & Bucher, 85). Related domains help in creating an enabling environment that helps the students to proof some of the skills learnt in core subjects. A good example is the element of caring and corporation learnt in a Mandarin Chinese class and practiced in a physical education lesson. The adolescents need to be guided with the respect to career and future prospects. Based on the strengths of an individual student in certain core subjects, guidance is given accordingly. The role of information technology cannot be underestimated here. As a school, we are encouraging the students to take advantage of technology to gain information. The librarians are the driving force behind information technology success (Kuhlthau, 17)

Our school therefore is trying to keep at par with the modern trends which are aimed at ensuring the adolescents move smoothly through the stage without destroying their future. Thank you.

Works Cited

Kuhlthau, Carol C. Guided Inquiry: School Libraries in the 21st Centruy. USA: School Libraries Worldwide Inc., 2010. Print.

Manning, Lee, and Bucher, Kathelene T. Teaching in the Middle School, New York: Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated, 2011. Print.

Powell, Angiline, and Allen H. Seed. Developing a Caring Ethic for Middle School Mathematics classrooms. USA: National Middle School Journal, 2010. Print.

Wormeli, Rick. Meet me in the Middle: Becoming an Accomplished Middle-Level Teacher. n.p.: Portland, Me.: Stenhouse Publ. [u.a.]. Bibliotheksverbund Bayern. 2001. Web.

introduction

The boundaries that Mike Rose is talking about are the life circumstances that we find ourselves in for instance growing up in a family where no one ever attended college which is the case with Mike Rose and this further impacted negatively on his education. To begin with, Mike was taken to a remedial class after there was a mix-up of the tests with another student with whom he shared the name Rose (Rose 10). Coming from a background where parents were not so conversant with the education system that they had enrolled their son into, this almost made Mike spend his school years in remedial classes until his high school teacher saw the potential in him.

Explication of Mike Rose Background

“The basic human conflict – that we are both simultaneously heroes and prisoners” (Rose 115). Regarding this statement, Rose does not discredit that we as individual have the capabilities of achieving in education but at the same time our achievements are a function of our society, that is the environment that we are predisposed to in our early childhood years which also determines what and how we achieve in education.

Could this be the boundaries that Mike Rose is addressing in the book Lives on the Boundary? He talks of the boundaries in two forms, those held by the individual, for instance, the individual’s zeal to achieve in life and therefore put more effort into schoolwork and the boundaries created by the sole fact that we are from a particular background. To further exemplify my point, an analysis of Mike’s background would help us draw the application of the social boundary in the book.

Boundaries in the American Education System

Born to a family where people did not know what college education was, Mike has a better recount of the challenges that are faced by students who attend college in America otherwise called the underprepared. Normally schools grade students based on their chronological age with the assumption that the students have many interests in common than differences. Mike thinks that a school consists of a mixture of learners and educators who do not care to find out the background of each learner when they are teaching them in the classroom.

Therefore, Mike concludes that when students fail to achieve in education, it may not be because the students are not bright enough to pass but maybe because of their social background which the students come from in addition to other contributory factors like the methods used by the facilitator in the classroom, the attitude of the teacher towards the student (Rose 17) and the attention given to the student by the teacher, just but a mention of a few.

For instance, Mike gives the example of Mario whose childhood experiences are composed of negative things, and therefore during class time when Mario is supposed to be concentrating on his studies, he is busy painting pictures conveying his negative thoughts. Here, the line is drawn of how our different backgrounds can impact us negatively to the extent of making us not achieve fully in education because when such a student whose background is so negative is compared to a student whose background is good, the student from the disadvantaged background does not stand the chance of getting good grades in school.

Reasons as to why students fail to achieve in school regarding the experiences faced by Mike

Another form of boundary that is brought out clearly in the book is the bureaucracies that are in the American education system. Many of us will agree with me that a student can fail in an exam but this does not mean that the student is an underachiever. The standardized tests that are administered to students to grade them do not give students room to show their other potentials and capabilities.

