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The Competencies and Recommendations for Educating undergraduate Nursing Students (CARES) was originally designed for nursing students' palliative and end-of-life care education. The competencies were later revised to align with the 2021 American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials core competencies for baccalaureate nursing education. This project aimed to (1) review the courses in an accelerated baccalaureate nursing program for alignment with CARES, (2) determine any gaps, and (3) make program recommendations. The CARES competencies and Essentials were mapped according to the nursing program's 12 core curriculum courses and evaluated. Three CARES competencies were not met, and 12 were partially met. Areas of improvement were identified across the curriculum. Results of the mapping included palliative concepts needing earlier program introduction, reflective journaling was recommended for clinical practice courses, and incorporation of palliative care simulations was proposed to bridge the gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the degree to which digital citizenship has been incorporated into the Social Studies curriculum and evaluated the role of deliberative processes in this integration. The research process involved collaboration with teachers, students, curriculum specialists, and school administrators, all actively participating in curriculum deliberation. A design research approach was used with the primary focus on developing a framework for integrating digital citizenship into the curriculum. The study's findings underscored the value of integrating digital citizenship as it equips students for the digital era and fosters comprehensive development. It is recommended that digital citizenship be included in the Social Studies curriculum. Future studies should assess the effectiveness of this integration across various subject areas and educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a first-person qualitative research study to understand how common pedagogical approaches and cultural learning environments in STEM impact individuals. Prior to the study, the author observed that many students who were successful in advanced undergraduate neuroscience courses reported having struggled academically, socially, or emotionally in introductory STEM courses. The objective was to generate new ideas for approaches to address high rates of student attrition from introductory STEM courses related to this full range of issues through curriculum development. The author, a neurobiologist and tenured faculty member at the institution, audited four introductory STEM courses: Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology, Atoms & Molecules, Calculus 1, and Introductory Physics 2: Electromagnetism, Optics, and Modern Physics, offered by tenured colleagues in four different departments. A total of approximately 600 hours was spent by the author attending lectures, participating in classroom activities, completing homework, and studying for assessments. Homework, quizzes, and exams were marked by the course faculty using the same criteria as were applied for student work. In addition to measures of academic performance collected through the normal assessments, the author made note of her own emotional responses throughout the course of the study, which is why the process was dubbed 'embodied' curriculum mapping. The emotional responses revealed high levels of emotional stress associated with assessment, sensitivity to disciplinary boundary reinforcement, and a complex role of social and academic identity in all aspects of the experience. Given the first-person nature of the study, the potential future generalizability of the findings must be considered in light of the various revealed aspects of identity and experience of the author and subjected to further study using a broader range of empirical methodologies. The focus of this article's conclusions and recommendations is therefore the impact of the process on the author and the potential for a similar process to serve as a foundation for critical self-reflection and learning for other STEM educators. The author recommends the process as a generative tool for pedagogical innovation and building faculty capacity for culture change in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study explores how problem-based learning (PBL) programs can address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via the higher education (HE) curriculum, teaching materials and relevant assessments, supporting learning at scale for HE institutions. Design/methodology/approach – Employing SDGs and their indicators as the coding framework, our two-phase study evaluates the curriculum and teaching materials of seven PBL programs at a leading higher education institution (HEI). The first phase involved a content analysis to assess the degree of sustainability integration in 156 relevant courses. The second phase applied a semi-automated mapping protocol to analyze learning and teaching materials in 120 relevant courses. Findings – The school aligns with 17 SDGs (100%), covering 94 indicators (55.62%). On average, each program within the school addresses over ten of these goals and incorporates more than 24 associated indicators. However, the study reveals an imbalance in the incorporation of SDGs, with some goals not yet deeply and comprehensively embedded in the curriculum. While there is a substantial focus on sustainability theories, the practical implications of SDGs in emerging countries, particularly through case studies and assessments, require significant enhancement. Practical implications – Mapping SDGs allows HEIs to identify strengths and gaps in SDG integration, thereby improving the PBL approach to enhance student work readiness in sustainability-focused careers. Originality/value – Through the lens of transformative learning theory, this study provides evidence of SDG integration into PBL curricula. It highlights a mapping methodology that enables HEIs to evaluate their sustainability readiness in curriculum, teaching materials and relevant assessments.

This paper illustrates the use of curriculum mapping as a process that can support productive boundary encounters between lecturers in an initial teacher education (ITE) programme as part of curriculum review. Using mathematics as the context, lecturers in a 1-year primary graduate ITE programme developed a curriculum map to identify the mathematical thinking opportunities available to their pre-service teachers in their courses and across the programme. The coordinated approach to curriculum analysis/mapping expanded lecturers' definition of mathematical skills and reasoning and their awareness of opportunities their students had to engage with mathematical ideas. The mapping process included collaborative discussions, document analysis and iterative development of a curriculum map. In an overcrowded curriculum, which responds to government policies and university initiatives such as embedding critical literacy, mathematical foundations and cross-disciplinary study, the mapping process has potential to meet multiple demands and agendas. In our study, the mapping process and the map offered purposeful and productive grounds for learning and development. They were central to facilitating dialogic boundary encounters between programme lecturers resulting in the re-conceptualisation of course and programme curriculum boundaries. We expect study findings will be of interest to programme leaders, lecturers and researchers facing the challenge of identifying and supporting the development of competencies and multi-literacies that span courses and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe alignment of curriculum content with standards is a quality improvement measure used to identify gaps or overlaps in academic content. Curriculum mapping results, while commonly used, are rarely reported. Undergraduate faculty mapped 11 courses in a single timepoint using a web-based curriculum mapping tool. Quantitative results were calculated and compared to defined client needs categories. A validation analysis was performed by mapping one course in triplicate. Faculty feedback following the exercise was obtained by online survey. Three client needs categories were determined to be marginally out of range in the initial analysis of the quantitative mapping data. The curriculum map was substantiated by high correlation of curriculum measures in the validation process. A curriculum map should be planned with the aim as the central guide to inform the standards and measures selected for comparison. Measures and Standards chosen for the map as well as any actionable data generated should be informed by the aim. Validation can be performed by mapping subsets of the curriculum in triplicate. A team approach with high participation from the faculty should be considered when planning a full curriculum map.

