NU 635 Unit 4 Course Sequencing Plan Example

Course	NU 635 Curriculum Development and Evaluation
Unit	Unit 4
Paper type	Course sequencing plan
Length	About 690 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 4

Course Sequencing Plan for an Online RN-to-BSN Program: A Full-Time Route, a Part-Time Route, and the Reason Behind Every Prerequisite

Student Name

Department of Nursing, Herzing University

NU 635: Curriculum Development and Evaluation

Instructor Name

February 13, 2026

What this page is doingThe title promises both routes and a reason for each prerequisite. Most students in this program work full time, so the part-time route is the main route, and a prerequisite without a stated reason is usually a habit of the catalog rather than a need of the learner.

Course Sequencing Plan for an Online RN-to-BSN Program: A Full-Time Route, a Part-Time Route, and the Reason Behind Every Prerequisite

Structure

The program delivers ten 3-credit nursing courses in 8-week online sessions, with a one-week break between sessions. A 3-credit course compressed into 8 weeks requires about 15 to 18 hours of student work a week. The community practice experience, NUR 405, adds 90 hours of practice in a community agency, about 11 hours a week. The sequence below keeps the order used in the curriculum map, so that each outcome is introduced, reinforced, and assessed in that order for every student, as a checked curriculum map requires (Harden, 2001).

Full-Time Route: Six Sessions, About 12 Months

Recommended only for students working 24 hours a week or less.

Session	Courses	Credits	Approximate weekly hours
1	NUR 300 Professional Transition; NUR 320 Nursing Informatics	6	32 to 36
2	NUR 330 Evidence-Based Practice; NUR 340 Health Policy and Rural Systems	6	32 to 36
3	NUR 360 Rural and Cultural Health; NUR 350 Care Coordination and Transitions	6	32 to 36
4	NUR 400 Population and Community Health; NUR 405 Community Practice Experience	6	About 30, including 11 practice hours
5	NUR 420 Quality Improvement and Safety	3	16 to 18
6	NUR 450 Leadership Capstone	3	16 to 18

Part-Time Route: Nine Sessions, About 18 Months

Recommended for students working full time. Students take one course per session, in the same order, except in session 7, when NUR 400 and NUR 405 are taken together because they are corequisites. That session is the heaviest in the program, about 30 hours a week, and students are advised to reduce work hours or take vacation time during it if they can. With occasional breaks for a session off, most part-time students will finish in 18 to 20 months.

Prerequisites, Each Argued From What the Learner Must Already Hold

NUR 300 first, for everyone. It introduces three outcomes and orients students to online study, scholarly writing, and the program's rubrics. Returning students who have not written an academic paper in years struggle in later courses without it.

NUR 320 before NUR 350 and NUR 420. Students must be able to pull and interpret unit data, including building a simple run chart, before they can audit medication reconciliation in NUR 350 or measure an improvement project in NUR 420.

NUR 330 before NUR 420 and NUR 450. Both later courses require students to find and appraise evidence without being taught how; the improvement project in NUR 420 must justify each change with an evidence summary.

NUR 340 before NUR 400. The policy brief assessed in NUR 400 requires students to already understand how health policy is made at the state level and how rural payment rules work.

NUR 360 before NUR 400 and NUR 405. The windshield survey and rural health concepts from NUR 360 are the starting point for the community assessment completed in NUR 405.

NUR 400 and NUR 405 as corequisites. The practice experience applies the population assessment framework taught in NUR 400 week by week; separating them would leave students in an agency without the framework, or learning the framework with no population to apply it to.

NUR 420 before NUR 450. The capstone requires a completed workplace improvement project, which is carried out in NUR 420, as part of the portfolio.

No prerequisite was kept only because the previous catalog had it. The former requirement that NUR 340 follow NUR 330 was removed, since the policy course does not use evidence appraisal skills; the two can now be taken in either order, which gives part-time students more flexibility.

What this page is doingEach prerequisite is tied to specific knowledge or work the later course depends on, and one inherited prerequisite is removed because no such dependency exists. Prerequisites justified only by tradition add time for working students without adding learning.

Whether the Pattern Is Survivable

Working RN-to-BSN students commonly delay completion because of work schedules, family obligations, and course load (Iheduru-Anderson, 2021). The part-time route's single-course sessions, about 16 to 18 hours a week, are demanding but manageable for most full-time nurses; the full-time route's two-course sessions, over 30 hours a week, are not compatible with full-time employment, which is why advising steers most students to part-time. The one heavy part-time session is placed late in the program, when students have established study routines, and the practice hours can often be scheduled on days off. A student may stop out for a session without losing a place in the sequence.