Maybe the student did not read the topic on which the standardized test was based and read on other topics from which the test was not based on. Should that be the basis on which American schools should be determining who the achievers are and are not? These boundaries of the educational system in America do not give a true picture of the abilities of the students.

What happens to the underprivileged students like Mike whose backgrounds show that there are poor and needless to say that they struggle through the education system where the classroom consists of both the privileged and the underprivileged (Rose 20)? It’s not a parable anymore when Mike concludes that the school is a mixture of learners from different backgrounds all evaluated on the same platform of standardized tests.

Application of Mike’s experiences to my educational situation

Besides Mike’s contribution, I also think that standardized tests do not fully measure the student’s performance. Basing my argument on my own experience, many are the times when members of my class and I prepare for an exam which only lasts for one hour not forgetting that we have studied for that particular course for a whole semester. Thus, this experience has taught me to see an assessment of my achievement as a gamble, that is, if the teacher tests on areas that I have read, I pass the exam and I a teacher test an area I have not revised, I get a bad grade.

I have a feeling that Mike though not wanting to attack the schools directly, through his book, was addressing the boundary created by the school system and he went on and became a teacher so that he could make a change. From the analysis above of what Mike meant by boundary, one would be blind not to see that the boundaries so talked about are typical of the American schools and how these schools in question help students to achieve their objectives.

For instance, though he was placed in a remedial class, through the aid of a compassionate teacher, Mike was able to come out of his cocoon that would have made him not achieve in life and achieve in school. It only took the encouraging words of the teacher for him to be encouraged and make it in school. I also find it necessary to say that Mike wanted to educate teachers in how they handle students lest the teachers themselves would be creating boundaries or limits for the students who could overcome them only if they are encouraged.

The rigidity of the teaching methods used in the American school system also presents a boundary when it comes to achieving in school work. “I would hide by the slumping down in my seat and page through my reader, carried along by the flow of sentences in a story.” (Rose 19) In the case where the teacher uses methods that do not captivate the students, the students will not effectively achieve good grades in school. The teacher’s inability to capture the attention of the learner becomes a limitation to the learner’s achievement. The learner has to be interested in the content taught in class for him or her to pass tests.

For instance, at the university level, my lecturer was used to teach through the lecture method. This type of method does not allow students to internalize what the tutor is teaching them as the students are only supposed to listen which in short makes them passive learners. I hold the belief that when the learning practice engages both the teacher and the learner in discussing topics in the classroom, it gives room for the teacher to clarify concepts, the learner to ask questions on areas that he/she would not have understood, and overall enhance the teacher-learner relationship.

In his early years in school, Mike recounts a time he felt lost in the classroom and the teacher did not show so much attention to him, to escape from feeling lost, Mike indulged in daydreaming (Rose 19). Many are times I also feel the same during lectures when I can not hold on to what the teacher is discussing in the classroom and I feel my mind wandering off to other things when the teacher is teaching. I thus fully concur when Mike emphasizes that the teaching method used by the educator can be a limiting factor towards the student achieving in education.

Well, I have heard mentors who have urged me to keep on going on in my life and to always perform well in school. My inspiring mentor is my mother who has urged me to always do my homework and who sat beside me when I was in grade school when I was doing my homework. I have not come across a mentor as passionate as Mike’s teacher besides my mother. This can be attributed to the fact that in the classroom, I rarely get a personal touch with the lecturer but not because I felt isolated like Mike felt.

I also acknowledge that a teacher’s encouragement to a student, believing in the student helps the student to pursue his/her goals; otherwise, it would be pointless for the teacher to teach students who he/she does not believe that they can make it in life. For instance, I can say that if I have the same encouragement that Mike had through his mentor, I will not have a hard time with all the topics that I view as hard, for I would be having somebody to encourage me and keep me going.

I can say that Mike’s mentor was instrumental in helping him pursue a college education and without him Mike would have been comfortable with the education he got in his remedial classes. Mike also brought out the issue of teachers being mentors to the students in addition to teaching them. It is worthwhile to note that Mike; teaching is a calling and not only as a profession. Teachers ought to be very careful and handle their students with utmost care for which requires more than being a teacher only as a profession.