AbstractThe shortage of rehabilitation health personnel in Cameroon is a limiting factor to attaining full health coverage under Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages. This problem has been accentuated by the low level and quality of training of rehabilitation workers such as physiotherapists. This was partly due to the poor understanding of the profession of physiotherapy. The profession had also been devaluated to massage therapy or just a paramedical practice, requiring training programs of 2 years or less. This has caused a huge rehabilitation personnel gap which the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences is aimed at addressing with the Bachelor of Sciences in Physiotherapy curriculum and training. The paper aims to evaluate the aptness of the Tyler-designed curriculum in addressing the rehabilitation skill gap. The Baptist Institute of Health Sciences developed a 4-year Bachelor of Sciences curriculum designed using the Tyler Model as a training intervention to address this problem. This curriculum mapping tool is used to evaluate the designed curriculum for vertical, horizontal, interdisciplinary, and subject-area coherence and redundancy. This is to assess the structure of the curriculum in preparing physiotherapists to operate in full physiotherapists competencies in integrating rehabilitation between primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare systems as defined World Health Organization. It was found that the curriculum has zero vertical redundancy (coherent with no content overlap) as it systematically covers 16 curriculum tracks. The zero vertical redundancy reveals the aptness of the curriculum as it includes all 8 domains provided by the Physiotherapists Educational framework and more. These 16 curriculum tracks are pedagogically grouped into three broad levels of competencies namely the fundamental, core, and specialty expertise competencies levels. They are progressively fashioned to train the habits of the mind and develop the appropriate skills proficiency outcomes (SPOs) in the physiotherapists in training. The curriculum has horizontal redundancy (skill repetition development cycle) created by the spiral curriculum approach used in reinforcing the skills proficiency Outcomes (SPOs) across the three competencies categories. This is because the physiotherapist in training grows in the 6 skills proficiency outcomes (SPOs) from comprehensive examination and assessment through to recommendation and patient self-management skills at all three levels.

AimCompetency frameworks are essential for analyzing capabilities of Schools of Public Health to adequately prepare public health (PH) professionals to address contemporary challenges. This study maps the competency profiles of PH training programs in Israel using a novel curriculum mapping tool.MethodsThis study assessed all five Israeli Health Education Institutions (HEIs) offering MPH or Bachelors in Public Health (BPH) degrees across 57 competencies in six domains to determine the extent to which competencies were addressed in the curriculum. The competencies list was based on the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) List of Core Competences for the Public Health Professional, adapted for Israeli HEIs.ResultsThe core curricula in the four MPH programs addressed 45–84% of all competencies. The BPH program addressed 79% of competencies. In MPH programs, the core curricula addressed most or all competencies in the Methods and the Socioeconomic Determinants of Health domains. Competencies in the domains of Environmental Determinants of Health, Health Policy, Economics & Organization, and Health Promotion and Prevention were less comprehensively addressed in most core curricula. Students’ opportunities to broaden their exposure to competencies outside the core curricula were context dependent.DiscussionThe curriculum competencies mapping tool that was developed served to assess both strengths and shortcomings in PH education in Israel. The findings demonstrate a highly variable array of PH curriculum models in Israeli HEIs, as well as overall shortcomings in the Environmental, Health Policy Economics and Organization, and Health Promotion and Prevention domains. This analysis has already led to reassessment of the curriculum, and will continue to guide the next steps to increase the harmonization of PH training curricula and to better meet PH challenges in Israel.

This article describes a first-person qualitative research study to understand how common pedagogical approaches and cultural learning environments in STEM impact individuals. Prior to the study, the author observed that many students who were successful in advanced undergraduate neuroscience courses reported having struggled academically, socially, or emotionally in introductory STEM courses. The objective was to generate new ideas for approaches to address high rates of student attrition from introductory STEM courses related to this full range of issues through curriculum development. The author, a neurobiologist and tenured faculty member at the institution, audited four introductory STEM courses: Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology, Atoms & Molecules, Calculus 1, and Introductory Physics 2: Electromagnetism, Optics, and Modern Physics, offered by tenured colleagues in four different departments. A total of approximately 600 hours was spent by the author attending lectures, participating in classroom activities, completing homework, and studying for assessments. Homework, quizzes, and exams were marked by the course faculty using the same criteria as were applied for student work. In addition to measures of academic performance collected through the normal assessments, the author made note of her own emotional responses throughout the course of the study, which is why the process was dubbed ‘embodied’ curriculum mapping. The emotional responses revealed high levels of emotional stress associated with assessment, sensitivity to disciplinary boundary reinforcement, and a complex role of social and academic identity in all aspects of the experience. Given the first-person nature of the study, the potential future generalizability of the findings must be considered in light of the various revealed aspects of identity and experience of the author and subjected to further study using a broader range of empirical methodologies. The focus of this article’s conclusions and recommendations is therefore the impact of the process on the author and the potential for a similar process to serve as a foundation for critical self-reflection and learning for other STEM educators. The author recommends the process as a generative tool for pedagogical innovation and building faculty capacity for culture change in STEM.

