A Workable In-Depth Curriculum Evaluation Plan

Programme evaluation in nursing education: the state of the art

“…The eumeulum is defined by Bevis (1982) as the totality of leammg aetivities that are designed to aehieve speafie edueational goals Evaluation of nursmg eumeula has beeome a major eoneem of nurse edueators in reeent years It is dosely linked to eumeulum development and therefore ean mvolve a proeess of eontinuous ehange The interest in improving nursing eumeula through evaluation is demonstrated by many authors (Anderson 1985, Clark et al 1983, Fields 1984, Horan et al, 1984, Jenkms 1986, Litwaek et al 1985, O'Neill 1986, Poteet & Hodges 1987, Stewart & Hluchyj 1987, Wakim 1983 The cumculum should reflect the philosophy, conceptual framework, and programme goals of the school and institution Cumeulum evaluation also mvolves an assessment of nursing eontent taught in eaeh eourse, eourse objeetives, teaehmg sfrategies, eourse evaluation methods, and the relationship of non-nursmg eourses to the overall plan of study Speafie items to eonsider m relation to course eontent melude the seleetion and organization of essential eontent from simple to complex, the relationship of this content to course objectives, and whether there are omissions or duplications of essential content, or mclusion of non-essential content Course objectives should descnbe expected behaviours and reflect the level and nature of eontent, whether eognitive, affeetive, or psyehomotor They should also be assessed for elanty, appropnateness to eontent, and the ease by which their achievement by students can be measured Teachmg strategies should relate to eourse eontent and objeetives, and allow for aehievement of the objeetives Course evaluationmethods mvolve both a determination by the faculty of whether students met the course objectives and an appraisal by the students regardmg the value of the eourse to them Evaluation of non-nursmg eourses should descnbe the extent to which they are used as a foundation for nursmg courses, or the extent to which they duplicate content taught m the nursing programme Revisions m the cumculum can be niade accordmgly…”