Mike Rose urges teachers to take full control of the classroom by interacting with their students on a personal level and getting to know how the students can be helped. No wonder he gives numerous examples of his students in the classroom. Mike through his experience as an educator, teaches the students in the way he would have preferred his teachers taught him during his early years in school instead of classifying him together with his classmates as remedial students.

Personal Contribution regarding Mike’s views

To Mike, the idea that some students do not achieve the desired scores through the standardized tests should not be the ground upon which they are classified as slow learners. The basic point to Mike’s realization is that every individual in the classroom is unique and has his/her special ability to learn if only teachers take the time to help and understand each learner (Rose 150). This calls for a more individualized method of teaching where the learner is the main focus of the teacher.

This will enable schools to see a shift in focus from where a teacher tries to cover the syllabus in time to a shift where the teacher is concerned with the overall development of the learner and teaches the learner taking into consideration that each learner assimilates materials taught differently. This would help American schools help students more instead of judging them from the word go by the bottlenecks of standardized tests.

In the second last chapter “The Politics of Remediation” Mike, puts a lot of emphasis on the curriculum that is used to teach students more so English. He says that the curriculum in the school for teaching English takes away the interests of the students from learning. He believes that English is a beautiful subject that should be viewed beyond a learner acquiring verbal skills and also go beyond grammar.

In conclusion, Mike believes that if schools were not adamant enough and embark on changing the curriculum, the so called remedial learners would achieve different results with a different curriculum (Rose 189). Mike wishes that the American education system would adopt a curriculum that the learner can fully identify with, for education also involves social interaction and therefore learners should be presented with a curriculum that helps them identify with their social context.

Crossing boundaries which is the last chapter in the book refers to when an individual becomes successful in education (Rose 200). For instance, Mike became successful after he was able to achieve in education. However, he cautions that for a learner to achieve in education, he must have an interest in what is being learned in the school. The last three chapters are the bone of contention to schooling and testing in school regarding my experiences.

I hold the same views as Mike on standardized tests, that there are not adequate to give a full measure of a learner’s achievement in school and that the materials which are used in the classroom should be more familiar to the learner; that is placed in the social context of the learner.

Conclusion

To underestimate Mike’s contribution to the American educational system would be to discredit great remedies in helping learners in achieving their goals in school. Mike has brought to our attention that the curriculum used in American schools does not favor learners at all and many are the times we often point accusing fingers to learners when they fail to perform in tests. Little do we consider that the learner could achieve different results if all the variables were to change, for example, the methods of teaching and the attention that a teacher can give to the learner (Rose 117).

Works Cited

Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary. New York. Penguin Publishers. 1990.

Purpose of the Study

Mathematics is one of the most important subjects in schools. Math helps a student in other subjects. Math can also be important in job search after completing studies (Fore et al., 2007). Most African Americas and Hispanic students do not have basic math skills. For instance, a report in the year 2000 indicated that 39% of African Americans and 48% of Hispanics had basic skills among grade 4 students. For grade 8, only 32% African Americans and 41% Hispanic were at or above basic skills (Fore et al., 2007).

This study had three different hypotheses. In the first one, the teachers’ self-monitoring effects of CBM measures on math implementation were evaluated. It was investigated whether self-monitoring had any impacts on the way teachers review and modify reviews on plans that they use to analyze the performance of student based on CBM measures in math. The second study involved the generalization of CBM survey level math assessments. This study aimed to compare the variations that exist between two different types of survey-level CBM math assessments. The third study examined the construct validity of CBM math measures. The objective was “to examine how M-CBM improves the general math achievements of students and help them in their computations, as well as applications of theoretical perspectives” (Fore et al., 2007, p. 324).

Design and Procedure

This research was conducted in the United States. Data regarding the performance of students in mathematics was collected and compared among the various ethnicities across the U.S. The experimental based approach, as well as the evidence-based approach, was used to get the data due to the empirical nature of the study. Participants in this second study were 67 in total where 93% were Caucasians, African- Americans at 3%, Indian at 3%, and Asians at 1%. 207 grade 4 students were involved in the third study where 46% were female and 54% were male. The dependent variables used in this study were the effects that the implementation of CMB had on the performance of students in basic mathematics skills (Fore et al., 2007). On the other hand, the independent variables were the actual performance and improvement of students in math. Data was collected through interviews, where teachers from various schools were interviewed. The performance and achievement of students in math were also evaluated to complement the data.