Simulation-based education (SBE) has become an integral part of postgraduate medical education in the last decade. More settings are using SBE to deliver teaching sessions, both in simulation laboratories and in the day-to-day clinical environment (in situ). This article draws on the experience in SBE course development from the paediatric simulation team at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. We address several considerations in setting up effective SBE teaching. This includes technical and practical aspects such as acquiring equipment and involving appropriate faculty, as well as more abstract principles such as how to embed simulation in your workplace culture. We also include an introduction to effective debriefing using the Diamond Debrief model. We aspire to empower other paediatric practitioners to develop and deliver high quality SBE for postgraduate paediatric healthcare professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Veteran vulnerabilities result from military-service connected health impacts. • There is limited evidence of veteran care competencies in Registered Nurse Bachelor of Science Nursing (RN-BSN) curricula. • Recommendations offered for scaffolding veteran content into RN-BSN curricula. Nurses working in civilian healthcare environments are likely to provide care to a veteran on a regular basis and be unaware of their military history. Health impacts resulting from military service contribute to unique vulnerabilities in this population, some of which may not be immediately evident. Appreciating this, veteran care competencies should be integrated into Registered Nurse Bachelor of Science Nursing (RN-BSN) nursing curricula to prepare baccalaureate graduates to recognize both short-term and long-term health impacts of military service and to advocate for veteran-centered care. Yet, there is a paucity of nursing education literature demonstrating how veteran care competencies are incorporated into RN-BSN curricula. This article is a summary of published reports outlining veteran-health content integration into RN-BSN programs with recommendations for bridging curricular gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to articulate academic programmes from college to university effectively, the curricula of the two institutional structures must be aligned. Studies show that this is not always the case, despite the existence of national and sectoral policies that are intended to promote alignment. In grappling with this reality, this study explored the level of interface of academic programmes between TVET (technical and vocational education and training) colleges and a comprehensive university in South Africa. It also investigated whether, and the extent to which, university policies and actors considered college programmes during their curriculum-review processes. Document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to gather qualitative data. It was found that, instead of considering college curricula, curriculum review was driven by professional bodies, market demands and relevance. Moreover, institutional actors did not have the required agency to engage with the current misalignment of college--university academic programmes or curricula. The implication is that, while necessary, university policies for promoting academic curricula for articulation and programme interface are not adequate for resolving the problem of the misalignment between college and university curricula. To facilitate the interests of agents in articulation, the articulation officers at institutions of higher learning must ensure that articulation policies are in place in departments and that curriculum designers and related stakeholders are imbued with articulation principles during the review and realignment of curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curricular changes in architecture can support to meet the increased demand for sustainability in higher education (HE). Identifying their associated factors is necessary to understand ongoing and future transitions in architecture education. Transition management (TM) frameworks have been frequently used to analyze structural changes in various institutions but have received little attention in architecture education. This study explores the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) as a case study, focusing on its architecture curricula within 32 years from 1990 to 2022, corresponding to multiple generations of academic careers. A multiple-level perspective (MLP) document analysis on curricular changes is conducted in three steps, drawing on a specific perspective on sustainability in architecture. First, generic characteristics that may influence curricular changes are identified from the literature. Second, shifts in the undergraduate curriculum of ETH Zurich are systematically mapped. Third, a classification of implemented curricular shifts results in seven nuanced variations in generic factors. These socio-technical factors involve the development and dissemination of new disciplinary (1) and interdisciplinary (2) approaches to a sustainable built environment (SBE), a relocation of the viewpoint on sustainability from physiology/hygiene to building physics (3), experimentation with inquiry-based learning in niches (4), extended spheres of influence in teaching (5), early committed intra-faculty opinion leaders (6), and the formation of educational networks (7). The proposed approach based on longitudinal curriculum mapping offers a way to locate structural curricular changes, identify hidden educational trends, and inform institutional changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: "The Graduating European Dentist" Curriculum (GED) was adopted in 2020 by the Irish Dental Council as its new expectation for competencies. The Dublin Dental University Hospital (DDUH) sought to map the teaching activities for its undergraduate dental training programme to the GED. This paper describes the process developed for curriculum mapping. Materials and Methods: Guided by historical mapping data and materials on the DDUH's virtual learning environment; teaching activities in a bespoke curriculum mapping system were edited, added and/or deleted to match existing teaching activities currently delivered by staff to students. These activities were then remapped to GED Learning Outcomes. Staff members with oversight responsibilities for a collection of activities then received and provided feedback on reports tabulating the preliminary map. Feedback from staff members around their activities was accommodated to produce an accurate reflection of teaching activities across the 5 years program. Results: A process for mapping existing teaching activities to a new set of curriculum expectations using a bespoke application and several other widely available technologies was established. Informal feedback from staff has been positive and has raised ideas for future opportunities to improve the alignment of educational activities with learning outcomes. Conclusion: Other dental schools may find this accounting of the DDUH's efforts useful in guiding their own curriculum mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability systems in higher education ensure that academic programs meet learning outcomes and address student cognitive and affective development. The learning outcome assessment is one of the most important elements to enhance and assure the quality of programs. In this paper, we present a "tour" of how an assessment cycle is performed in a national/public university in Qatar. The study draws on "good" practices and how a higher education institution systemizes the process of assessing learning. The approach demonstrates how learning is connected to program objectives and the curriculum through a rational, logical, conceptual, consensual, and interpretable process. Employing specification tables known as curriculum and assessment plan matrices, with tools being assessments and rubrics, learning outcomes measures can be reached. The approach as well as system calls for an institutional structure and organization which place responsibilities on all stakeholders involved in academic programs delivery. The futuristic approach and practice posit a reconceptualization of how students will be assessed, more likely a paradigm shift necessitating a change in practice and trend in which students' success (achievement) can be based on the learning outcomes attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructional medical librarians are uniquely positioned in a context governed by multiple instructional frameworks emerging from librarianship and the professions with which they liaise. Yet very little literature exists on medical librarians' use of curriculum mapping to align their instruction with these frameworks. This review illuminates the current state of curriculum mapping in medical librarianship. We searched five bibliographic databases for articles published between 2010 and August 2021 and centred on information literacy (IL) curriculum mapping within a health sciences university context. Studies were included based upon pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted using an instrument developed primarily a priori, with some codes developed emergently in response to preliminary review of the data. We included 127 studies focused on curriculum mapping, of which only 24 included structures which might be considered "curriculum maps". Across all 127 studies included, The Association of College & Research Libraries' Information Literacy Competency Standards for Libraries for Higher Education was the most-used IL framework, though versions of evidence-based practice were used more often, with a great deal of diversity and incomplete reporting on how these frames informed instruction of discrete concepts and skills. Within the 24 articles containing figurative curriculum maps, the same diversity of concepts and incomplete reporting was present, with librarians mapping IL frameworks to classroom activities more often than learning outcomes or competencies. Development of curricular maps aligning discrete IL concepts and skills with different disciplinary contexts is needed to provide instructors with a modular structure they might implement in their own contexts. To further the identification of best practices, future research should examine existing curricular maps made by librarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objectives: We discuss the implications stemming from a recent competency mapping project on public health workforce education and training programs. Methods: In line with professional practice, we reflected on the results of a major mapping exercise which examined public health competency frameworks against the Global Charter, particularly with respect to the implications for curriculum design. Results: Our reflections identified five key challenges (diversity of frameworks, interpretation challenges, levels of competence, integration in curricula and knowledge vs skills‐based competences) for developing internationally consistent credentialling standards. Conclusions: While the Charter provides an international benchmark for public health curricula, we argue that applying an international competency framework is challenging. Anyone working in public health should be trained in all foundation areas of public health to support public health practice and initiatives into the future and they may then choose to specialise in sub‐disciplines of public health. Implications for public health: Both theoretical and practical content must be fully integrated across public health programs to operationalise competencies. Utilising the Charter can ensure alignment with the sector needs, and curriculum mapping should be an integral part of a continual and ongoing review process.

