NURS FPX 6108 Assessment 5 Curriculum Evaluation
- NURS FPX6108 Assessment 5
Curriculum Evaluation
Student name
Capella University
NURS FPX 6108
Professor Name
Submission Date
Curriculum assessment provides graduate nurses with fundamental and advanced skills to help them adapt to the dynamic health care environment. Since 1939, the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing has offered the first approved and accredited Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). This program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). In constructing a competency-based education (CBE) program, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials will be integrated across 232 courses in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. The aim of this report is to create a thorough and organized program evaluation in relation to the organizational structure of the BSN Program, relevant nursing education theories, and course objectives and associated assessment methods.
Part I: Synopsis of Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Identification, Organization, and Learner Population
In developing a specific program, you must address the needs of both the institution and the target population. The University of Pittsburgh’s BSN programs and services are dedicated to recent high school graduates wishing to become entry-level professional nurse practitioners and generalist registered nurses. These services are offered in an exclusively full-time, in-person format, and students have a maximum of four years to prepare to take the NCLEX-RN. The target population of the former students encompasses a range of individuals, from high school graduates to university transfers, and from multiple nursing programs.
In order to ensure the sustainability of the nursing workforce, the integrated, complex, and diverse nature of the modern healthcare system requires the ability to attract and retain learners from diverse populations. The University of Pittsburgh (2024) states that students train for over 1200 hours of clinical and practical instruction. These hours are completed in a mix of community-based clinics and hospitals. Such a mix and the extensive practice provide the theorist skills required by the generalist nurse, and prepare students for a variety of practice areas beyond nursing. The diversity of the students, coupled with the diversity of the clinical practice offerings, is likely to achieve the program’s objective.
Mission Statement Linkage to Curriculum
All levels of nursing education must incorporate the mission statement. The mission of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing (2024) states that the school’s graduates will be able to serve all populations, communities, and families. This mission statement is based on the improvement of the curriculum’s cultural competence. The school has made an effort to recruit and retain a diverse range of community members, actively working to address their needs, and has made efforts to work with various racial, ethnic, and cultural community members, as well as members of various age groups, disabilities, and genders. A second aspect of mission-based learning, referred to by Sangwa and Mutabazi (2025), focuses on the thoughtful, purposeful, and selective design of learning experiences that foster the development of professional capacities and values.
When developing a curriculum, core values and professional responsibilities will be reflected in teaching and learning activities that embody the institution’s mission. The Program design is based on the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics, which demands the profession’s members to be benevolent, loving, and caring (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). Ethically based commitment is achieved by offering community engagement courses that include clinical, interprofessional, and health equity approaches. The Institution’s focus and ethics of the profession are combined, and students will be equipped to practice safe and effective person-centered care.
Professional Standards, Guidelines, Competencies, and Technology
The CCNE has created desired outcomes for baccalaureate programs in nursing across the United States. The BSN program at the University of Pittsburgh meets these standards. The other accreditation agency, the AACN, has developed The Essentials as a guiding framework to develop nursing curricula. As indicated in the curriculum design, the BSN program at the University of Pittsburgh has a much stronger emphasis on the competencies of (1) person-centered care, (2) interprofessional collaboration, and (3) informatics. These standards also ensure that graduates are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN and become licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.
Since technology is an integral part of most health care services, the modern assessment of the competence of practicing nurses has a direct bearing on the safety and quality of health care services. Technology needs to be integrated into nursing education. The BSN Program at the University of Pittsburgh has a strong emphasis on client care, health information, and simulation technologies. According to Uppor et al. (2024), simulated care, which is grounded in technology, develops and strengthens the safe and practice-ready profession of nursing. Thus, it can be concluded that the graduates of the University of Pittsburgh also possess the desired skills and attributes contemporary health care systems demand.
Learning Outcomes and Meeting Needs of Diverse Learners
There are specific skills and attitudes that must be learned and practiced before earning a nursing degree. From the first year of study (2024), students at the University of Pittsburgh learn skills that they will ultimately apply. For example, Kayyali (2025) identifies that a Tiered Open Enrollment, aligned with evidence-based instructional design, gives students paths of mastery at different tiers and accommodates different learning styles. Using the nursing program competency outcomes, students’ skills and knowledge can be harnessed towards the outcomes set by the nursing program.