Data analysis

Data was collected from interviews and students’ performance measurement and recorded for purposes of analysis. The study aimed to test how CMB measuring can be used to improve the performance of students in math. The data was coded and then put through the various analytical programs. The results of the analyses were used to come up with a conclusion.

Conclusion/ Implications

The study indicated that CMB can be used together with problem-solving models in mathematics. The formative approach for measuring the performance of students is effective since it can help teachers know problems early enough. Teachers can, therefore, be able to act in advance to improve the performance of students or to prevent any failure. Also, CMB can be used to find solutions and intervene to improve students’ performance in case a problem occurs in the learning process.

Critique/ Evaluation

This study confirms that math is one of the most challenging subjects for students. Most students seem not to understand the math language, thus they perform poorly in the subject. I agree with the authors that the curriculum-based approach used in conjunction with problem-solving models is an effective way of improving the performance of students. Teachers can come up with ways of avoiding problems when they realize the potential problems early. This can be done by improving their teaching methods to make students understand the subject better. The authors sufficiently showed that CMB can measure the performance of students and indicate where their problems are, thereby making it easy for teachers to help students overcome problems in the subject.

References

Fore, C., Boon, R. T., Lawson, C. r., & Martin, C. (2007). Using curriculum-based measurement for formative instructional decision-making in basic mathematics skills. Education, 128(2), 324-332.

Changing Values in Education and the Associated Issues: The Curriculum

Key Issues: Social Media Conflicts, Privacy, and Multiculturalism

The recent technological breakthrough has affected a range of areas of social interaction, and education is not an exception. The social media conflict issue is an obvious concern on the agenda of modern society. With the rise of the new technology, which allows everyone is online and engage in conversations with a person of any age and culture, a range of vulnerable populations, particularly people under age, are exposed to a number of threats, from bullying to harassment.

The phenomenon colloquially referred to as trolling implies online verbal attacks on users and may harm students greatly. The anonymity that the online environment provides its users gives an impetus for a drastic change in values, creating loopholes for harassment. At the same time, the significance of positive communication increases, thus, dividing users into two camps, i.e., the ones that justify trolling by viewing it as a social outlet and the ones that stand for the enhancement of moral values in the community, eradicating online abuse (Williams & Pearson, 2016).

The privacy issue is another topical concern that needs to be addressed when talking to students. As stressed above, online anonymity can be used for both good and bad. However, online users are not completely safe from being recognized. By tricking people into downloading malware that collects their personal data or downright tricking them into providing their personal information, cybercriminals use their lack of awareness to benefit financially at the expense of others.

Finally, the multiculturalism issue needs to be addressed. With numerous platforms on which people from all walks of life can interact, the possibilities for culture clashes appeared rapidly. Although multiculturalism and diversity can be viewed as educational, they often spark misunderstandings among people without special knowledge of cross-communication techniques.

Curriculum Changes: Addressing the Essential Concerns

The identified issues need to be addressed by the teacher so that the students could feel secure in the contemporary environment.

Challenges and Benefits of the New Curriculum: Getting the Message Across

Convincing people to accept new values is definitely going to be the key challenge since it will be necessary to alter the way in which the entire community thinks. However, the change will open a plethora of opportunities for successful communication and a drop in the number of conflicts occurring due to a culture clash.

A Modern Family, What It Represents, and How It Affects Education; A Curriculum

Key Issues: Community Connections, Health Awareness, and Independence

In the environment of globalization, the significance of a connection between families and the communities that they live in has become quite high. Similarly, the health awareness rates need to be raised on a family level. Because of the effects that prejudices and specific traditions have on people’s health, there is a need to address the health problems by educating the entire family instead of restricting the target audience to children and teenagers. Seeing that the latter two are still under their parents’ and older family members’ control and guidance, there is a necessity to raise awareness on all levels (Allison, Khan, Reese, Dobias, & Struna, 2015).