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a growing research field, particularly over the last decade. Measuring the level of ESD that is currently embedded in curricula is useful for planning the further implementation of sustainability-related teaching. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful benchmark for sustainability topics and so this paper follows a methodology in which a keyword scanning tool was created to quantify the level of SDG coverage within a list of learning outcomes for a module. The aim of the research is to further develop this methodology and compare the results from the keyword tool with results from a survey of the academic staff who deliver the modules. SDG-related keyword lists were collected from multiple sources for a meta-analysis, examining the performance of various lists. These lists were then compiled into one list of over 12,000 SDG keywords and a team of reviewers conducted a critical analysis on the relevancy of the context in which the keywords were found when scanned. This process reduced the list to 222 "crucial keywords" and gave the keywords a relevancy label based on the STARS definitions, the sustainability tracking assessment and rating system. Finally, ChatGPT was also investigated as a method of enriching the critically analysed list with contextually relevant synonyms. A survey was carried out within the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Galway. It asked staff to rate the level of SDG coverage within their own modules, in their own opinion. This gave results which could be compared with the keyword scanning tool. The findings show success in improving the accuracy of the SDG keywords. ChatGPT added synonyms to the crucial keywords identified and this list was the most accurate out of all keyword lists used in the study. Using these keywords and the modules that staff rated in the survey, a correlation was found in the SDG trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At one mid-sized research-intensive university in Western Canada, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program recently underwent significant curriculum revisions (Epp et al., 2021). A constructivist approach was adopted to create opportunities for students to align knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) with prior learning to build a deeper understanding (Vygotsky, 1978). In congruence with constructivist theory, faculty developed several learning pathways as curriculum planning tools to strategically sequence student learning outcomes, facilitate student achievement of program learning outcomes, and improve curriculum integrity. The faculty developed a conceptual model of a learning pathway and identified several key program outcomes that would benefit from a curriculum review to ensure these concepts were adequately covered across the nursing program. Each learning pathway details curriculum mapping of the levelling and scaffolding of specific concepts and content to facilitate students in the acquisition of KSA through a progressive approach (Gazza & Hunker, 2012; Maguire, 2013). This article will profile the BSN Scholarly Writing Pathway and the BSN Psychomotor Pathway as exemplars. • Learning pathways provide a framework for mapping curriculum concepts. • Learning pathways guide course development and support curriculum integrity. • Learning pathways strategically sequence student learning outcomes. • Constructivism underpins the approach of levelling and scaffolding of competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Collaborative worldbuilding is an ideal digital writing project for promoting critical thinking about contemporary issues, developing and applying disciplinary expertise writing transfer, and building digital literacies. In the context of the global Covid-19 pandemic where the student experience was characterised by isolation, collaborative worldbuilding also offered a powerful means of building solidarity and community. This paper presents a case study of using collaborative worldbuilding for gaming to achieve key digital writing learning outcomes. The case study shows how this innovative pedagogical approach can be mapped to two key frameworks for information and digital literacies: the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens and the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The case study also illustrates how a MediaWiki installation can be used for worldbuilding and as a means of critically introducing students to Wikipedia itself. Qualitative feedback from the students shows that the class achieved its key learning outcomes. More importantly, student engagement during the class and their feedback ascertains that collaborative worldbuilding is a powerful means of building connections and empathy between students in the context of isolation, amid a global pandemic. Practitioner Notes 1. The worldbuilding framework for collaborative writing developed by Trent Hergenrader can be adapted to contribute to the goals of a first-year seminar. However, there are logistical and technical factors to consider. 2. Worldbuilding for gaming is an engaging class activity whether used for online or inperson education. 3. Using a MediaWiki installation as the platform for digital writing is a felicitous means of imparting proficiencies identified by two information literacy frames, the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens. 4. Worldbuilding by authoring encyclopaedic entries on a MediaWiki installation allows for a critical consideration of Wikipedia itself. 5. Genre knowledge is essential to a student’s development as a writer. Discussions of knowledge transfer often focus on the ability of students to apply and transfer expertise across disciplines. Speculative fiction writing based on academic research is an example of knowledge transfer between genres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to map the curriculum of the graduate courses in Education offered by Romblon State University, in the Philippines, in the "new normal" ushered in by the Covid-19 pandemic. To do so, it combines an assessment of student feedback and performance with an in-depth documentary analysis of existing policies, past projects, and activities of the university's Graduate School. Having made this analysis, the paper presents a number of recommendations, namely that 1) the curriculum is re-visited to ensure alignment between the university's mission and vision, on the one hand, and the learning outcomes, structure, and proposed learning outcomes of the graduate programs in Education on the other, and 2) the curriculum mapping presented in this paper is applied and implemented with a view to achieving consonance between the university's vision and mission - which sets the outcomes and practice - and which is operationalized in this paper as the class practices and activities to be adopted in Romblon State University's Master's and Doctoral programs in Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accreditation bodies call for curriculum development processes that are open to all stakeholders, reflecting viewpoints of students, industry, university faculty, and society. However, communication difficulties between faculty and non-faculty groups leave an immense collaboration potential unexplored. Using the classification of learning objectives, natural language processing, and data visualization, this paper presents a quantitative method that delivers program plan representations that are universal, self-explanatory, and empowering; promoting stronger links between program courses and curriculum development open to all stakeholders. A simple example shows how the method contributes to representative program planning experiences and a case study is used to confirm the method’s accuracy and utility.

