This document outlines a curriculum design project for a nursing course on needs assessment and curriculum design. It includes the group members, objectives, and outline of topics to be covered such as the introduction to needs assessment, importance of needs assessment, steps in conducting needs assessment, curriculum design components and attributes, and models of curriculum design. The objectives are explained and key aspects of needs assessment and curriculum design are defined such as target audience, types of needs assessment, determinants of needs assessment, and stages of curriculum design.

1. NURS 604: CURRICULUM DESIGN
TOPIC: NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND
CURRICULUM DESIGN
GROUP MEMBERS:
ANTHONY ATUGUBA
BAIDOO THEOPHILUS
TIA MOSES BANOYA
VICTOR KPATSI

2. OUTLINE
• INTRODUCTION TO NEEDS ASSESSMENT
• OBJECTIVES
• TARGET AUDIENCE FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT
• IMPORTANCE
• STEPS
• CURRICULUM DESIGN
• ATTRIBUTES OF C.D
• TYPES OF CD
• COMPONENTS
• MODELS OF CD

3. OBJECTIVES
• TO EXPLAIN NEEDS ASSESSMENT,
• TO OUTLINE THE IMPORTANCE, AND STEPS TO FOLLOW IN
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
• TO UNDERSTAND WHAT CURRICULUM DESIGN IS
• TO IDENTIFY THE TYPES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN
• TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPONENTS OF CURRICULUM
DESIGN
• AND TO EXPLAIN MODELS USED IN CURRICULUM DESIGN

4. INTRODUCTION
• The process of curriculum design/development will surely impact on
the learning and learners. The primary objective of a curriculum is to
meet the target learners for their current needs and necessities.

5. INTRODUCTION CONT’D.
• In this connection, needs assessment has become a major
process that determines the actual needs of learner’s or group
of learners. It plays a crucial role and becomes a mandatory
phase in the process of syllabus/curriculum design

6. Definitions of needs assessment
• Def: A systematic process of gathering information that is
appropriate and sufficient to develop an effective educational
program that will address the groups’ needs and
wants (gap). (Jannetti, 2012)
• It is also defined as the process for collecting and analyzing
information that contribute to the decision to initiate a new program
or revise an existing one (keating, 2014)

7. Def: cont’d
• A systematic method of identifying unmet health and healthcare needs
of a population and making changes to meet these unmet needs (
ADH, 2015)
• This approach must balance clinical, ethical, and economic
considerations of need—that is, what should be done, what can be
done, and what can be afforded (Wright, 2011)

8. Objectives of needs assessment
• Objectives of needs assessment are based on two things
What is the mission and responsibility?
Who are the target audience?
• A needs assessment is often conducted for a specific group,
organization, or business in order to improve effectiveness and
productivity of the group related to its mission
• Assessment of objectives relate to the objectives of the organization

9. Target audience
• The target audience refers to the people whose needs you are trying to
meet
• It is important to know the population size
• Description of the target audience may include categories of
employees, customers, or members
• Include reasons for belonging to the group, length of time of their
association, their geographic or organizational distribution, what they
receive from the group, cultural characteristics or biases, and age, sex,
ethnicity, and demographic characteristics

10. Target audience: cont’d
• An important aspect of describing the target audience is to research
and describe the relationship between the audience and the issue or
topic of the assessment

11. Importance/why of needs assessment
• To find out the required skills a learner needs in order to perform a
particular role at work place.
• To examine the existing curriculum whether it adequately addresses
the needs of potential students.
• To know the needs of a particular category of learners in order to train
them in a specific skill.
• To discover the gap between needs and abilities
• To collect information about a particular problem learners are
experiencing.

12. Importance: cont’d
• To assess the effectiveness of the prevailing program.
• Information regarding the preferred styles of learning or learning
needs, importance of particular skills for the learners, role relationship
between teacher and learners, preferences for teaching learning
activities

13. Importance: cont’d
• Information about the learners related
to their purpose of pursuing a learning program.
The attitude towards the program
Previous learning experiences
Cultural background
• To determine what can be done to make the educational products
accessible, acceptable and useful the clientele.

14. Importance: cont’d
• It provides knowledge on the potential demands for future programs
and products
• It communicates credibility and competence to funding authorities

15. Types of need assessment
Direct and indirect
Direct need assessment is accomplished through formal research that
gathers data from clientele
Indirect approach uses secondary data or ask surrogates for their opinion
about priority needs and issues

16. Determinants of needs assessment
• Membership Learning Needs Survey
• Patient Care Requirements
• Changes in Legislation
• Review of current professional literature
• Evaluation from prior learning activity

17. Determinants of needs assessment: cont’d
• Recent trends in patient population
• Annual event
• Others including:, Morbidity and Mortality data, new methods of
diagnosis or treatment, new technologies.

18. Steps in conducting needs assessment
• Write objectives: what is it that you want to learn from the needs
assessment?
• Select audience. Who is the target audience? Whose needs are you
measuring and to whom will you give the required information?
• Collect data: how will you collect data that will tell you what you need
to know? will you collect data directly or indirectly from the
audience?