The independence of families from schools and other educational institutions has its benefits and problems. Although the identified description of the American society provides more options for parents to choose from as far as the methods of upbringing and the promotion of specific values are concerned, it still prevents educators from establishing strong contact with learners and their families. As a result, the chances of inviting parents to participate actively in their children’s academic life are missed. As a result, the teachers are deprived of the opportunity to use a very powerful tool for increasing students’ motivation (Hughes & Valle-Riestra, 2014).

Curriculum Changes: Promoting a Closer Connection Between the School and the Community

Table 2. Curriculum

Challenges and Benefits of the New Curriculum: A School–Community Dialogue

Similar to the previous changes, the ones mentioned above will require that a dialogue between the school, the community members, in general, and family members, in particular, should start. It will be crucial to receive feedback from parents, as well as guide them through the admittedly complicated process of assisting their children in learning the crucial information.

Nonetheless, the implementation of the curriculum is bound to have a positive effect. First, the academic progress of learners is bound to occur at a faster pace. Furthermore, the motivation rates among the learners will increase once they receive support from their families. Finally, the teachers will be able to control the academic process by providing parents with the necessary guidance (Kang & Cho, 2015).

Crime and Violence in the 1^st Century and What Students Should Know About It: The Curriculum

Key Issues: Cybercrime, Substance Abuse, and Organized Crime

As stressed above, technological innovations can be used for different purposes, not all of them being good. Although crime rates have recently been reduced slightly, new types of offenses emerged because of the transfer of a range of activities into the digital realm. Cybercrime is currently on the legal agenda worldwide.

Similarly, the problems related to substance abuse have resurged recently. With the opportunities that the Deep Web offers to its users, the instances of drug peddling have become numerous (Carrapico & Lavogna, 2014). Therefore, there is a strong need to introduce the information about the associated threats into the curriculum so that the students could avoid the situations in which they are exposed to the related threats.

Finally, the fact that the organized crime remains a problem needs to be brought up. Unfortunately, the IT innovations that made communication easier also offer a plethora of opportunities for criminals to cooperate: “There is no clear solution to deal with criminal activity that takes place only in part on domestic soil” (Driscoll, 2014, p. 84). As a result, organized crimes and gangs have become a problem.

Curriculum Changes: Focus on Detecting Threats and Avoiding Them

Seeing how badly the problems listed above can affect learners, a teacher must make sure that awareness rates should be raised and the relevant information should be included in the curriculum.

Table 3. Curriculum

Challenges and Benefits of the New Curriculum: When Prejudices Block the Way to Learning

When creating a new curriculum, an educator must keep in mind that there is not much time to convince the learners about the threats of drug use, becoming a member of a gang, etc. The prejudices that make people underrate the dangers of the issues listed above have exclusive power over most people. Therefore, changing the students’ perception of the issue within a short amount of time is the key challenge. The opportunities for creating healthier attitudes in the community and reducing juvenile crime, in their turn, are the crucial benefits of the new curriculum.

References

Allison, J., Khan, T., Reese, E., Dobias, R. S., & Struna, J. (2015). Lessons from the labor organizing community and health project: Meeting the challenges of student engagement in community based participatory research. Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education, 5(1), 5-30.

Carrapico, H., & Lavogna, A. (2014). Space oddity? Exploring organised crime ventures in cyber space. The European Review of Organised Crime, 1(1), 1-5.

Driscoll, J. (2014). Improving U.S. strategy on transnational organized crime. International Affairs Review, 23(1), 84-103.

Hughes, M. T., & Valle-Riestra, D. M. (2014). Examining the perceptions of families, teachers, and administrators of preschool programs meeting the needs of young children with disabilities. Journal of Education and Human Development, 3(4), 21-32.

Kang, Y., & Cho, J. (2015). Effective communication between parents and teachers using smartphone app. International Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications, 8(1), 181-192.

Williams, M., & Pearson, O. (2016). Hate crime and bullying in the age of social media. Web.