Systematic analysis of undergraduate curriculum design and assessment is required to ensure real world experiences are embedded in a degree structure for a high level of information literacy (IL) attainment. IL competencies and skills are critical for successful graduate outcomes. We developed a framework using a constructive alignment approach to develop the Student Attributes for Information Literacy (SAIL) and accompanying rubric with outcomes that categorize depth of application over degree progression. The rubric was used to audit IL in core units of a multidisciplinary Bachelor of Environmental Science degree before and after a cycle of curriculum design. SAIL’s rubric provides educators with a practical and repeatable approach to identifying IL development in units of learning. The SAIL rubric found that IL, for most core units, was taught, practiced, and assessed at the foundational level. At the advanced level, however, students had limited opportunities for literacy training, practice, and assessment in a digital context until the end of the degree. The framework and rubric identified gaps and opportunities in IL attainment, and thus warrants further application. Making sure these gaps are addressed, with opportunities identified for learning throughout a progressive program, will ensure resilient and adaptable graduates in a digital dominant workforce. Practitioner Notes 1. Formally developing information literacy (IL) in a disciplinary context is essential to enhancing self-directed learning, and may be best achieved by aligning within the sequence of curriculum content. 2. Using the framework of Student Attributes for Information Literacy (SAIL) the level of information literacy as it was taught, practised and assessed in core units in an applied science degree was mapped, before and after a degree review. 3. The rubric approach to mapping IL attribute achievement a degree highlighted where the critical student competency in information literacy is now lacking at the advanced levels of the program since curriculum change. 4. The digital skills necessary to support information literacy in a disrupted digital world need to be placed throughput the whole the curriculum, and not only focussed early in a degree programme as is often reported. 5. The explicit consideration of IL within the progressive curriculum translates to the graduate outcomes with knowledge of the discipline that allows students to be adaptable to the future digital dominant work environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social accountability is a powerful concept. It is applied to medical education to encourage future doctors to take action to address health inequalities and overlooked health needs of disadvantaged populations. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an ideal setting to teach medical students about these topics. The objective of this study is to explore how well the components of social accountability are covered in a pre-clinical PBL medical curriculum and to determine the usefulness of an adapted validated social accountability framework. We identified Irish health needs and social issues through a literature review. The retrieved documents were aligned to four values (relevance, equity, cost-effectiveness and quality) from a validated social accountability inventory, to generate a map of social accountability values present in the Irish health system and population. We then used the adapted validated social accountability inventory to evaluate the content of the PBL medical curriculum at an Irish medical school. We identified 45 documents, which upon analysis lead to the identification of health and social issues related to social accountability. 66 pre-clinical PBL cases included demographic, health and psychosocial issues similar to the local population. Analysing along the four social accountability values, the PBL cases demonstrated room for improvement in the equity and relevance domains. Topics for expansion are Traveller health, LGBTI health, alcohol use, climate change and more. Medical educators can use the paper as an example of how to apply this methodology to evaluate PBL cases. Adapting and applying a validated framework is a useful pedagogical exercise to understand established societal values related to social accountability to inform a medical curriculum. We identified opportunities to improve the PBL cases to depict emerging global and social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent calls to reform undergraduate biology education, including Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, have led biology departments to examine their curriculum to determine the extent to which it aligns with Vision and Change content and competency recommendations. The recently released BioSkills Guide translates the broad Vision and Change core competencies into more specific program-level learning outcomes (LOs). A curriculum map may be used to evaluate a curriculum by examining where content and skills are taught. This map can then be used to determine how well the curriculum that is actually taught aligns with the planned curriculum (a set of LOs). The Western Washington University Biology Department used a new curriculum mapping tool, the BioSkills Curriculum Survey, to examine the extent to which Vision and Change core competencies and BioSkills LOs were taught in our courses. Instructors completed the survey for every course they taught in the last two years, enabling us to gather data on competency and LO coverage and assessment across our curriculum. We answered questions about where in the curriculum competencies and LOs were taught, how different instructors teaching the same course taught LOs, the extent to which different LOs were assessed, and how teaching LOs differed in different degree tracks and different course levels. For a subset of courses, students also completed a modified survey to determine how students' perceptions of skills coverage matched instructor's perceptions. One main finding was that we taught Science and Society LOs less than others and, when taught, we did not often assess them. We also found that students' perceptions of competency teaching did not align well with instructors' perceptions. The data were used to make informed decisions about ongoing curriculum revisions. This paper illustrates the questions that can be answered using this mapping tool for competencies and we offer recommendations about how a department can take a data-driven approach to curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum mapping is the process of creating a visual representation of the teaching and assessment of learning outcomes in a degree, program or major. Best practice recommendations about curriculum mapping typically focus on mapping individual programs. Therefore, many recommendations, such as meeting individually with faculty as they map their course, may not be feasible for large-scale mapping projects. This paper describes the process of a large-scale curriculum mapping project designed to map the Bachelor of Science degree and 24 of its associated majors. The project involved the participation of faculty from three colleges within a research-intensive University to map over 400 courses. We describe the key questions and decisions involved in carrying out the mapping project, our data collection and analysis process, and our dissemination efforts to ensure that the mapping results were used to inform curricular change. La cartographie de programmes d’études consiste à créer une représentation visuelle de l’enseignement et de l’évaluation des résultats d’apprentissage dans un programme menant à un diplôme, dans un autre programme ou dans une majeure. Les recommandations pour les meilleures pratiques concernant la cartographie de programmes se concentre habituellement sur la cartographie de programmes individuels. Par conséquent, de nombreuses recommandations, telles que la rencontre individuelle avec les professeurs et les professeures alors qu’ils préparent la cartographie de leurs cours ne sont pas toujours possibles dans les cas de très grands projets de cartographie. Cet article décrit le processus d’un grand projet de cartographie de programme d’études conçu pour cartographier un baccalauréat en sciences et 24 de ses majeures associées. Le projet a impliqué la participation de professeurs et de professeures de trois collèges d’une grande université axée sur la recherche pour cartographier plus de 400 cours. Nous décrivons les questions et les décisions clés qui ont permis de mener à bien ce projet de cartographie, nos données et le processus d’analyse, ainsi que nos efforts de dissémination pour assurer que les résultats de la cartographie ont été utilisés pour effectuer les changements aux programmes d’études.