The evidence of meeting the requirement of a diverse student population is one of the indicators that the State validates while approving a program. The same consideration is given to the inclusion of acute care and community nursing practicum experiences in the university’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). Mashwama et al. (2025) contend that a combination of different assessment methods and different instructional methods facilitates learning for ALL students. Meeting the AACN (2020) competencies and outcomes assures that the graduates have the competence to practice nursing in different contexts.
Process Timeframe and Stakeholders for Curriculum Currency
To keep pace with health care advancements, it is imperative to implement a more structured system for evaluating nursing education programs using feedback from multiple stakeholders. For example, the CCNE has a system to evaluate the programs where input is gathered from the State Nursing Board members, students, and clinical partners, as part of the accreditation process (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). This would mean that the three key stakeholders, the State Board of Nursing, hospital administrators, and Curriculum Committees, would have to collaborate on the review of the courses that comprise the Curriculum on an annual basis. This review would focus on teaching nursing students about the latest trends in health care, relevant health care research, and the gaps in the health care workforce.
When there is a lack of a structured system for reviewing the curriculum, newly graduated nurses are not prepared for the appropriate activities that the current workplace and professional environment demand. As Obafemi (2024) noted, nursing schools should evaluate their curricula on an annual (or semi-annual) basis using indicators such as student achievement, NCLEX scores, and feedback on graduate performance. An example of a program that employs a systematic review on a regular basis is the Pitt BSN program, which is in alignment with current best practices and standards of the health care ecosystem.
Part II: Synopsis of Curriculum Theory, Frameworks, and Models
Fundamental Organizing Design and Theoretical Framework
Engagement of learners within a curriculum can be assessed and designed with the help of an organizing design at higher levels for professional nursing practice. The Pitts Nursing program employs a CBE (Competency-Based Education) model and organizes the curriculum through the AACN (2021) Essentials. The CBE model allows for deliberate course design, with assessments and clinical practice designed to support and foster the development of 10 nursing practice domains (AACN, 2021). As Mani (2025) states, the CBE model has shown positive effects in the clinical preparedness of nursing graduates and the length of time nursing graduates are deemed fully competent in the clinical setting.
The AACN Essentials (2021) are the 10 interrelated domains that a graduate of a nursing program must meet to be registered. They are the competencies, skills, and experiences that a nursing graduate must possess in order to provide the best evidence-based, population-dense, and technology-enabled care in partnership with an interprofessional collaborative team. It is a simple-to-complex model designed to enable and empower nursing graduates to successfully prepare to take the NCLEX. (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). The educational pathways are designed based on the aims of the institution to develop nursing professionals that are of high quality and sustainable to the needs of society.
Professors Kumar & Rewari (2022) assert that the early years are devoted to the science of health and care technologies and the later years to the dominating systems of health care. In Pitt’s program, the science of health and care technologies is in the early years; health care is in the later and upper years. The program is designed to aid the students and is aligned with the mission of the institution.
History and Major Concepts of the AACN Essentials Framework
Studying the history of Competency-based Education (CBE) helps us appreciate the role of CBE in nursing curriculum design. CBE in the health professions began to develop in the 1970s. The CBE was developed to help close the gap between theory and practice for nursing students. In 1986, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published the first edition of the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. The document was revised, and a competencies-based approach with three domains was added in July 2021 (AACN, 2021). Pitt’s BSN curriculum draws from the AACN’s updated Essentials for the 2021 AACN’s BSN curriculum.
New data on the national nursing workforce and the preparation of entry-level nurses indicate that the main motivation for revising the AACN Essentials (2021) was this data. Qazi and Al-Mhdawi (2025) noted that nursing schools that embraced the updated Essentials Framework experienced a positive change in NCLEX outcomes as they progressed from Framework Levels II and III to Framework Level IV. The ten Domains from the Essentials Framework are present in Pitt’s BSN curriculum, including the Empirical Domains of practice, quality and safety, professional behavior, and personal-professional leadership (AACN, 2021).
