Instructional Technology
Conference 2007

Title: Using the Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS) to create an Integrated Nursing Curriculum

Name: Beth Moore, Lynn Whitledge

Audience Level: all

Audience: General, Instructional Technology Specialists

Length: 1 hour

Abstract:
The presenters will document how WIDS, founded upon Performance-Based Learning, provided an integral framework for the development of an innovative nursing curriculum. The presenters (who are WIDS facilitators) taught faculty to create meaningful competencies, to specify performance standards for the learner in clear terms, and to develop learning plans using a variety of active strategies. Additionally, the presenters used the analyzer function of WIDS to demonstrate to accrediting bodies where competencies are linked to the required program standards.

Description:
In 2005 Madisonville Community College was awarded a second Title III grant targeting the revision of technical degree and diploma programs. These programs were the product of the former Technical College when the Kentucky House Bill 1 merged the state’s community colleges and technical colleges in 1998. In the grant proposal accepted under the Title III program, the technical programs were described as being long in need of curriculum revision and streamlining.

A Curriculum Revision timeline was established by the Title III Leadership Team, including the Curriculum Specialist, a part-time Activity Director, a part-time Title III Coordinator, and an Administrative Assistant. Nursing and Surgical Technology were the first two programs to undergo revision through weekly meetings. Faculty members were appointed to the Curriculum Revision Committees in the spring semester of 2006.

Due to the long-term process involving curriculum revision of twelve technical programs and the requirements of these programs in their accreditation process, Madisonville Community College actively sought out technical assistance with the revision. The Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS) stood out from the beginning in the practical application for technical programs. After touring the website and meeting with representatives from WIDS, MCC administration chose to purchase and use WIDS.

The first technical program scheduled for curriculum revision was that of Nursing. MCC had two separate programs—Practical Nursing and the Associate Degree of Nursing. The coordinators of the two programs decided to promote the creation of an integrated nursing program.

WIDS has provided a comprehensive tool to assist the faculty in the development of the new nursing courses. It is founded on performance-based learning, which underlies all technical education. There are four essential features of performance-based learning, according to the WIDS program. They are: Identification of who is responsible for the performance, Statement of what competencies are required in advance of the teaching process, Development of when the performance standards must be met, and Provision of how the learners will develop the desired competency in the form of a learning plan.

The WIDS software creates the necessary documents to develop each of the four essentials: who, what, when and how. The faculty members learn to create the following documents in the WIDS software: a course syllabus, a course outcome summary (a document unfamiliar to MCC faculty prior to WIDS), learning plans, teaching notes for the learning plans, and performance assessment tasks. In the creation of these documents, they also link program standards, external standards (such as the National League of Nursing), and general education competencies to the course competencies they have written. This creates a pathway in the software to enable students, faculty, administrators, and accrediting personnel to make the logical connections that are important to course and program development.

Finally, the WIDS program contains an analyzer function to allow faculty and administrator to show those linkages between course content and the standards determined externally and within the institution. This demonstrates to accrediting bodies how the curriculum makes sense. The analyzer function can also be used within one course to critique the course for essentials of good teaching practice, such as levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, types of multiple intelligences, group size, and other aspects.

Currently, nine new courses have been developed in the WIDS system for the MCC nursing curriculum. The implementation date is fall of 2007.

Session Type: Lecture/Presentation

Contact information/affiliation:
Beth Moore, Curriculum Specialist, Title III grant
Madisonville Community College
2000 College Drive
Madisonville, KY 42431
beth.moore@kctcs.edu
Office: (270) 824-8610

Lynn Whitledge, Assistant Professor of Nursing
Madisonville Community College
2000 College Drive
Madisonville, KY 42431
leslyel.whitledge@kctcs.edu
Office: (270) 824-1801