| Course | NURS 6321 Curriculum Development, Assessment, and Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 3 |
| Paper type | Learning objectives |
| Length | About 590 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6321 Week 3
Learning Objectives for an Orientation Unit on Recognizing and Escalating Patient Deterioration
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6321: Curriculum Development, Assessment, and Evaluation
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Learning Objectives for an Orientation Unit on Recognizing and Escalating Patient Deterioration
The Week 2 needs assessment found that most new nurses measure abnormal findings correctly but do not connect them into a judgment or act on it in time. The six objectives below answer that gap. Each follows the three-part form in which an objective names an observable performance, the conditions under which it occurs and the criterion of acceptable performance (Mager, 1997). The level column uses the cognitive process categories from the 2001 revision of Bloom's framework (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). The objectives are ordered by dependency, since each needs the one before it.
Table 1
Six Objectives for the Deterioration Unit
| No. | The new nurse will... | Given... | Criterion | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calculate the early warning score from a full set of vital signs and level of consciousness | A patient record or simulated patient, and the hospital's scoring card | Correct total in 5 of 5 cases, within 2 minutes each | Apply |
| 2 | Identify the trend across three sets of observations that signals deterioration | Three consecutive sets of vital signs and nursing notes from one patient | Names the changing parameters and states the direction in 4 of 5 cases | Analyze |
| 3 | Prioritize the most likely explanation for the trend | The trend from objective 2 and the patient's diagnosis and recent treatment | Ranks sepsis, bleeding, fluid overload or opioid effect correctly against an expert key in 4 of 5 cases | Analyze |
| 4 | Escalate by calling the rapid response team or physician using a structured handoff | A simulated patient whose score reaches the calling threshold | Calls within 10 minutes of the threshold, using all four parts of the hospital's handoff format | Apply |
| 5 | Defend the decision to escalate when questioned by a skeptical physician | A scripted pushback during the simulated call | States two objective findings and a specific request; does not withdraw the call | Evaluate |
| 6 | Adjust the monitoring plan after the team's intervention | The patient's response over 30 minutes after treatment | Sets observation frequency and a recheck trigger that an expert rater accepts | Evaluate |
Distribution and Order
Two objectives sit at applying, two at analyzing and two at evaluating. None sits at remembering or understanding, because the learners already know the parameters and the rapid response process; the Week 2 profile showed that recall is not the gap. Objectives 2 and 3 carry the pattern-seeing component of the gap, and objectives 4 and 5 carry the escalation component, including the reluctance to call that preceptors named most often. Objective 5 exists because a call that is withdrawn under pressure fails the patient as surely as a call never made. The order follows the clinical judgment model's sequence from recognizing and analyzing cues to taking action and evaluating outcomes (Dickison et al., 2019).
Two Objectives Cut
Two further objectives were written and removed. The first asked the new nurse to "interpret an arterial blood gas to classify the acid-base disorder in a deteriorating patient." It is a real skill, but on this unit blood gases are rare and are interpreted by the physician and respiratory therapist, and teaching it would take at least one of the unit's three contact sessions. The second asked the new nurse to "lead the first five minutes of a rapid response until the team arrives." It was cut because it assumes the escalation objectives are already met, and it belongs in a later module for nurses in their second six months. Cutting both keeps the unit inside its available time and on the gap it was built to close.
References
Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.
Dickison, P., Haerling, K. A., & Lasater, K. (2019). Integrating the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Clinical Judgment Model into nursing educational frameworks. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(2), 72-78. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20190122-03
Mager, R. F. (1997). Preparing instructional objectives: A critical tool in the development of effective instruction (3rd ed.). Center for Effective Performance.
Reading the NURS 6321 Week 3 instructions
The third NURS 6321 week has students write objectives for one unit of instruction. Write each with an observable verb, conditions and a criterion, distribute them across levels and explain the order. Observability carries the grade, so verbs such as understand or appreciate lose points. Cite objective-writing sources in APA 7. Four to eight objectives is common for a unit. Bloom's revised taxonomy is widely accepted for levels. Conditions and criteria belong in every objective when the objective will be assessed. Showing objectives you cut demonstrates judgment. A table with each objective, its level and the gap it answers keeps the set readable. A short paragraph then explains the order in which learners will meet the objectives and why that order builds skill.
Inside the NURS 6321 Week 3 example
Six objectives sit in a table, one per row, and every one of them could be tested by watching somebody. Each begins with the learner as the subject and carries a verb that names an observable act, so understand, appreciate and know appear nowhere in the set. Conditions follow the verb, describing what the learner will have available at the time, and a criterion closes the row by stating how well the act must be performed to count. A final column places each objective at a level of the revised taxonomy, and the spread runs from applying to evaluating rather than sitting entirely in recall. Beneath the table, a paragraph names two objectives the writer removed and explains what made them unassessable in the available time.
NURS 6321 Week 3 rubric: what earns full marks
Observability carries this rubric row, and it is lost on individual words, so an objective asking a learner to understand pharmacokinetics scores badly beside one asking them to calculate a dose and defend the calculation. Alignment carries the next weight, meaning each objective points back at the gap established earlier rather than at a topic the writer finds interesting. Points also disappear when criteria are missing, since an objective with no standard cannot be graded consistently, and when the set is too large, because twelve objectives for a single unit tell a reader that nothing was chosen. Sets that sit entirely at recall lose on the level distribution row even when every verb is technically observable.
NURS 6321 Week 3 help: mistakes that cost marks
Objective sets score poorly when verbs cannot be observed. Replace understand with name, rank or demonstrate. A second weakness is missing criteria. Add how well and how often. Writers also stack every objective at one level. Spread them. Avoid objectives that describe what the teacher does. Describe the learner. Tie each objective to the gap. An objective written in full, such as naming each moving parameter from three rounds of observations in four of five cases, shows the form. Close with the objective that matters most. Read each objective and ask whether a preceptor could watch it happen.
Get a NURS 6321 Week 3 example written to your instructions
Send the prompt, the rubric and the unit or course the objectives serve, with any accreditation language your program has to answer to. A set comes back in table form with verbs, conditions, criteria and levels filled in, and the cut note written. No charge for the first set, returned within 24-48 hours, ready for you to retune the criteria.
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NURS 6321 Week 3 questions, answered
How many objectives should a unit carry?
Four to six for a single unit and three to five for one session. The example uses six because the unit runs across three weeks. Beyond that range a set stops guiding instruction and starts describing everything the subject contains, and a marker assessing prioritization has almost nothing to work with. Where your prompt fixes a number, it governs, and the row structure holds however many rows there are.
Which taxonomy should the objectives use?
Whichever your prompt names. Where it is silent, the revised Bloom formulation is the safe default in nursing education and is what this example records in its level column, cited to its own authors rather than to a secondary summary. Some programs work from a professional competency framework instead, in which case the level column becomes a competency column and the rest of the table is unchanged.
Do conditions and criteria really belong in every objective?
In this course, usually yes, because both elements are what let an objective be assessed the same way twice. Conditions state what the learner has to hand and criteria state the standard, and an objective missing either invites two markers to reach different verdicts on the same performance. Where a rubric asks only for verbs and content, the extra columns still cost nothing and answer questions before they are asked.
Where can I find a free NURS 6321 Week 3 sample paper?
The six deterioration objectives are printed here with their three-part form, level distribution, order and two cut objectives.
What gap do the NURS 6321 Week 3 objectives answer?
New nurses measure abnormal findings correctly but do not connect them into a judgment that a patient is getting worse, or act in time.