Demonstration of the Framework within the Curriculum
For Ashworth (2015), theory ‘takes shape’ when it is embedded in the structure and content of the curriculum. At the University of Pittsburgh, therefore, ‘Scholarship for Practice’ is captured in the research appraisal element of NURS 4040 Evidence-Based Practice and Research. In NURS 4030 Nursing Leadership and Management, clinical team events provide opportunities to present evidence for ‘Professionalism’ and ‘Interprofessional Partnerships.’ NURS 4050 Capstone is the most evident example in the curriculum of the theory-practice gap.
The curriculum shows evidence of being designed in a scaffolded, integrated, and outcome-based manner through the embedding of the NCLEX. For NCLEX, Year 3 ends with the NCLEX Diagnostic Prep Exam, the NCLEX Predictor Exam is taken at the end of the program, and the NCLEX Preparation is complete at the end of Year 3 with a 3-day NCLEX Preparation (University of Pittsburgh, 2024). Mani (2025) noted that when supportive, formative assessment ‘check-ins’ are designed into the curriculum, they are positively correlated with first-attempt NCLEX success (as opposed to NCLEX Prep). In combination, these features are in service of a competency-based program in the Pitt BSN Program.
Part III: Synopsis of Course Development and Influencing Factors
New Course: Advanced Nursing Informatics and Digital Health
Three key components of designing a new course within an existing curriculum are pinpointing the needs of sincere practitioners, understanding the gaps of licensure programs, and the evolving nature of the healthcare workforce. University of Pittsburgh’s “Advanced Nursing Informatics and Digital Health” course development addresses these components. This course is the first of its kind to be offered in the U.S. The course design integrates the conventional method, simulation, and experiential learning and has a credit value of 3 – 4. In the course, participants dissect the chronic issues of EHR systems and interact with EHR systems in course activities and discourse. The design of the course has an intentional alignment with the AACN Essentials (2021) and addresses the Nursing Informatics and IT, Quality and Safety, and related curricular gaps at the University of Pittsburgh.
We no longer exist in the time described by Hants et al. (2023), where the only responsibility for nurses was to engage with patients and colleagues in the face-to-face realm. Indeed, now the nurse’s work transcends digital health, advanced analytics, computation-based decision support, and artificial intelligence (AI) integration. This course begins at the point where Lewis et al. (2015) locate the meeting of the advanced practice nurse role with the field of Nursing Informatics.
External and Internal Factors Influencing Curriculum Design
Integrating curriculum portions requires responsive nursing programs to address external factors. Competencies impacted by telehealth, remote or portable patient monitoring, and Artificial Intelligence are essential for practicing nurses. (Amjad et al. 2023). Forecasting nursing technologies and evidence-based best practices in healthcare may influence the AACN and the CCNE to include nursing informatics in nursing education (Welch and Smith, 2022). Thus, the use of healthcare technology in practice must be embedded in nursing education to prepare nursing students.
The services of stakeholders like faculty, curriculum teams, lab personnel, academic leaders, and other staff must be incorporated into the design, implementation, and evaluation of a new curriculum (Kumar & Rewari, 2022). One study (Brown et al. 2023) recognized the need for the use of data and the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams at each step of the curriculum design to ensure the quality of the process and the curriculum. An internal collaboration and cohesion deficit poses a risk of unaligned curriculum objectives, and new courses may become unrelated to the needs and overall aims of the curriculum.
Stakeholder Collaboration and Consequences of Non-Collaboration
Designing, developing, and implementing a new curriculum should include everyone. This should include internal stakeholders such as faculty and curriculum committees, as well as external stakeholders such as clinical partners, accreditors, employers, and their technical personnel. DelMonte et al. (2022) describe that well-balanced advisory committees of CCNE-accredited programs prepare students for the workforce, differentiating these programs from other CCNE-accredited programs. Flexible, effective, and employment-based curricula require the establishment of advisory committees, clinical partnerships, and stakeholder engagement.
