Course Outline

Sample Answer

Formal Narrative

Facilitation of Context-Based Student-Centered Learning

Nursing students doing their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program require course outlines that facilitate student-based or centered learning. In this case, the course entails community health for potential BSN students and will take eight weeks. The course will introduce students to concepts in community and public health nursing through the application of various learning approaches.

Students will be able to differentiate the various roles of a community and public health nurse, and explore aspects of vulnerability in population and epidemiological development of diseases; both communicable and non-communicable (Bastable, 2019). The application of these course aspects is critical for public health nurses to better prepare them to work within the community and deliver quality care.

The purpose of this formal narrative paper is to discuss the components of the course outline developed to facilitate context-based student-centered learning to inform both the students and faculty. Three Aspects of the Course Based on the Outline

a) Learners benefiting from the course

The learner will benefit from the course by attaining a better understanding of community health nursing, the importance of health promotion, and primary health to prevent diseases. The learner will gain from the course since they require basic understanding and skills that align with core competencies required in community and public health nursing (Liu et al., 2021). Through the knowledge attained, they will meet the essential requirements of a baccalaureate-prepared nurse based on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

b). Specific concepts emphasize in the course

Upon taking the course, the student will differentiate the diverse roles of the community and public health nurse, understand concepts like vulnerable population, epidemiological process and social determinants of health, and aspects related to disease prevention through health promotion. The students will also benefit from the course by enhancing their overall understanding of vulnerable populations, conducting community health assessments for diseases, and population-focused nursing (Williamson et al., 2022).

The student will also enhance their understanding of community health teaching and health promotion, factors affecting community health, and have an effective introduction to public and community health concepts. The essence of this course is to engage learners through effective communication, collaboration with others, and implementation of patient-centered care in their clinical settings. These specific concepts in the course prepare students to improve their professional nursing practice in different ways.

c). Relevance to professional nursing practice

The essence of this course is to enhance professional nursing practice among students through effective communication, collaboration team working, and provision of patient-centered care. The course aligns with the “Essentials of the BSN education for Professional Nursing Practice” no. VI of the AACN. The students need these concepts to enhance and provide patient-centered care among the population, especially vulnerable populations.

These specific concepts that align with the course overview will enable the student to engage in different activities based on different evidence-based active learning strategies; from collaborative to simulation and gaming, to enhance their understanding and distinguish different roles of community health nurse, and generate a concept map for the community in assessing and planning specific needs for the vulnerable populations.

Students will complete self-learning modules and differentiate the three levels of health promotion and disease prevention (Bastable et al., 2019). They will also benefit by preparing arguments in favor of vaccine-preventable diseases and limiting the spread of such infections within their population of interest. The student will reflect on the curriculum concepts and relate them to actual practice and professional outcomes in nursing settings.

Course Module Topics in Developing the Course

The eight weekly course modules will be instrumental in building this course as they will prepare students to close the gap between theories and practical knowledge in application. Through the active learning strategies provided in the course outline, the students will apply what they attain in practical settings. Every week the students will learn new content, engage in a certain evidence-based active learning strategy, and apply the newfound knowledge in community and public health nursing.

In the first week, the learning module will be an introduction to community and public health nursing through which the student will adopt approaches of public health nurse. The active learning strategy during the week will be collaborative learning which will enhance their overall approaches to the concept. Collaborative learning will enhance the participation and engagement of students, including their contribution to the concepts (Williamson et al., 2021).

In week two, the module will focus on issues affecting community health with the core concepts being issues in public and community health. The learning strategies this week will include lectures and case studies (Agashe et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2020). These strategies will ensure that students get sufficient information and content while also exploring different cases in community and public health nursing.

In the third week, the course module will be community health assessment. The main concept of the module is to develop community health assessment plans and use windshield surveys to improve understanding of community health needs. The active learning strategies in this module include concept mapping and case studies (Innis et al., 2023). As visual learners, students will make posters with concept mapping to impress their ideas with visualization approaches (Daley et al., 2016). Case studies will enhance their understanding of the implementation of concept mapping.

In the fourth week, the students will focus on epidemiology with core concepts focusing on principles of epidemiology, disease surveillance, communicable and non-communicable diseases, and environmental health (Stagg et al., 2020). The evidence-based active learning strategies in this module will include collaborative learning and case studies. These strategies will allow students to collaborate in groups and debate the different epidemiological processes, including disease surveillance for vulnerable populations (Agashe et al., 2021). The approaches will enhance critical thinking and analytical reasoning among students.

