Aligning learning outcomes, assessment, and instruction (constructive alignment, Biggs, 1999) imbues educators with the opportunity to systematically (re)design curriculum for transformation. Recently the School of Nursing at Queen’s University has spearheaded a project using productivity and Innovation Funds (PIF) to integrate high fidelity patient simulation scenarios at 12 Nursing Schools (and their college partners) across Ontario.
In collaboration with Queen’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, the School of Nursing has conducted two large collaborative hands-on workshops to align curricula within and across institutes. Alignment has been made possible by the institutes agreeing upon a shared template, and engaging in collaboration with a willingness to share resources, both human capital and intellectual property. Prior to delving into technical aspects of simulation development, organizers dedicated a full day to the development of scenario outcomes and rubric design. Upon completion of the learning outcome component of the day, nurse educators were asked to further define outcomes through the development of rubric descriptors within a three level rubric. Although educators found this process onerous, and the learning curve steep, it was agreed that building a strong foundation was essential for the validity of scenario development. This approach to simulation development is unique and represents a student focused, and an outcomes informed approach. Whereas traditional learning outcomes are created in a “verb + instructional focus” format, learning outcomes in this collaboration have implemented a “verb + instructional focus + purpose” framework that was converted into the maxim “Do What, With What, For What?” Extending the traditional learning outcome framework allowed educators to delineate the relevant scope and context for their chosen scenario. Pedagogically speaking, the development of outcomes and their direct alignment with rubric criteria allow students to set targeted goals based on course instruction, self-evaluate their performance, and receive external feedback on focused outcomes. This is imperative in the ill-defined context of nursing simulation education where demonstration of “soft skills” such as critical thinking, problem solving, triage, and collegial communication represent the “hard competencies” that can save lives. Moreover, within the context of province wide knowledge sharing, the indexing of instructional preparation, learning outcomes, and competency metrics allow for alignment across school curriculum, and importantly decreases redundancies and gaps across simulations held within the repository.
In this workshop, participants will be presented evaluation data on the project, and be asked to engage with presenters in a discussion around the “Do What, With What, For What?” format and approach to developing outcomes and rubrics as a means of curriculum development. Finally, the longitudinal potential of this project to align educational and practical nursing outcomes will be discussed.