| Course | NU 635 Curriculum Development and Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Curriculum map |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | MSN Nurse Educator |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU 635 Unit 3
Mapping a Rural RN-to-BSN Curriculum: Seven Outcomes Across Ten Courses, With the Assignment Behind Every Mark
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NU 635: Curriculum Development and Evaluation
Instructor Name
February 6, 2026
Mapping a Rural RN-to-BSN Curriculum: Seven Outcomes Across Ten Courses, With the Assignment Behind Every Mark
How the Map Was Built
The map crosses the program's seven end-of-program outcomes against its ten 3-credit nursing courses, listed in the order a full-time student takes them. Each cell is marked I (introduced: the outcome is first taught and practiced), R (reinforced: practiced again at greater depth), or A (assessed: the course contains the designated summative assessment for the outcome). Every outcome has exactly one A. Faculty for each course proposed their marks; I then asked each for the specific assignment, reading, or activity that made the mark true, and changed the mark where none existed. Mapping is most useful when it shows what is actually taught and assessed, not what was intended (Harden, 2001).
The Map
Outcomes: O1 population health analysis; O2 evidence appraisal and recommendation; O3 quality improvement leadership; O4 care coordination across settings; O5 policy evaluation; O6 use of data and technology for safety; O7 professional development and leadership plan.
| Course (in sequence) | O1 | O2 | O3 | O4 | O5 | O6 | O7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NUR 300 Professional Transition | I | I | I | ||||
| NUR 320 Nursing Informatics | I | I | |||||
| NUR 330 Evidence-Based Practice | I | ||||||
| NUR 340 Health Policy and Rural Systems | R | ||||||
| NUR 360 Rural and Cultural Health | I | R | |||||
| NUR 350 Care Coordination and Transitions | R | A | R | ||||
| NUR 400 Population and Community Health | R | A | |||||
| NUR 405 Community Practice Experience | A | R | |||||
| NUR 420 Quality Improvement and Safety | R | A | A | ||||
| NUR 450 Leadership Capstone | A | A |
The Work Behind Each Assessed Mark
O1, NUR 405: community assessment of a population in the student's own county with an intervention proposal, completed during the practice experience with a local agency and scored with the program rubric.
O2, NUR 450: capstone evidence appraisal of a practice question from the student's workplace, ending in a recommendation presented to the student's manager.
O3 and O6, NUR 420: a workplace improvement project using the Model for Improvement, with a run chart of the student's own unit data and a safety concern identified from it.
O4, NUR 350: care transition case analysis of a patient discharged from the student's facility, with a communication plan for the receiving setting.
O5, NUR 400: policy brief on a rural health payment or workforce policy, addressed to a named state legislator.
O7, NUR 450: capstone portfolio with reflective essay and a two-year professional development plan.
The Work Behind the Introduced and Reinforced Marks
NUR 300 introduces O4 through a case discussion on a failed discharge, O5 through a short reading-and-response on scope of practice law, and O7 through a first reflective essay on the move from associate degree to baccalaureate practice. NUR 320 introduces O3 and O6 with an exercise interpreting a unit dashboard. NUR 330 introduces O2 through graded article critiques. NUR 340 reinforces O5 with a comparison of two states' policies on nurse staffing. NUR 360 introduces O1 with a windshield survey and reinforces O4 with a module on rural transportation and care access. NUR 350 reinforces O3 and O6 with a medication reconciliation audit. NUR 400 reinforces O1 with incidence and prevalence calculations for the student's county. NUR 405 reinforces O7 with a practice journal. NUR 420 reinforces O2 by requiring an evidence summary to justify each improvement change.
What the Mapping Exercise Changed
Four marks proposed by faculty were removed because no assignment supported them. NUR 340 had marked O1 as reinforced, but its only population content was one optional reading. NUR 300 had marked O2 as introduced on the basis of a library orientation that teaches searching but not appraisal. NUR 360 had marked O3 as reinforced, but no quality improvement content could be identified. And NUR 405 had marked O4 as reinforced, but its practice experiences are in community agencies where students do not coordinate transitions.
Two gaps appeared. O2, evidence appraisal, is introduced only in NUR 330 and then not practiced again until NUR 420, a gap of five courses in which students may lose the skill; faculty agreed to add an evidence summary requirement to the NUR 400 policy brief. And O6, data and technology, is assessed in the same assignment as O3, which risks one outcome being judged only as a by-product of the other; the NUR 420 rubric will be revised to score the two separately.