In week five, the module will be on social determinants of health with students focusing on the identification of the determinants and their impacts on community health. The active learning strategies in the module will include simulation and faculty-led role models. Simulation will present practical situations to students while faculty-led models will demonstrate what the community expects from the nurse when such health disparities exist (Seshan et al., 2021).

Week six module will focus on community health teaching and health promotion with the core concept being the use of the nursing process (Mishra et al., 2023). The active learning strategy will include community service learning (Bastable, 2019). The strategy will allow students to attain a better and expanded approach to providing instructions to the community through practical service which is necessary during practical nursing practice. The strategy will allow students to encounter practical aspects of community health and ways to promote disease prevention approaches, especially for vulnerable populations.

In week seven, the module will be population-focused nursing with core concepts being theories in community health nursing, nursing models, health promotion, and disease prevention and primary care. The active learning strategy in the module will be cooperative learning which enhances critical thinking and development of analytical skills among nursing students to attain better health outcomes. The student will acquire problem-solving attributes as the method is student-centered and enhances their participation in group activities (Gcawu et al., 2022).

In the final week, the module will be on vulnerable populations and the relevance of cultural values and factors. The core concepts will include the identification of these populations and the exploration of health disparities. The active learning strategy in this case is gaming. Using gaming will enable students to connect with various roles of the community health nurse as they engage in quizzes among themselves (McEnroe-Petitte et al., 2021). Gaming creates participation and activeness, fun, and a positive environment to understand new concepts.

Promotion of Student-Centered Learning by Weekly concepts

The key weekly concepts promote student-centered learning in different ways based on the learning strategies employed by the faculty.

In week one, the concepts include the foundation of public and community health and the evolving roles and responsibilities of nurses. The active learning strategy is collaborative learning. This strategy enhances student-centered learning as it improves their engagement and participation in the learning process (Williamson et al., 2021). Collaborative learning means that students can also provide their perspectives on nursing issues and concepts together with the instructors.

Week two comprises factors impacting public and community health; from policies to ethics in care. The active learning strategies include lectures and case studies which enhance student-centered learning by offering sufficient information on the various roles of public health nurses in community health. The strategies allow students to actively engage in question-and-answer sessions with instructors and develop critical thinking and analytical skills in nursing practice.

The concepts in week three focus on explanation and development, implementation and evaluation of community assessment plans, and use of windshield surveys to improve understanding of community health needs. The active learning strategies in the module include concept mapping and case studies (Stenberg et al., 2021). These concepts align with student-centered learning based on the active learning methods employed; concept mapping and case studies. These strategies enhance student learning by making learning interactive and engaging through their contributions and development of maps to enhance interest in community health promotion.

In week four, the concepts include principles of epidemiology, disease surveillance, environmental health, and communicable and non-communicable diseases. These concepts enhance student-centered learning as they lead to the engagement of students through the learning strategies used, collaborative learning, and case studies.

The concepts in week five include the identification of social determinants of health and their impacts on community health. These concepts advance student-centered learning as they require students to use simulation and faculty-led role-play to improve their understanding of different factors that affect health provision (Zhang et al., 2021). The concepts encourage students to actively engage in different ways to understand diseases and their effects.

The concepts in weeks six and seven entail using the nursing process in health teaching and promotion and theories in community health nursing as well as nursing models and health promotion. These concepts promote student-centered learning by imploring students to engage in cooperative learning and community services to attain practical skills and work (Liu et al., 2021). For instance, cooperative learning will enhance critical thinking skills while community learning offers students a chance to work practically with the communities of interest to improve their health and wellness (Stenberg et al., 2021).

The concepts in week eight entail the identification of vulnerable populations and health disparities. These concepts focus on student-centered learning through the active learning strategy used, gaming, which allows students to interact and build positive synergy to understand and improve course contents. Professional Guidelines The eight weekly concepts align with the Essential VI of the AACN which entails inter-professional communication and collaboration aimed at improving patient health outcomes.

These concepts allow students to learn effective communication among the different professions and inter-professional teams in healthcare, especially community and public health. The core concepts will help students to differentiate various nursing roles, effectively communicate, and engage inter-professional teams to work together in assessing, collecting information, and planning the community and public health needs with the community of interest (Daley et al., 2016).