Abstract

The time allocation of curriculum development is defined by the volume of work performed at each phase, the number of people involved, the presence of additional organizational and administrative factors, and, to some extent, the cost. The following paper suggests a timeline for the development of the fifth-grade curriculum program of Public Schools of Brookline. The table outlines the planned duration of each phase. The rationale presents a detailed account of the factors responsible for the placement decisions.

Curriculum Timeline

Rationale

The timeline above outlines curriculum development for a fifth-grade program of Public Schools of Brookline. The Brookline school district traditionally separates the development cycle for elementary and secondary programs. Such an approach is sometimes characterized as having a disruptive effect on the integrity of the curricular development process, which is inaccurate. The committee responsible for the design and implementation works closely with professionals from other fields to assure the collaboration and mutual integration of knowledge within the existing K12 pattern (CCRS Center, 2011).

At the same time, the design process prioritizes specific programs to ensure focused and dedicated progression. In relation to the time span, such an approach allows a more condensed effort and provides an opportunity to launch a program review every two years. The programs are clustered in three groups, which can be categorized as liberal arts, science, and languages (the latter is assigned a separate group because of the priorities characteristic for the fifth-grade education) (English, 2010).

Such clustering allows for better horizontal articulation on a small scale, i.e., the involvement of knowledge of related or marginal disciplines to enhance integration and interrelation across disciplines (Cullen & Hill, 2013). Aside from this, the teachers across the region are engaged in a district-wide horizontal articulation to ensure the synchronicity of actions, relevance, and cross-reference of knowledge, and maintaining the high standards set by the district and articulated in the mission statement (Public Schools of Brookline, n.d.).

Such a step also improves the time of each cluster’s progression along the timeline, as it provides opportunities for simultaneous development of several programs during one year. The resulting duration of the curriculum development cycle is six years, with an additional year introduced due to differences in complexity and cost of some programs. The review and subsequent development of each new cluster are initiated on a two-year basis.

It is important to note that the data collection and analysis is seamlessly performed on a small scale throughout the process by the Office of Strategy and Performance. On three occasions where areas of data collection are specified (FY 16, 18, and 20), a more rigorous level of assessment is utilized to account for the shortcomings of the previous program, which could have been overlooked previously.

For this reason, the needs assessment stage requires one full year to be completed. The development component is going on for two years, with the first year dedicated to setting goals and objectives, choosing and organizing educational content, and selecting delivery methods that allow for the most efficient delivery of the defined content. During the second year, the evaluation phase commences aimed at establishing the validity of the chosen content and delivery methods. While it rarely demands a full year cycle, the administrative and organizational particularities slow down the process enough to require additional time allocation (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2013). Specifically, communication and cross-examination on a district-wide horizontal scale demand extra time.

The implementation phase is the most cost-demanding one since it relies heavily on the participation of external parties. Conversely, many of its steps are not time-consuming, which allows allocating the production of a curriculum product (including the search for the entity which can undertake the task) and testing of the resulting artifact within a single year. In case the testing confirms the previous success and no new issues surface, the recruitment and training phase begins.

Devising the staffing policies and providing training to synchronize the skills of the staff with the newly added and modified methods requires at least one year of development and implementation, hence the allocated slot in the timeline.

Finally, the implementation of the curriculum is reserved for the final year of the cycle, making six years total for each discipline cluster. The evaluation at this stage is performed mostly via formative tests, and the obtained data is processed on a regular basis without special emphasis on the newly modified field. As can be seen, the time constraints do not necessarily correlate with the cost of each phase. Besides, since no differences exist in the duration and cost of the same phase depending on disciplines, they are distributed evenly across the timeline.

References

CCRS Center. (2011). Successful K-12 transitions through vertical and horizontal articulation. Web.

Cullen, R., & Hill, R. R. (2013). Curriculum designed for an equitable pedagogy. Education Sciences, 3(1), 17-29.

English, F. W. (2010). Deciding what to teach and test: Developing, aligning, and leading the curriculum. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues. Harlow, England: Pearson Education, Limited.

Public Schools of Brookline. (n.d.). Vision, mission, core values & goals. Web.