COURSE PLANNING

INTRODUCTION
Nursing educational programme is a combination of various courses like medical surgical
nursing, mental health nursing etc. These courses are placed in an intertwined manner in order
to attain the objectives of the educational programme.

COURSE
 A course is a combination of various but interrelated units.
 It serves as a guide for the teacher as well as for the students in creating the atmosphere
conducive for worthwhile learning and purposeful activities.

LEVELS OF COURSE PLAN

 At the level of the course itself - organizing both content and learning experiences within
the course.
 Planning in relation to the total programme placement of the course in the programme and
its relationship to other courses.

PRINCIPLES OF COURSE PLANNING

1. State the objectives in behavioral terms.
2. Establish a sequence. e.g. In teaching bed making Plan teaching of simple open bed first,
admission bed next, post operative bed, fracture beds, renal beds, etc.
3. The teacher should keep in mind
 What should the students learn from the course?
 What should be the sequence of topics/units?
 How much time is to be allotted?
4. Ensure logical and psychological continuity
5. Organize the course in a student centered manner.
6. Principle of integration.
7. Give adequate weight age to the core curriculum content.
8. Unity curriculum: merging of closely related subjects to form a particular course in order
to avoid repetition and overlapping.
9. Select learning approach that is acceptable to all teachers.
10. Flexibility in selecting teaching learning method.
11. Provide variety in modes of learning

PRINCIPLES FOR SELECTING THE COURSE CONTENT

 Content should contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the particular nursing
educational programme.
 It should be appropriate to the level of that group of students to whom it is to be taught.
 Content should have community orientation.
 It must be sensitive to the changing health needs as well as aspirations of the students.
 It should be experience based.
 Content should have transcultural perspective.
 It should provide functional relationship with allied disciplines or professions.
 It must be wide and comprehensive.
 It should provide for continuous learning.
 Content should contribute to the personal and professional development of the students.

CONTENT OF COURSE PLAN

 Course description.
 Behavioral objectives.
 Placement of the course by specifying the levels of the learners. For eg. Placement of
anatomy is stated as first year leading to B.Sc. Nursing degrees.
 Explain the time allotted. If clinical experience is needed, specify the time meant for theory
and practical experience.
 In case of courses associated with field experience like community health nursing, details of
field experience.
 Organize the content into unit wise or lesson plan wise.
 Details of the resource materials and teaching learning methods to be followed.
 Details of learning activities of students.
 Details of formative and summative evaluation, ratio between internal assessment and
university examination.
 References for teachers and students.

PROCESS OF ORGANIZING LEARNING EXPERIENCE

 The staff must discuss and agree on the general scheme of organization of the course.
 Agreement should be made regarding the general principles of organization i.e. continuity,
sequence and integration.
 The basic unit should be included.
 Flexible plans should be developed which can be handled by each teacher.
 The plan should be used for particular activities for a particular course.
TEACHERS ROLE IN COURSE PLANNING
1. The extent, to which a teacher will plan courses individually, will vary from institution to
institution.
2. The general objectives, general areas of subject matter, evaluation measures for each
course will be determined at the institutional or faculty or instructional level. These all will
depend on
 Teachers own self-appraisal
 Attitude towards their students teaching and learning.
 Knowledge and skills related to the area of teaching.
3. Composition of learners group.
4. Teacher’s insight and skill sound ideas and understandings known conditions.

At the instructional level, teachers will plan

1. Basis for planning.
2. Units of work.
3. Select materials and learning activities.
4. Set up working groups.
5. Arrange the teaching learning environment.