The eight weekly concepts throughout the course align with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing essentials that promote a thought process and brainstorming approaches among all stakeholders, especially students and people they will work with to deliver quality patient care. The reflection aligns with the AACN essentials and promotes opportunities to develop mutual respect for other professionals within the inter-professional faculty team.

Alignment of Key Concepts with Course Overview

The course overview offers opportunities to attain the skills required to develop an effective assessment of the community and offer evidence-based interventions to improve health. In the first week, introducing the students to public and community health is essential as it forms the foundation of the course and understanding of their roles. In week two, the overview is about factors impacting community health while in week three, it is about community health assessment.

The students should identify components of a community health assessment, and factors affecting community health and use the nursing process to attain better approaches to the issues. In week four, the overview explores epidemiology and the related concepts (Brown et al., 2022). Through the nursing process, students understand core aspects like disease surveillance and principles of epidemiology. The core concepts in week five align with the course overview as they address social determinants of health. Through this approach, students can enhance their understanding of these factors and ways to address them to reduce disparities.

In week six, the key concept is using the nursing process in teaching and community health promotion. The students should deploy the nursing process to promote interventions aimed at enhancing health outcomes for different populations, especially vulnerable populations. Week seven is about population-focused nursing where students are expected to use nursing theories, models, and health promotion as well as disease prevention aspects to improve public and community health (Daley et al., 2016).

The students should focus on critical components to improve the nursing process. The final week explores the concept of vulnerable populations; especially their identification and disparities that contribute to their emergence. As such, students must assess and examine factors that contribute to the vulnerability and the effects of the existing disparities.

Relevance of the Course Outline

The creation of a course outline is relevant to my role as a clinical educator as it communicates critical objectives the students require to be competent healthcare providers in the community and interact well with health populations and other providers. The outline provides important concepts and approaches to delivering course content based on the learning strategies (Oermann et al., 2024). The outline offers guidelines for nurse educators to move forward and ensure that students are well-prepared in practice when they encounter populations requiring interventions.

The course outline offers a systematic process that demonstrates the alignment of course aspects, including goals and objectives to deliver quality learning. Learning Strategies The course outline offers different evidence-based learning strategies that the nurse educator can employ. These strategies address the diverse needs of learners based on their approaches to learning. In week one, the learning strategy is collaborative learning while in week two, the educator employs two strategies; lecturers and the use of case studies (Bastable, 2019).

The learning strategies in weeks three and four include concept mapping, collaborative learning, and case studies. The week five learning strategies include simulation and faculty-led role-play. In week six the learning strategy is community service learning while week seven entails a cooperative learning approach (Liu et al., 2020). In the final week, the educator will employ gaming as a learning strategy. These strategies are critical as they address the diverse needs of learners.

The three selected learning strategies include case studies, collaborative learning, and cooperative learning. These strategies address the diverse learners’ needs as they develop positive environments to enhance their engagement and participation. For instance, case studies improve critical thinking skills. Through case studies, diverse learners can understand different components and problems unique to the cases and develop customized solutions.

Case studies require learners to evaluate the salient features that make the case unique and develop relevant solutions. Therefore, diverse learners get supported through this strategy due to their unique learning needs. Collaborative learning enables even weak learners to work with other students to enhance their understanding of the core concepts in the course (Williamson et al., 2021). The implication through collaborative learning, learners identify similar characteristics that they share which help them understand different areas of their lessons and case environment.

Learners enhance skills and share their perspective in collaborative learning as they engage educators to improve acquisition of knowledge and ideas. Cooperative learning ensures that students work as teams and identify core areas of interest to enhance comprehension of course content. Diverse learners, for instance, those with learning difficulties cooperate with those having higher abilities to improve their understanding and application of various approaches to nursing education

Implementing learning strategy

The implementation of collaborative learning as an active strategy in the course will entail having teams and grouping students. In the groups, the students will take different roles and topical areas to explore and research. Upon completing their research and investigation, they will share with the rest of the team and develop a common approach. Each student will contribute and get help where necessary to complete their part (Oermann et al., 2024). The strategy will entail engaging all students, irrespective of their abilities, to develop a common understanding of the concept under consideration (Stenberg et al., 2022).