Checks on the Map
Every outcome is introduced before it is reinforced and reinforced before it is assessed, in the sequence students follow. Every outcome is assessed once, in the second half of the program. The map is consistent with the national competency domains the outcomes were written to reflect (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2021). Accreditation reviewers expect a curriculum that is logically structured to achieve the program's expected outcomes, which a checked map makes visible (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education [CCNE], 2018). It will be reviewed each year by the curriculum committee, which will ask course faculty to confirm that the assignment behind each mark is still in the course.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. (2018). Standards for accreditation of baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs (Amended 2018). Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.
Harden, R. M. (2001). AMEE Guide No. 21: Curriculum mapping: A tool for transparent and authentic teaching and learning. Medical Teacher, 23(2), 123-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590120036547
NU 635 Unit 3 instructions, in plain terms
Unit 3 asks you to map program outcomes across courses, showing where each is introduced, reinforced and assessed. Expect to explain your method, present the map as a table, identify the assignments or activities that support each mark, check sequencing and identify gaps or redundancies. Many versions ask what the mapping revealed and what should change. Check whether your section expects a real program's courses or a composite. The map is only credible if each mark is backed by evidence, so name the assignment rather than marking a course because its title sounds relevant. A map that removes unsupported marks is more honest than one that shows full coverage. Sequence matters, since an outcome assessed before it is introduced reveals a design problem.
How this NU 635 Unit 3 example is built
The map opens with a short method section explaining what the rows and columns are and what each mark means. The grid follows, using I, R and A in cells. The section on assessed marks names the assignment for each outcome and when it is completed. A shorter section does the same for introduced and reinforced marks. The most useful section explains what changed during mapping: proposed marks that had no supporting assignment were removed, and one gap was found. The checks section tests the map against rules, such as order in the student's sequence and no outcome assessed in two places. Each step cites Harden's guidance, so the method rests on an established approach rather than a template.
Reading the NU 635 Unit 3 rubric
Herzing's rubric for a curriculum map generally covers the method, the completeness of the map, evidence for each mark, sequencing, identification of gaps and redundancies, recommendations and presentation. Evidence for marks often decides the grade, because a map built on course titles rather than assignments cannot be trusted by a reviewer. Completeness points require every outcome and every course. Sequencing criteria look for introduction before reinforcement and reinforcement before assessment. Gap and redundancy points reward honest findings, including marks removed. Recommendations earn credit when they follow from the findings. Presentation covers a readable grid with a key. The APA 7 list should include Harden's guide and the CCNE standards on curriculum.
NU 635 Unit 3 help before you submit
Curriculum maps in Unit 3 usually lose points through marks based on what a course title suggests, with no assignment behind them. Another frequent problem is a map that shows every outcome in every course, which signals that marks were added generously. Students often skip the sequence check. Gaps are not reported because the map looks complete. The key is missing, so the grader cannot tell what I, R and A mean. Recommendations are absent or unrelated to the map. Finally, explain what the mapping exercise changed, because graders value evidence that mapping was used to test the curriculum rather than to decorate it.
Get a NU 635 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 3 instructions and the rubric from your NU 635 classroom, adding the outcome set and the course list the grid should hold. We write a custom example with the three marks defined, every assessment cell tied to a named assignment, and the gaps read back as findings. First custom sample free, returned inside 24 to 48 hours.
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NU 635 Unit 3 questions, answered
Does the map need to be a table?
Almost always, since the relationships are two-dimensional and prose forces a reader to rebuild the grid mentally. What decides the grade is what sits under the table. Where the instructions restrict formatting, keep the grid simple, put it in an appendix if required, and make sure the narrative names the same cells the grid does, because a table disagreeing with its own explanation is worse than no table.
What if a program has no published outcomes?
Then map against a set you state and source, label it as constructed for this example, and stay consistent for the rest of the submission. Instructors generally accept a described program provided the outcomes are defensible and the courses are real enough to carry evidence. Do not lift an employer's internal curriculum documents into a file you cannot control.
How detailed should the evidence column be?
Detailed enough that somebody could go and look. Name the assignment, say what it produces, and note whether the evidence is scored against the outcome or merely present in the course. A cell reading final paper tells a reader nothing, while a cell naming a graded artifact and the criterion it is judged under supports the claim the grid is making.
Where can I find a free NU 635 Unit 3 sample paper?
This page shows the whole NU 635 Unit 3 RN-to-BSN curriculum map for free, the grid, the assignment behind each mark and the changes mapping produced. A custom map can be built for your own program's outcomes and courses.
What do I, R and A mean on a nursing curriculum map?
I means an outcome is introduced, R means it is reinforced through practice and A means it is formally assessed. This sample backs each mark with a named assignment and removes four marks that had no assignment behind them.