Ethics has been considered an integral and indispensable part of the health-care profession for multiple decades. The term “bioethics” generally refers to the study of ethical issues arising because of the development made in the field of medicine, biology, and technology, which might become a cause of concern for humans or detrimentally affects the association between human and their environment. In order to streamline the training process of medical students in bioethics, there is an indispensable need to define the competencies that need to be covered during the training period. We must understand that teaching bioethics is way more than covers a theoretical topic, rather it requires exposure of medical students to a number of practical and clinically relevant scenarios. In conclusion, training medical students in bioethics have to be acknowledged as an important need, as it will eventually determine the safety and well-being of the current and future generations of people. It is high time that specific steps are taken to define specific bioethics competencies and integrate them with the existing medical curriculum to benefit both medical students and the general population.

Recent calls to reform undergraduate biology education, including Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, have led biology departments to examine their curriculum to determine the extent to which it aligns with Vision and Change content and competency recommendations. The recently released BioSkills Guide translates the broad Vision and Change core competencies into more specific program-level learning objectives. Curriculum mapping is the process of surveying courses within a program to determine where content and skills are taught, then analyzing the data to determine how well the curriculum that is actually taught aligns with the planned curriculum. The [INSTITUTION] Biology Department used a new curriculum mapping tool, the BioSkills Curriculum Survey, to examine the extent to which Vision and Change core competencies and BioSkills learning objectives were taught in our courses. Instructors completed the survey for every course they taught in the last two years, enabling us to gather data on competency and learning objective coverage and assessment across our curriculum. We answered questions about where in the curriculum competencies and learning objectives were taught, how different instructors teaching the same course taught learning objectives, the extent to which different learning objectives were assessed, and how teaching learning objectives differed in different tracks and different course levels. For a subset of courses, students also completed a modified survey to determine how students’ perceptions of skills coverage matched instructor’s perceptions. One main finding was that we taught Science and Society learning objectives less than others and, when taught, we did not often assess them. We also found that students’ perceptions of competency teaching did not align well with instructors’ perceptions. The data were used to make informed decisions about ongoing curriculum revisions. This paper illustrates the questions that can be answered using this mapping tool for competencies and we offer recommendations about how a department can take a data-driven approach to curriculum reform.

Social accountability is a powerful concept. It is applied to medical education to encourage future doctors to take action to address health inequalities and overlooked health needs of disadvantaged populations. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an ideal setting to teach medical students about these topics. The objective of this study is to explore how well the components of social accountability are covered in a pre-clinical PBL medical curriculum and to determine the usefulness of an adapted validated social accountability framework. We identified Irish health needs and social issues through a literature review. The retrieved documents were aligned to four values (relevance, equity, cost-effectiveness and quality) from a validated social accountability inventory, to generate a map of social accountability values present in the Irish health system and population. We then used the adapted validated social accountability inventory to evaluate the content of the PBL medical curriculum at an Irish medical school. We identified 45 documents, which upon analysis lead to the identification of health and social issues related to social accountability. 66 pre-clinical PBL cases included demographic, health and psychosocial issues similar to the local population. Analysing along the four social accountability values, the PBL cases demonstrated room for improvement in the equity and relevance domains. Topics for expansion are Traveller health, LGBTI health, alcohol use, climate change and more. Medical educators can use the paper as an example of how to apply this methodology to evaluate PBL cases. Adapting and applying a validated framework is a useful pedagogical exercise to understand established societal values related to social accountability to inform a medical curriculum. We identified opportunities to improve the PBL cases to depict emerging global and social issues.

Educational development processes are essential for successful academic performance in educational and technical environments. Teachers and students also need a model and guidelines required for effective learning. Without effective curriculum mapping, the institutions cannot accurately estimate outcomes and maximize potential performance on resources. A matrix depicts the relationship between student learning outcomes (SOs) and topics on the curricular map. The need to earn satisfying produce of education and achieve considerable progress in the visibility of education equity in completing professional duties is a primary motivation for learning the curriculum. One of the most effective strategies to increase overall teaching effectiveness, involvement, or curricular interaction is curriculum development. The mapping connects all disciplines to academic outcomes and displays well-planned teaches. An excellent example of a curriculum should be well-prepared and purposefully encourage expertise acquisition. This paper describes a set of range standards and recommendations for this technique and challenges that affect curricular map construction. As a result, this strategy will increase the overall performance of education and the quality of the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to develop a prompt engineering procedure for test question mapping and then determine the effectiveness of test question mapping using Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) compared to human faculty mapping., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to compare ChatGPT and human mapping using a sample of 139 test questions from modules within the Integrated Pharmacotherapeutics course series. The test questions were mapped by 3 faculty members to both module objectives and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards 2016 (Standards 2016) to create the "correct answer". Prompt engineering procedures were created to facilitate mapping with ChatGPT, and ChatGPT mapping results were compared with human mapping., Results: ChatGPT mapped test questions directly to the "correct answer" based on human consensus in 68.0% of cases, and the program matched with at least one individual human response in another 20.1% of cases for a total of 88.1% agreement with human mappers. When humans fully agreed with the mapping decision, ChatGPT was more likely to map correctly., Conclusion: This study presents a practical use case with prompt engineering tailored for college assessment or curriculum committees to facilitate efficient test questions and educational outcomes mapping., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Editorial Advisory Board member for AJPE - T.J.M. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the medical faculties in the Federal Republic of Germany converted their curricula to digital formats on a large scale and very quickly in spring 2020 as an emergency measure. At the same time, a start was made on the nationwide exchange of digital teaching/learning materials via the online platform “LOOOP share” in order to save local resources. Among other things, virtual patient cases (VP) were shared across faculties for case-based learning, through which students can acquire clinical decision-making skills.Objectives: Within the framework of the cooperation project “National Learning Platforms for Digital Patient-Related Learning in Medical Studies” (DigiPaL), the usability of VPs for students and teachers should be improved, and the spectrum of disease patterns that are covered by VPs should be systematically expanded. Results: With the participation of many locations, a total of 150 VPs were developed by 96 case authors from 16 faculties, in addition to the existing 403 VPs. The thematic selection was made on the basis of criteria oriented to the National Competence Based Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Undergraduate Medical Education (NKLM). After completion, these VPs were also made available to all faculties for free use via “LOOOP share” and the CASUS learning platform.Discussion: Even after the pandemic, these developed VPs should be available to the faculties and thus make a lasting contribution to improve medical training in Germany – especially in light of digital teaching formats being expressly advocated on the basis of the adapted current Medical Licensure Act (ÄApprO). A possible application is interdisciplinary learning of clinical decision-making with the help of blended learning formats within the framework of a longitudinal curriculum. The large number of involved colleagues and faculties shows that the nationally coordinated development of VPs across faculties was commonly seen as useful.