Collaborative learning style is essential to enhancing overall understanding of students, especially weak students who require help. The predominant learning style in this case would be group participation and contribution with each student taking an active role in their assigned area. Group participation will address the learning needs of students as they will work alone and later on in teams to get the required skills and competencies in nursing related to community and public health areas. Students will get the chance to explore alone and develop approaches relevant to the issues presented in the course outline related to community health nursing.

The learning strategy of group participation will facilitate the development of clinical reasoning and self-reflection by imploring students to thoroughly work on their assigned areas before group activities. The students will employ their cognitive approaches to decipher the components of community health and offer interventions to improve wellness. The students will broaden their perspectives through sharing approaches to the assigned tasks.

Fostering student-centered Outcomes in Learning Environments

Nurse educators must foster student-centered outcomes in different learning environments to promote inter-professional collaboration and teamwork. As such, the nurse educator fosters student-centered outcomes in face-to-face environments, and online and clinical situations in different ways. In face-to-face learning, the nurse educator can foster student-centered outcomes by meeting with the student and preceptors to evaluate the appropriateness of different learning approaches and if they meet the objectives for the students (Brown et al., 2022).

learner collaborates with expected practitioners and works in teams to enhance the inter-professional approach to the learning process. Face-to-face learning supports inter-professional collaboration when preceptors and the nursing faculty members and student meet to evaluate the educational needs and approaches to help them, especially during their practicum sessions. Collaboration among the different departments in the practicum facility is at the center of quality care delivery.

As professionals meet to improve nursing education, especially outcomes, they meet and interrogate various approaches to addressing any issue that may arise. Online inter-professional collaboration enables the learner to effectively deploy different communication skills using technology. The introduction of virtual elements ensures that students coordinate with other faculty members in an interdisciplinary team enabling the learner to work as a team and deliver common plans for patient care, including community health and nursing concepts.

Different health professionals and practitioners leverage online collaboration through deployment of different digital tool like zoom to improve provision of educational content to nursing students. Clinical collaboration entails working alongside other health professionals to attain the desired patient-centered care outcomes (Bastable, 2019). As such, the students will attain better outcomes when they work with other professionals to develop common approaches to improving community and public health in their communities of interest.

Clinical collaboration leverages online tools like zoom to improve a common approach a problem Student’s Experiences The cultural, societal, and life experiences of a nursing student (BSN) can have significant effects on their learning abilities. Language barriers and effective communication, cultural practice and perspectives as well as societal issues like discrimination due to diversity affect student’s learning abilities because they process the acquired knowledge through these multiple lenses.

For instance, students from underprivileged backgrounds, minority populations, and those coming from systematically and historically marginalized ethnic and racial groups are more likely to experience difficulties in learning, irrespective of the selected learning strategy or style (Oermann et al., 2024). These students may feel inadequate and have limited exposure to certain learning strategies. They are also likely to experience unfavorable learning environments that impede their abilities to comprehend and apply the critical information required in nursing.

Application of Learning Theories

Learning theories offer guidelines on providing content to students based on various aspects that impact their experiences in such environments. The cognitivist approach to learning is repeatedly deployed in an educational environment as its focus is understanding the internal aspects of the student (Liu et al., 2021). The cognitivist approach to learning is essential in nursing education courses as it allows the educator to consider how a learner acquires the content, including the absorption of information, processing of their past experiences and their effects, and their perception of the things that they are learning.

Cognitive development is an essential psychological concept that expands one’s perception of life issues, thinking processes, and reasoning tools (Oermann et al., 2024). These aspects are essential for nurse educators to deliver content that will provide meaningful engagement of students in learning process.

Conclusion

Preparing course outcomes with objectives provides a systematic approach to the role of an advanced nurse educator (ANE). Through using active learning strategies for students, the course outline demonstrates how nurse educators and students can use critical thinking to attain successful learning and delivery of content. The predominant learning strategies in this course outline are collaborative learning and case studies. Participation and engagement, especially group and team participation, enhance the understanding of nursing students and ensure that educators develop innovative approaches, including simulation and gaming, to deliver content.

Inter-professional collaboration and teamwork offer the learner a chance to experience different disciplines in healthcare teams working together to attain a common good. Experiences, from societal to cultural, can affect student’s learning abilities. As such, the use of evidence-based learning theories like the cognitivist approach, is essential in the development of a nursing education strategy, especially in community and public health nursing courses or programs for BSN student

References

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