Failure to harmonize the efforts of all participants in curriculum design, such as in nursing courses, can negatively impact all participants in that process. For instance, this adversely impacts those participants who are part of the process for developing a new curriculum. Where participants in developing a curriculum do not have the opportunity to be involved at different phases of the process, it is likely that the curriculum will not meet contemporary professional practice requirements and, in all probability, will not meet the accreditation requirements. It is also known that failing to meet the minimum requirements negatively impacts the NCLEX outcomes of all nursing programs (Sheikoleslami et al., 2025). There is an evident need for collaborative, systematic, and ongoing stakeholder engagement for nursing curricula in order to safeguard the interests of nursing programs.
Part IV: Curriculum Evaluation
Importance of Ongoing Curriculum Evaluation
Nurse educators and nurse education administrators play an integral role in the quality of education since they are responsible for reviewing nursing program curricula on a consistent basis. In the education field, assessments are divided into two categories: summative assessments and formative assessments. According to Obafemi (2024), summative assessments are conducted after the learning process, while formative assessments are conducted during the learning process. The outcomes of the two assessments may be used by faculty, school administrators, accreditors, employers, and students to analyze how well the program is meeting its objectives. Assessment of a nursing program must be done on a regular basis to ensure that its graduates are able to meet the new requisite standards for clinical practice and licensure.
Curriculum needs to be managed and monitored on a regular basis to ensure that the performance standards of the different domains of the nursing program are being met. It is likely that programs that do not possess evaluations will be found to be in non-compliance with the AACN and CCNE’s accreditation standards and nursing board stipulations for their state (Welch & Smith, 2022). The absence of periodic evaluation of a nursing program suggests that graduates of such a program are less likely to be clinically competent and employable, and will likely score lower in the NCLEX exam as compared to graduates of programs that have periodic program evaluations (Obafemi, 2024). The first priority for the practice of evidence-based nursing should be the establishment of a continuous evaluation system for the curriculum.
Criteria Important in Curriculum Evaluation
It’s essential to build effective models with evaluative criteria for a systematic and objective program analysis in the field of nursing. Evaluative criteria for the Pitt BSN Program will stem from first attempt NCLEX-RN results and surveys of employer satisfaction and employment within six months of graduation from the Pitt BSN Program. Evaluative criteria will also include retention and graduation rates, effective clinical placement, course results, and connection to the AACN (2021) Competency Domain Framework. Lewis et al. (2022) maintain that the most effective form of evaluating a curriculum is to use as many criteria as possible to create an extensive portfolio of evidence to judge the effectiveness of the curriculum for the graduate.
Obafemi (2024) described the different ways the data are used to assess the criteria established by the faculty in the Curriculum Committee to evaluate the Pitt BSN Program. Faculty will be assessed on data relating to the outcomes of the students, faculty, course, and Simulation lab effectiveness. The Pitt BSN Program reviews the curriculum each year to ensure the integration of Cultural Competence, Interprofessional Collaboration, and Technology to modernize the curriculum and retain its relevance to the profession of nursing.
Pilot Testing in Curriculum Evaluation
When dealing with a partially implemented curriculum, new strategies for assessing that curriculum must be applied. For the Proposed Advanced Nursing Informatics and Digital Health course, referred to here as pilot testing, this will mean developing the course for Pitts’ BSN program and introducing the course for one cohort prior to offering the course to the full cohort. Faculty will be provided with opportunities to evaluate “live” data with respect to participation, the quality of participation, and goal attainment, as well as the efficacy of simulation with respect to the Digital Health and documentation Competencies, in addition to the quality of the coursework and the engagement of the participants. It is understood that the design of a curriculum is a process of continuous “testing” and “refining” based on the new and developing teaching and professional practice content that learners need to acquire (Kumar and Rewari, 2022).
An example of an innovation in nursing education is pilot testing with simulation-based modules. For example, Uppor et al. (2024) study shows that in an obstetric nursing course, pilot testing for the nursing and midwifery courses showed that students scored higher on the clinical judgment measure prior to engaging in the practical component of the obstetric nursing and midwifery courses. In the Pitt BSN Informatics course, a ‘Pilot’ testing strategy is a combination of pre- and post-tests, direct observation, and post-course participant satisfaction evaluations with the goal of designing a curriculum with minimal failure and to implement a ‘design’ (evidence-based) strategy for new course offerings to one cohort of students.