The interest in program- and colleges of education- level evaluation and alignment of student learning outcomes to course content has been increasing over the past several decades. Curriculum mapping establishes the links between content and expected student learning outcomes. Curriculum map is an overview of what is taking place in the classroom; and it includes evaluation tools and activities. Social Studies Department, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) College of Education Zuba, Abuja, recently completed an accreditation exercise by National Commission for Colleges of Education Abuja, Nigeria. The audit reported that there was no match between the student learning outcomes and Social Studies curricula. The purpose of this paper was to align the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) (Social Studies) minimum standards with student learning outcomes to determine gaps and redundancies. The paper also looked at how virtual education enhances curriculum mapping during COVID-19 pandemic. Minimum standards learning outcomes were modified from existing learning outcomes to better align with college learning outcomes and the Social Studies Core and Elective Competencies. All NCE Social Studies courses were mapped to the Social Studies Core and Elective Competencies and assessed to determine the gaps and redundancies. The study used the documentary research method. The purposeful sampling strategy was used to select the research site. Potential gaps were defined as coverage for each competency in about ≤20% of the courses and potential redundancies was considered as coverage of ≥80% of the courses. The mapping exercise revealed gaps; and no redundancies in course content. The findings of the mapping exercises should be used to improve the content provided to NCE Social Studies students at FCT College of Education Zuba, with the overall objective of enhancing the quality of the education provided to those students and helping them to be better students that are prepared for a successful career in Social Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for improving public confidence in vaccines. Academic gaps and redundancies on vaccinations must be identified to revise the medical curriculum for up-to-date training of medical students. This cross-sectional survey assessed the status of vaccine-related teaching in general and specific to COVID-19 in medical schools across Germany. A total of 4313 medical students completed a questionnaire comprising items on national learning goals and perceived needs for teaching on vaccinations. Mixed methods were used to analyse data quantitatively for relative frequencies (%) and correlations between teaching items and semesters (Spearman's rho), and qualitatively (content analysis). Our findings showed that 38.92% of the students were dissatisfied with teaching on vaccine-preventable diseases, but the perceived satisfaction increased in later semesters (r = 0.46, p < 0.001). Moreover, 75.84% and 68.15% of the students were dissatisfied with teaching related to vaccine scepticism and vaccine-related communication strategies, respectively. Furthermore, 63.79% reported dissatisfaction with teaching on COVID-19 disease and 72.93% with teaching on COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 79.12% stated they educated others on COVID-19 and its vaccines and 75.14% felt responsible to do so. A majority of the medical students were dissatisfied with teaching on dealing with vaccine scepticism, communication strategies and COVID-19 vaccines. We recommend practice-oriented vaccine education, especially for teaching communication skills to medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The undergraduate five-year MBChB programme at the University of Glasgow has a high volume of pathology teaching integrated into the course. The ability to better understand what pathology is taught and when, so as to build a picture of the types and depth of pathology topics covered across the programme stages is crucial, especially in a spiral curriculum. A novel method of curriculum mapping, known as curriculum heat mapping, was developed as a way to visualise where and when topics are taught, in an easier to understand format. Methods This method involved comparing the Glasgow curriculum to a pre-determined standard of what should be taught. In this case, The Royal College of Pathologists’ ‘Pathology Undergraduate Curriculum’ was used as a comparison of what a graduating doctor should know about pathology. Results Following the developed template, heat maps showcasing the range of pathology topics covered, and where they are covered, were developed for local use. These heat maps provided a clear visual representation of where and when topics are taught, and how they cluster. Conclusions Heat mapping is a novel low-cost, high-input method of curriculum mapping. It requires a person to input the data which can take a long time for large curricula. There are no other upfront financial costs. It can be used in any area with a curriculum and an external or internal comparator. Examples of gold standard external comparators include validated national or international curricula. Heat mapping can help integrated, spiral curriculum programmes to identify where core topics are taught throughout their course. The heat maps themselves successfully demonstrate the required information and are easy to interpret. The process of mapping, as well as the final heat map, can yield important information. This includes information about trends within the curriculum, areas for potential improvement in sessional design and a clearer understanding of the depth to which each topic is covered in each lecture. Overall, it is a viable novel method, which has been successful locally and is easily transferable to other areas such as pharmacology.

The interest in program- and colleges of education- level evaluation and alignment of student learning outcomes to course content has been increasing over the past several decades. Curriculum mapping establishes the links between content and expected student learning outcomes. Curriculum map is an overview of what is taking place in the classroom; and it includes evaluation tools and activities. Social Studies Department, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) College of Education Zuba, Abuja, recently completed an accreditation exercise by National Commission for Colleges of Education Abuja, Nigeria. The audit reported that there was no match between the student learning outcomes and Social Studies curricula. The purpose of this paper was to align the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) (Social Studies) minimum standards with student learning outcomes to determine gaps and redundancies. The paper also looked at how virtual education enhances curriculum mapping during COVID-19 pandemic. Minimum standards learning outcomes were modified from existing learning outcomes to better align with college learning outcomes and the Social Studies Core and Elective Competencies. All NCE Social Studies courses were mapped to the Social Studies Core and Elective Competencies and assessed to determine the gaps and redundancies. The study used the documentary research method. The purposeful sampling strategy was used to select the research site. Potential gaps were defined as coverage for each competency in about ≤20% of the courses and potential redundancies was considered as coverage of ≥80% of the courses. The mapping exercise revealed gaps; and no redundancies in course content. The findings of the mapping exercises should be used to improve the content provided to NCE Social Studies students at FCT College of Education Zuba, with the overall objective of enhancing the quality of the education provided to those students and helping them to be better students that are prepared for a successful career in Social Studies.