What the Sequence Protects

The order protects the logic of the curriculum map: every student meets each outcome first in an introductory course, practices it again later, and is assessed on it near the end. Keeping one sequence for both routes also means that faculty in later courses can assume what students have already done, which is the purpose of a sequence (Keating & DeBoor, 2018).

References

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

Iheduru-Anderson, K. C. (2021). Students' perspectives of factors related to delayed completion of online RN-BSN programs. BMC Nursing, 20, Article 53. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00574-7

Keating, S. B., & DeBoor, S. S. (2018). Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing education (4th ed.). Springer Publishing.

Reading the NU 635 Unit 4 instructions

In Unit 4 you plan the sequence of courses in a nursing program. Expect to describe the program structure, set out one or more routes through it, justify each prerequisite, consider the learners' workload and explain how the sequence supports the curriculum map. Many versions ask for full-time and part-time options. Check whether your section uses an existing program. A prerequisite should be justified by what knowledge or skill the later course needs, not by tradition. Working learners are the reality in RN-to-BSN programs, so consider whether the pace is survivable alongside a job. Compressed 8-week courses double the weekly load of a 16-week course, which affects how many a working nurse can carry at once.

How this NU 635 Unit 4 example is built

The plan opens with the program structure in a paragraph: number of courses, session length and breaks. The full-time route is shown as a table by session, with a recommendation about who should choose it. The part-time route follows in the same format, noting where its order differs. The prerequisite section is the core, arguing each one from what the learner must already know when entering the later course. The survivability section looks at workload per week and cites research on why working students stop out. The final section connects the sequence to the curriculum map, showing that each outcome moves from introduction to assessment in order. Each decision is explained in a sentence or two, so the plan reads as reasoning rather than a schedule.

Reading the NU 635 Unit 4 rubric

Herzing's rubric for a sequencing plan typically covers the program structure, the routes, the justification of prerequisites, attention to learner workload, alignment with the curriculum map and writing. Prerequisite justification is where most marks sit: graders want each one argued from what the later course requires. Route criteria reward clear, realistic options with recommendations about who each suits. Workload points go to plans that calculate weekly demands and cite evidence about working learners. Alignment earns credit when the sequence preserves the introduced, reinforced and assessed order. Accreditation considerations may be scored within alignment. Presentation covers readable tables. Iheduru-Anderson's study and Keating and DeBoor's curriculum text belong in the APA 7 references.

NU 635 Unit 4 help: mistakes that cost points

Sequencing plans in Unit 4 commonly lose points by listing prerequisites without explaining why each is needed. Another frequent problem is a single route that assumes every student studies full-time. Students often ignore workload, especially in compressed sessions. The connection to the curriculum map is left implicit. Breaks between sessions and how they affect momentum are rarely considered. Plans sometimes create bottlenecks where one course is a prerequisite for most of the program. Finally, recommend who should choose each route, because graders look for a plan that helps students decide realistically rather than one that only lists courses by session.

Get a NU 635 Unit 4 example written to your instructions

Send the Unit 4 instructions and the rubric from your NU 635 classroom, with the course list and the term pattern it must fit inside. We write a custom example with dependencies argued pair by pair, clinical timing placed inside the sequence, and the part-time route charted beside the full-time one. First custom sample free, back within 24 to 48 hours.

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NU 635 Unit 4 questions, answered

Can the plan use a program that already exists?

Usually, and it saves inventing a course list that will not hold together. Work from published catalog information rather than internal documents, say which version and term you drew it from, and mark anything you changed as your own proposal. Where you would rather not name an institution, a described program with realistic credit hours and a stated term length supports the argument equally well.

How much detail does each prerequisite need?

One or two sentences naming the thing carried forward. Saying that a research course precedes an evidence translation course restates the chart; saying that the earlier course produces the appraisal skill the later one spends its first half assuming is an argument. Where a prerequisite exists only because of a scheduling constraint, say so plainly rather than inventing an intellectual reason for it.

Does the sequence have to match accreditation requirements?

It has to be consistent with whatever governs the program, and requirements differ by credential and by state. Name the expectations you are designing against, keep the plan consistent with them, and confirm anything about approval or required hours with the body that issues it rather than with a summary you found. A plan claiming compliance without a source is an assertion.

Where can I find a free NU 635 Unit 4 sample paper?

The complete NU 635 Unit 4 sequencing plan is posted here free of charge, both routes and the argument for every prerequisite. A custom plan can sequence your own program's courses and session lengths.

How do I justify prerequisites in a nursing program sequence?

Argue each one from what the learner must already know or be able to do when the later course begins. This sample places the transition course first for everyone because it introduces three outcomes and orients students to online study.

NU 635 Unit 4 course sequencing plan example