| Course | NUR 645 Curriculum Design in Nursing |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | discussion post on explicit, hidden and null curricula in nursing |
| Length | About 400 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 645 Module 1
Module One Discussion
What My Students Learned That I Never Taught
Before this week I would have described our curriculum by pointing to the program map: eight semesters, the course list, the outcomes. Eisner (2002) argues that every school teaches three curricula at once. The explicit curriculum is the one we write down. The implicit curriculum is what students learn from the way the school and its clinical settings actually operate. The null curriculum is what is never taught, which also teaches something, because students conclude that what is absent does not matter.
Hafferty and Franks (1994) made a similar argument about medical education, observing that much of what students learn about ethics and professional identity comes not from formal ethics courses but from the hidden curriculum of everyday interactions, hierarchies and informal messages. They argued that formal teaching cannot succeed if it contradicts what students see every day.
I see the hidden curriculum on my clinical unit every week. Our skills lab teaches hand hygiene before and after every patient contact. On a busy evening, my students watch experienced nurses go from room to room without stopping at the dispenser, and nobody comments. The lesson students absorb is that hygiene is for when there is time. I have also heard students say they chart vital signs "a little early" because that is how the unit works. No course taught them that, and no outcome measures it, yet it may shape their practice more than our lab checklist.
The null curriculum shows up in our syllabi. When I searched our medical-surgical course materials, I found almost nothing on caring for patients with intellectual or physical disabilities, even though these patients are admitted to our units every day. Students may leave believing that such care requires no special knowledge. Benner et al. (2010) called for nursing education to integrate classroom and clinical learning and to focus on professional formation, not only knowledge. Taking the implicit and null curricula seriously seems central to that call, because formation happens mostly where we are not formally teaching.
For curriculum design, this means reviewing more than documents. I would add student focus groups about what they learned on the units and a review of what our syllabi omit. My question for peers: how have you addressed a hidden curriculum lesson that contradicted what your program formally teaches, especially when it came from clinical partners rather than faculty?
References
Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., & Day, L. (2010). Educating nurses: A call for radical transformation. Jossey-Bass.
Eisner, E. W. (2002). The educational imagination: On the design and evaluation of school programs (3rd ed.). Merrill Prentice Hall.
Hafferty, F. W., & Franks, R. (1994). The hidden curriculum, ethics teaching, and the structure of medical education. Academic Medicine, 69(11), 861-871. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-199411000-00001
What the NUR 645 Module 1 instructions ask for
The opening discussion in NUR 645 usually asks you to define curriculum and consider its forms, often including the formal, informal, hidden or null curriculum, with examples from your own program or practice. Many prompts also ask why these distinctions matter for curriculum design. Your opening post will usually run a few hundred words, somewhere near 400, supported by a couple of scholarly citations in APA 7, and replies to classmates follow later in the week. Define each form in your own words, give a specific example of each drawn from classroom or clinical experience, explain what the example teaches students and close with an implication for how curricula should be reviewed or designed. Replies should extend a peer's example.
How this NUR 645 Module 1 discussion example is built
This post is written by a clinical instructor at a composite baccalaureate program. It explains the Eisner three curricula and uses Hafferty and Franks to show that professional values travel mostly through informal channels. Examples include students watching nurses skip hand hygiene on busy shifts and charting vital signs early, and a medical-surgical syllabus with almost nothing on caring for disabled patients. Benner and colleagues' call for professional formation links the examples to design. The post suggests student focus groups and a review of omissions, then asks peers how they have handled hidden lessons that came from clinical partners. The tone stays reflective while the terms stay exact.
Where the NUR 645 Module 1 rubric puts the points
Discussion posts in NUR 645 tend to be graded on accuracy of concepts, relevance of examples, use of scholarly sources, quality of writing and engagement with peers. The best posts define the hidden and null curricula precisely and give examples specific enough that a reader can picture them, rather than general statements that students learn from role models. Graders reward posts that explain what an example teaches and draw a clear implication for curriculum work. A closing question that opens a new angle, such as the role of clinical partners, supports the engagement portion of the grade, as do replies that add a source. Precise vocabulary matters.
NUR 645 Module 1 help: the mistakes that cost points
First discussions in a curriculum course lose points when curriculum is defined as the list of courses, when hidden curriculum examples are vague, when the null curriculum is left out or when sources are named without being used. Another gap is ending without any implication for design. Define each form, give a concrete example, say what students learn from it, cite evidence and suggest what curriculum review should include. For a prompt about curriculum history, philosophies of education or the role of accreditation instead, send it with details of your program and the NUR 645 post will be built around that question. Keep examples concrete.
Get NUR 645 Module 1 written to your instructions
Send the NUR 645 discussion prompt, a little about your program and the grading criteria. You will get a post that defines each form of curriculum exactly, offers concrete classroom and clinical examples and draws an implication for design, within 24 to 48 hours, free the first time. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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NUR 645 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 645 Module 1 Discussion sample?
The full post is on this page: explicit, hidden and null curricula in a nursing program, with examples from a clinical unit and a syllabus, drawing on Eisner and Hafferty and Franks.
What is the hidden curriculum in nursing education?
The values and habits students learn from the culture of schools and clinical settings, such as shortcuts they see experienced nurses take, rather than from formal teaching.
What is the null curriculum?
What a program never teaches. Its absence tells students that the topic does not matter, as when disability care is missing from course materials.
Why does the hidden curriculum matter for curriculum design?
Formal teaching can be undermined by what students see every day, so curriculum review should examine clinical culture and omissions, not only documents.
What did Benner and colleagues recommend for nursing education?
They called for integrating classroom and clinical learning, emphasizing clinical reasoning and focusing on professional formation.