19. Steps in conducting needs assessment: cont’d
• Select audience sample: how will you select a sample of respondents
who represent the target audience?
• Picking an instrument: what instruments and techniques will you use
to collect data?
• Analyze data: how will you analyze the data you collect?
• Follow-up: what will you do with information that you gain? Data
gatherings by themselves are not a needs assessment. For the process
to be complete, the needs assessment has to result in decision making

21. CURRICULUM DESIGN
• Curriculum design is a very important part of creating a contextually
relevant and responsive teaching and learning environment for both
teachers and students.
• Def.: Curriculum design (also curriculum organization) refers to the
ways in which we arrange the curriculum components (Shawer, 2015)

22. Attributes of c. design
• It is purposeful
• It is deliberate
• It is creative/innovative
• Operates on many levels
• Requires compromises
• Can fail
• Has stages

23. Types of curriculum design
• Subject centered design
• Teacher Centered curriculum design
• Learner centered curriculum design
• Activity/Experience curriculum design
• Integrated curriculum design

24. Subject-centered design
• Also called the traditional design
• Emphasis is on making learners absorb as much knowledge as possible
• It is particular on subject or broad field
• Easy to implement
• Critic: does not permit for critical connections with other subjects

25. Teacher centered design
• The teacher is the main focus here
• Students are passive participants because they are not involved as
much

26. Learner centered design
• Students are the focus
• Based on the learners anticipated needs and interests
• Build on previous experiences of learners
• Content is organized into course works( group discussions,
presentations ) instead of subjects (math etc.)

27. Integrated c. design
• Focuses on basic skills, content and higher level thinking
• Encourages lifelong learning
Structures learning around themes, big ideas and meaningful concepts
• Provides connections among various curricular disciplines
• Provides learners opportunities to apply skills they have learned
• Encourages active participation in relevant real-life experiences
• Provides a deeper understanding of content

28. Stages of curriculum design
• Determine and agree the educational or professional context in which
the program is to be developed and delivered
• Define the needs of the learners in line with the requirements of
professional bodies
• Determine the aims and broad learning outcomes of the program
• Identify ideas and constraints

29. Stages of curriculum design: cont’d
• Agree on the broad structure and framework of the program, the main
areas of teaching and learning, the sequence of the main topics and the
key assessments
• Allocate the detailed development of each topic or course area in
terms of defining objectives and learning outcomes to individuals or
teams

30. Stages of curriculum design: cont’d
• Course teams to develop coherent programs which have defined
learning outcomes, timetables, content, appropriate teaching, learning
and assessment methods and which utilize relevant and available
learning resources
• Implement and refine the program
• Develop an appropriate and deliverable evaluation strategy
• Review and revise the course in line with feedback – has it met the
identified needs of the learners and other stakeholders?

31. Curriculum design components
All curriculum designs endeavor to address five curriculum components
namely,
• Why do we initiate instruction or aims?
• What should we teach to realize our set aims and objectives (content
or subject matter)?
• How can we communicate target learning experiences (pedagogy,
instruction)?

32. Curriculum design components: Cont’d
• What have we realized and what actions should we take accordingly in
relation to the instructional program, learners, and teachers
(evaluation)?
• Where can the teaching and learning occur to achieve the best
outcomes

33. components:(summarized)

34. The major Educational philosophies
• Perenialism
• Essentialism
• Humanism
• Reconceptualism
• Reconstructionism

35. Criteria for selection of content
• Content
• Relevance: content should reflect needs of society and culturally and
technological appropriate in context
• Balance: there should be balance between the two polar goals of
education: what is constant and what is changing. There should also be
balance between the three domains of learning.
• Validity: Refers to accuracy or inaccuracy of the content. Content
should also coincide with the expressed aims of the curriculum.

36. Criteria for selection of content (cont.)
• Learnability: Content should be selected in consideration with the
learners’ level of development.
• Feasibility: This criterion considers:
Resources (human, physical and finacial)
Time allotment
School calendar
Enabling legislation
Public support.

37. Component of content
• Content has three components which are considered in selection of
content:
1. Knowledge
2. Process/ skill
3. Affective

38. Role of philosophy in determining objectives
• Philosophy: provides basis for general theory of education and
suggests its goals.
• Aims: are broad statements that provide direction to educational
actions. (To promote quality and acceptable nursing care).
• Goals: are specific statements used as guidelines for achieving
purposes. (To prepare the next generation of nurses).
• Objectives: may describe school-wide outcomes or specific behaviors.
(To be able to deliver quality care to clients).

39. Illustration
philosophy
Aims
Goals
objectives

40. Models of curriculum design
1. derrick walker, 2004

41. Graves(2000) model.

42. Conclusion
• A comprehensive needs assessment leads to a good
curriculum development, which is essential for the
preparation of practicing nurses at all level.