Short-Term and Long-Term Curriculum Evaluations for Process Improvement
Short-Term Evaluation Strategies
In the short term, the goal is to develop student learning in ways that faculty can adapt curriculum components to have positive effects on student learning in a timely manner. The BSN curriculum at Pitt has a number of ways to measure short-term progress: end-of-semester course evaluations, mid-semester student feedback surveys, and clinical preceptor performance evaluations. These evaluations also help identify gaps in teaching, student satisfaction with clinical placements, and the effectiveness of the preceptors. Formative evaluation tools enable faculty to mitigate the adverse effects on learning with an imperfect curriculum.
Long-Term Evaluation Strategies
Long-term evaluation means evaluating a curriculum over a long period of time. An example would be assessing the results of alumni months or years after they leave the program. For the Pitt BSN program, selected long-term evaluation methods are the annual NCLEX-PN 5-year pass rates, an annual employer satisfaction survey done at 12 months post-graduation, and the career advancement of BSN Alumni. The long-term evaluation done most infrequently for the Pitt BSN program is the CCNE accreditation site visit, which happens every 5-10 years. Mani (2025) states that assessing educational programs requires both long and short-term evaluation methods. The short-term method identifies an issue that is immediate, while the long-term evaluation deals with the program’s systemic strengths and weaknesses.
Applying Evidence-Based Nursing Concepts to Improve Curriculum Development
The role of evidence in the designing and revising of the nursing curriculum in relation to the nursing and educational theories is best captured by the evidence-informed/evidence-based decision-making process. The AACN (2021) Essentials is the evidence-based integration of nursing and educational theories and competencies with constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang, 2011) and graduate outcomes, along with expert nursing practice competencies. The Pitt BSN Program integrates the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) in the first year of the program and the upper levels in the second. Lewis et al. (2022) state that “the nursing curriculum was developed around competencies that were articulated using an evidence-based taxonomy, resulting in an impressive articulation of competency in the nursing curriculum.”
Within each level of the Pitt BSN Program, evidence-based practice (EBP) is extensively integrated. An example of this is the first high-fidelity simulation that BSN students complete. High fidelity simulations (Uppor et al., 2024) are effective in improving clinical judgement and decreasing adverse patient outcomes. Studies have shown that a lack of interprofessional education leads to negative patient outcomes. Since active interprofessional education can be modeled in IPE (Brown et al., 2023), the Pitt BSN Program, in this instance, has taken a more innovative and ambitious approach. The Pitt BSN Program changes the curriculum to reflect the best practice models of nursing.
Accreditation Body and Evaluation Criteria
Identifying an accreditation body is helpful for analyzing the external quality assurance system for nursing programs related to the curriculum and the assessment of the nursing program. The accrediting body for the University of Pittsburgh’s BSN Program is the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). According to the University of Pittsburgh (2024), the CCNE accredits nursing bachelor’s and master’s programs by evaluating indicators of the programs’ missions, governance, institutional commitment, and resources, as well as the programs’ curricula, teaching and learning, and outcomes.
When evaluating programs, CCNE’s standards require that there be a sufficient demonstration of the extent to which learning outcomes have been achieved. These outcomes and assessment criteria are congruent with the AACN Essentials competency models. Evaluation Criteria Specific to the Pitt BSN Program and CCNE include NCLEX-RN first-time test-taker pass rates, program completion and retention rates, and graduation and employer satisfaction surveys. Programs should show evidence of intentional alignment, assessment, and improvement of their mission, curriculum, and resources (Welch & Smith, 2022). The CCNE evaluation findings should also prompt faculty and program resource and curricular improvements to meet/accommodate the program quality review and accreditation standards.
Conclusion
Curriculum evaluation is a continuous process involving evidence-based quality assurance and improvement practices in nursing curricula. The evaluation of the BSN Program at the University of Pittsburgh represents the conclusion of the alignment of the Institution’s Mission, the AACN Essentials, and CCNE Accreditation, and the routine evaluation of curricula. The Advanced Nursing Informatics and Digital Health Course has been developed to address a critical gap in the curriculum with the intention of catering to the new and increasing workforce demands coming from outside the classroom, while helping maintain the integrity of the nursing profession. Program evaluations are increasingly incorporating evidence-based standards with a focus on the readiness of nursing graduates for the workforce.
References
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