Educational Design for Nurse Educators

Module 3 Assignment: Educational Design for Nurse Educators
Whether teaching preschoolers their ABCs or advanced practice nurses a new concept in patient care, education is always designed to fulfill a need or change behavior to get to the desired state. In professional nursing practice, learning is designed to address a practice gap or correct a problem. Before you can develop outcomes that inform professional development activities for practicing nurses, you first have to know what that problem is. Thus, the first step of the educational design process for the NPD Practitioner is assessment of a practice gap. The second step is the identification of learning needs to address the practice gap. As mentioned earlier, learning needs in academic settings are defined by internal and external factors influencing the curriculum and will be explored further in another course.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The third step of the educational design process for all nurse educators is developing learning outcomes based on learning needs. We then articulate the path to achieving these learning outcomes by identifying cognitive, behavioral, and emotional tasks in the form of learning objectives. These learning objectives provide a structure for planning educational activities and inform students of what they will actually be doing.

Learning outcomes and objectives must be measurable because they serve as the basis for developing evaluations of learning, the final step of the educational design process. While the actual methods of evaluating learning for nursing students and practicing nurses often differs, approaches to identifying appropriate evaluations are similar. Evaluations must align to learning objectives or learning outcomes for a learning experience to be cohesive.
For this Module 3 Assignment, you will assume the role of the Nursing Professional Development Practitioner for all three stages of the educational design process. The assignment consists of three parts, which you will complete over the next 3 weeks. Below are the details of each part of the Module 3 Assignment. For this week, you will complete Part 1.

Assignment (6–8 pages, not including title and reference pages)
Part 1: Gap Analysis and Learning Needs Assessment
Note: You will submit all 3 parts of this Module 3 Assignment by Day 7 of Week 7. You should begin working on Part 1 of the Assignment this week.

For Part 1 of the Module 3 Assignment, you will analyze the practice gap, or area for improvement, that you identified in the Week 5 Discussion using the Hospital Compare website. You will identify the potential learning need to address this practice gap and explain approaches that could be used to analyze the identified gap and assess the learning need(s).
To prepare:
Review the Resources about gap analysis and learning needs assessment as they relate to practice settings.
Review the Educational Plan Exemplars found in the Resources for this week and consider how these plans might inform your Educational Plan.
Review the gap you identified in this week’s Discussion and use this gap to complete Part 1 of your Module 3 Assignment.
Review the Educational Plan Template and use the areas of the template designated for Week 5 to complete Part 1 of your Module 3 Assignment.
Assignment: (1–2 pages not including title and reference pages)
Use the Educational Plan Template for the gap you identified in the Discussion for this week and complete the following:

Identify the current state and the desired state to determine the gap, or area for improvement.
Identify a potential learning need that may be contributing to the practice gap.
The Educational Plan Template will serve as the basis for completing a 1- to 2-page paper in which you will complete the following:
Explain your approach to identifying the practice gap from the scenario.
Explain your approach to identifying the learning need based on the practice gap.
Use your Resources to support your explanations. Use proper APA formatting and references.

Complete this part of the assignment in Week 5. You will submit Part 1 of your Assignment along with Part 2 and Part 3 in Week 7.

No Assignment submission required for this week.

Part 2: Writing Outcomes and Objectives to Plan Activities
Note: You will submit all 3 parts of this Module 3 Assignment by Day 7 of Week 7. You should begin working on Part 2 of the Assignment in Week 6.

To prepare:
Based on your Discussion this week and your identified learning outcome and objectives, consider how you will need to refine them in order to meet the learning needs.
Consider how learning objectives are used to organize and scaffold content and plan activities.
Review the Educational Plan Template you began for Part 1, and use the areas of the template designated for Week 6 to complete Part 2 of your Module 3 Assignment.
Assignment (2–3 pages not including title and reference pages) Update your Educational Plan Template by completing the following:

Rewrite the learning objective for each of the three domains of learning to address the learning outcome at a higher level (i.e., level 2 and above) based on the feedback received from your colleagues.
Identify the level within Bloom’s Taxonomy for each learning objective.
List 3 topics you would teach to address each objective. (Note: You will need 3 topics per learning objective for a total of 9 topics).
The Educational Plan Template will serve as the basis for completing a 2- to 3-page paper in which you will respond to the following:
Explain how the desired learning outcome you developed addresses the learning need.
Explain how each learning objective addresses the learning outcome.
Explain how each learning objective addresses the identified domain of learning and level within Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Explain how you can use learning objectives to organize the content topics you identified and plan activities.
Use your Resources to support your explanations. Use proper APA formatting and references.

Complete this part of the assignment in Week 6. You will submit Part 2 of your Assignment along with Part 1 and Part 3 in Week 7.

No Assignment submission required for Week 6.
Part 3: Evaluation for Nurse Educators
You will submit Part 3 of your Assignment along with Part 1 and Part 2 in Week 7.

To prepare:
Review the Resources for this week related to alignment of evaluation to learning objectives/outcomes and Kirkpatrick’s Levels of Evaluation.
Review your colleagues’ feedback about your evaluation approaches from the Week 7 Discussion.
Consider ways to apply your colleagues’ feedback to evaluation methods for your other learning objectives and your learning outcome.
Review the Educational Plan Template and use the areas of the template designated for Week 7 to complete Part 3 of your Module 3 Assignment.
Assignment (2–3 pages not including title and reference pages)

Complete the Educational Plan Template by including:
An evaluation method for levels 1–3 of Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation for either of your two remaining learning objectives. (Note: The three evaluations you describe do not necessarily have to address the same learning objective.)
An evaluation method for level 4 of Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation for your learning outcome.
Use the Educational Plan Template to complete a 2- to 3-page paper which includes the following:
Explain how each of the evaluation methods you described addresses a particular level of evaluation.
Explain how each of the evaluation methods you described addresses the respective domain of learning in your learning objectives.
Explain how alignment of evaluation methods to learning objectives and learning outcomes ensures cohesive educational design.
Use your Resources to support your explanations. Use proper APA formatting and references.

Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates). All papers submitted must use this formatting.
No Assignment submission required for this week.

Submit your Parts 1, 2, and 3 and your Educational Plan Template of your Module 3 Assignment by Day 7 of Week 7.
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

Dickerson, P. (2017). Core curriculum for nursing professional development (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: Association for Nursing Professional Development.

Chapter 9, “Gaps in Professional Practice/Learning Needs Assessment” (pp. 94–109)
Harper, M. G., & Maloney, P. (2016). Nursing professional development scope & standards of practice (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Association for Nursing Professional Development.

“Standards of Nursing Professional Development Practice (pp. 29–41)
“Standard 1: Assessment of Practice Gaps” (p. 30)
“Standard 2: Identification of Learning Needs” (pp. 31–32)
Dickerson, P.S. & Graebe, J. (2018). Analyzing gaps to design educational interventions. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. 49(1), 4 – 6.

Pilcher, J. (2016). Learning needs assessment: Not only for continuing education. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development. 32(4), 185 – 191.

U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Hospital compare. Retrieved from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html

Educational Plan Exemplars:
Council on Renal Nutrition. (2016). Educational planning table [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/Sample-%20Educational%20Planning%20Table.pdf

Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (n.d.). Educational planning table live/enduring material [PDF file].

Credit Line: SUNA. (n.d.). Educational Planning Table Live/Enduring Material. Retrieved from https://www.suna.org/resources/edPlanningSample.pdf. Used with permission of SUNA

Document: Educational Plan Template (Excel spreadsheet)

You will use this document to help you develop your Part 1 of your Module Assignment for this week.