| Course | NUR 645 Curriculum Design in Nursing |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 10 |
| Paper type | closing reflective journal on curriculum design |
| Length | About 440 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 10
Module Ten Journal
I Used to Think Curriculum Meant My Course
At the start of this term, if someone had asked me about the curriculum, I would have described the adult health clinical course I teach. I knew its objectives, its assignments and its problems. I did not think much about the courses before or after it, and I assumed that whatever students were missing, someone else was covering. Mapping the program in Module Five cured me of that assumption. Our informatics outcome showed up as taught in four places and tested in zero, and every one of us had assumed another course handled it.
The first shift is about removing content. I am the faculty member who always wants to add something: a new sepsis guideline, a lecture on opioid safety. Ironside (2004) described how nursing curricula grow by addition, as teachers feel responsible for covering everything and thinking gets squeezed out. I recognized myself in that description. When our group applied the rule that a new topic must replace an existing exemplar, I found I could name three things in my own course I would cut, and doing so felt like a relief rather than a loss.
The second shift is about where planning starts. I used to design a clinical day around activities I enjoy teaching. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) argue for deciding first what evidence will show that students have learned, and only then choosing activities. When I tried this with my post-conferences, I realized that my favorite activity, a medication quiz, produced no evidence of the judgment outcome the course claims to teach. I replaced it with a short unfolding case built from a patient on the unit.
The third shift is about what the curriculum includes. Hafferty and Franks (1994) showed that much of what students learn about professional values comes from the informal culture of training rather than from formal teaching. On my unit, students learn from what nurses do on busy nights at least as much as from our lab checklists. Designing a curriculum now seems to me to include paying attention to that culture and working with clinical partners on it, not just writing better syllabi.
In my first year on the curriculum committee, I will do three things. I will ask of every proposed addition what it replaces. I will ask of every course change what evidence will show the outcome is met. And I will propose that our next curriculum review include student focus groups about what they learn on the units. I used to think curriculum meant my course. Now I see my course as one part of something larger that I share responsibility for.
References
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
Ironside, P. M. (2004). "Covering content" and teaching thinking: Deconstructing the additive curriculum. Journal of Nursing Education, 43(1), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20040101-02
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
What the NUR 645 Module 10 instructions ask for
The last NUR 645 journal generally invites you to consider what designing or revising a curriculum taught you and how it will shape your work as a nurse educator. The voice is first person, and most versions expect a few scholarly sources cited in APA 7. A length of about 400 to 600 words is typical. Build the entry around a small number of genuine changes in how you think about curriculum, describe the moment in the course that caused each one, connect it to a reading and end with concrete things you will do in a faculty or committee role, so a reader can tell exactly what will be different. Keep the tone candid.
How this NUR 645 Module 10 journal example is built
This journal comes from a clinical instructor preparing to join a curriculum committee. Mapping revealed an outcome every faculty member assumed someone else assessed. The writer uses Ironside's additive curriculum to explain a habit of adding content and describes naming three topics to cut. Backward design from Wiggins and McTighe leads to replacing a favorite medication quiz with an unfolding case. Hafferty and Franks prompt attention to what students learn from clinical culture. The entry ends with three commitments: ask what each addition replaces, ask what evidence each change will produce and add student focus groups to curriculum review. The voice stays candid throughout. Each shift is tied to a real teaching change.
Where the NUR 645 Module 10 rubric puts the points
NUR 645 closing journals are commonly graded on depth of insight, links between personal change and course readings, application to future educator roles, organization and APA 7 mechanics. Strong entries anchor each insight in a specific moment from the course, such as a mapping discovery, and show the writer applying the idea to their own teaching. Graders value sources that actually explain the change being described and commitments tied to real roles, such as a committee seat, rather than general intentions. Admitting a habit the course challenged, and describing what replaced it, reads as more credible than a list of lessons learned. A clear link to future roles helps.
NUR 645 Module 10 help: the mistakes that cost points
Curriculum journals lose points when they recap the milestones instead of reflecting on them, when insights are abstract, when readings appear without connection to the writer's experience or when commitments are too broad to check. Anchor each shift in a course moment, tie it to a source, apply it to your own teaching and end with specific actions for a real role. Honesty about a habit you are giving up usually helps. For a prompt on another theme, such as leading curriculum change, working with accreditors or partnering with clinical agencies, send it with your NUR 645 notes and the entry will be built on that theme. Keep each commitment checkable.
Get NUR 645 Module 10 written to your instructions
Tell us what NUR 645 changed in how you see curriculum and paste in the journal instructions. The entry you receive will anchor each shift in a course moment, tie it to a reading and close with commitments for your faculty role, 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 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 645 Module 10 Journal sample?
This page carries the full journal: a nurse educator reflects on removing content, designing backward and the hidden curriculum, ending with three commitments.
What should a curriculum design reflection include?
Specific changes in how you think about curriculum, the course moments behind them, readings that explain them and concrete actions for your educator role.
What is the additive curriculum?
Ironside's term for curricula that grow by adding content without removing any, which crowds out time for students to learn to think.
How does backward design change teaching?
It starts with the evidence that will show learning, so activities that produce no evidence of the outcome are replaced.
Why should curriculum designers care about the hidden curriculum?
Students learn professional values from clinical culture as much as from formal teaching, so curriculum work must attend to that culture.