Hussain Al Dera1,2 1Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Hussain Al Dera Email derah@KSAU-HS.edu.saBackground: Curriculum mapping and alignment are complex processes essential for the improvement of curriculum and serve as guidelines for students, faculty, and college administrators. This project aims to map different components of the curriculum in a comprehensive manner to ensure smooth running of the curriculum for the end users.Materials and Methods: The project addressed the neuroscience block of the undergraduate medicine program. Eight parameters were investigated: competencies (learning outcomes), curriculum themes, block objectives, weekly problems, and objectives of weekly problems, disciplines, delivery, and assessment. The Delphi method was used by ten experts to assess the importance of these parameters. Focus interviews were then conducted with faculty members.Results: The panel of ten experts reached consensus by agreeing that the eight parameters are important for aligning and mapping the neuroscience block and can be helpful for smooth operation of the curriculum. Mapping and alignment were performed electronically using eight parameters over 8 weeks. Majority of the faculty members appreciated the use of curriculum mapping.Conclusion: Curriculum mapping using electronic software helps in identifying gaps and redundancies and facilitating alignment between learning and assessment and learning objectives and competencies (learning outcomes). Training programs for faculty members and encouragement from leaders are suggested.Keywords: curriculum alignment, curriculum mapping, neuroscience block, electronic mapping, Delphi method

This paper proposes an approach for modeling and mining curriculum Big data from real-world education datasets crawled online from university websites in Australia. It addresses the scenario to give a student a study plan to complete a course by accumulating credits on top of subjects he or she has completed. One challenge to be addressed is that subjects with similar bs from different universities may put barriers for setting up a reasonable, time-saving learning path because the student may be unable to distinguish them before an intensive research on all subjects related to the degree from the universities. We used concept graph-based learning techniques and discuss data representations and techniques which are more suited for large datasets. We created ground truth of subjects relations and subject's description with Bag of Words representations based on natural language processing. The generated ground truth was used to train a model, which summarizes a subject network and a concepts graph, where the concepts are automatically extracted from the subject descriptions across all the universities. The practical challenges to collect and extract the data from the university websites are also discussed in the paper. The work was validated on nineteen real-world education datasets crawled online from university websites in Australia and showed good performance.

Medical librarians collaborate with physicians and other healthcare professionals to improve the quality and accessibility of medical information, which includes assembling the best evidence to advance health equality through teaching and research. This column brings together brief cases highlighting the experiences and perspectives of medical librarians, educators, and healthcare professionals using their organizational, pedagogical, and information-analysis skills to advance health equality indexing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays universities face ever-increasing demands on quality of education, which is crucial from perspective of future graduates. In face of the need of constant quality improvements of medical curricula, it is important to seek strategies for their efficient management. The general trend is to develop electronic support tools to streamline the curricular design, analysis and harmonization. Based on the requirements we have identified by the needs analysis among curriculum designers, teachers and managers at five universities involved in the Building Curriculum Infrastructure in Medical Education (BCIME) project, and evidence published in literature on curriculum development, we have developed methodological guidelines on curriculum innovations and a software-based tools that help manage, map and analyse curricula in the medical and healthcare study fields. In this paper, we share our experiences with building and implementation of EDUportfolio, an online platform developed within our consortium and intended to facilitate harmonisation and optimisation of medical outcome-based curricula. Its functionalities and outputs were verified by pilot mapping of Anatomy curricula as taught at partner universities in five European countries. The visualisation and the analysis of described curriculum data using natural language processing techniques revealed both the hidden relations between curriculum building blocks and a set of overlaps and gaps in curricula. In addition, we demonstrate both the usability of the platform in the context of the involved academic environments and the capability to map and compare curricula across different institutions and different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum mapping is a method in which teachers record the operational curriculum to be used for ongoing curriculum review and development. Therefore, schools aim to establish a fluid system for maintaining and updating the curriculum. As teachers are the main practitioners of curriculum mapping, this study aimed to investigate the factors that impact teachers' attitudes towards an online curriculum mapping tool. In this study we employedthe Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine the attitudes of the academic staff in a private school in Dubai towards the use of a curriculum mapping tool and whether the staff role impacted their perceptions. Also, we examined the factors that impact perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the curriculum mapping tool. The external factor considered as a determinant of perceived usefulness is relevance, which is studied in terms of long-term planning, short-term planning, curriculum alignment, teachers' collaboration, and students' achievement. The factors considered as determinants of perceived usefulness are training and time. The results indicated that the staff did not have significant positive attitudes towards the tool. Also, while perceived ease of use and actual usage were significantly high, perceived usefulness was significantly low. The results also showed that there were no differences in perceptions according to the staff role except for perceived usefulness, which was significantly higher for leaders compared to teachers. Results also indicated that perceived short-term planning and teacher collaboration were good predictors of perceived usefulness, while perceived training and time were good predictors of perceived ease of use. The results reflect a shallow understanding of the theory that underlies the use of the curriculum mapping tool. School leaders should dedicate time and resources to extend communication about the purpose of curriculum mapping and how the mapping tool can help the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual clinical learning assignments replaced onsite clinical instruction in many prelicensure nursing programs, but the alignment of those learning experiences to end-of-program outcomes was unknown. Purpose: This article describes the process and results of mapping student competencies gained via virtual patient simulation experiences to a program's end-of-program outcomes and accrediting standards. Methods: A faculty team followed the process of curriculum mapping as described in the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of the program's virtual clinical learning product in addressing end-of-program outcomes. Results: The mapping process identified where competencies were being met, which needed enhancing or were redundant, and where gaps existed. Conclusions: Curriculum mapping is an effective strategy in evaluating whether virtual patient simulation learning experiences support end-of-program outcomes. Mapping learning activities to outcomes will be fundamental to curriculum development and evaluation as schools of nursing integrate accrediting standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]