Influencing Factors of Curriculum Development

1.Explain and describe how internal factors such as organizational processes, curriculum
committees, and internal review bodies impact curriculum design. (23%)

  1. Explain and describe how external factors such as funding, stakeholders, regulatory and
    accrediting agencies affect curriculum design. (23%)
  2. Explain how the mission, philosophy, and framework of the program and parent
    institution impact curriculum design. (22%)
  3. Describe the type of collaboration between external and internal stakeholders that will
    be needed throughout the process of curriculum development. (22%)
    5.grammer APA style and formatting 10%
    Imagine that you have just proposed adding a nursing program to the program offerings at
    the college or university where you teach, or hope to teach. Using the information from
    research, describe the types of internal and external factors that you would expect to have
    an impact on the curriculum design of this program. This paper should include:
    a) how will internal factors such as organizational processes, curriculum committees, and
    internal review bodies impact the curriculum design?
    b) How do external factors such as funding, stakeholders, and regulatory and accrediting
    agencies affect curriculum design?
    c) how do the mission, philosophy, and framework of the program and parent institution
    impact curriculum design
    d) What type of collaboration between external and internal stakeholders will be needed
    throughout the process of curriculum development?

Influencing Factors of Curriculum Development

Decisions regarding curricular content in healthcare programs at the entry-level are
impacted upon by a wide array of internal and external factors. The curriculum development
process is vital for effective achievement of educational goals. In this regard, there is a need for
systematic approach that should adhere to a number of aspects; the students, teaching staff,
society, and patients’ needs. Moreover, the framework, philosophy, and mission of the program
as well as the parent institution; internal factors; external factors; and the collaboration between
internal and external stakeholders all have a huge impact on curriculum design, and this forms
the basis of this discussion (Taylor, 2012). It is worth noting that the process of curriculum
design should be maximal effective and efficient, and should build on previous works.

How internal factors impact the curriculum design

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 2
Internal factors are solid influences as far as curriculum development is involved. This is
based on the fact that a majority of the entities reside within institutions. Apart from the faculty,
other internal influences include student characteristics, academic administrators, culture,
program missions, and disciplines. Teaching and planning courses, goals, as well as course skills
and content have an impact on the faculty when planning advanced as well as entry-level
courses. Usually, the faculty is central to academic study. How well a faculty plans, shares the
academic study plan with students, and selects the classes for study determines a program’s
success. The faculty develops the coherence, structure, and integrity of the formal academic
program of students (Taylor, 2012).

How external factors affect curriculum design

Politics influences curriculum development and funding through funding. Public as well
as private educational institutions depend on funding for maintaining and building equipment
and facilities, and hiring personnel. All curriculum aspects rely on national, state, and local
political standards. This ranges from interpreting curricular materials, approving examination
systems, to defining goals. Curriculum that is developed for corporations’ in house training aims
at enlightening employees for promotions which brings better and profitable returns. Nations that
finance education anticipate economic returns from the educated students by contributing to the
economy of the country with universal competition capabilities in technical fields. The content of
the curriculum has an impact on academic achievement standards and learner goals with an
underlying impact on the nation’s economy (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, 2012).
How the mission, philosophy, and framework of the program and parent institution impact
curriculum design

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 3
The parent institution strongly impacts on a program’s educational goals, its background,
and objectives. The disciplines’ directions as well as the faculty’s willingness to participate in
curriculum development are principal factors that often result to dissimilar educational goals and
beliefs. Dissimilar educational goals and beliefs encompass of critical thinking, personal growth,
and career development and are impacted upon by the program’s mission. The characteristics of
the students as well as institutional resources and goals impact on the kind of curriculum design
that is planned (Sankaranarayanan & Sindhu, 2012). A majority of the academic programs are a
component of the bigger parent institution, and are supported by the organizational
infrastructure. The infrastructure offers support for academic plans to be planned and devised.
The level at which programs are impacted upon depends on programs, program’s perception
from outside and inside the college, and the variations inherent.
The type of collaboration between external and internal stakeholders that is needed

throughout the process of curriculum development

The variation between external and internal stakeholders is very vital. Clearly, internal
stakeholders have a huge capacity to attain positive changes. However, they may not have all the
potential or power required to sustain it (McCoy & Anema, 2012). It is worth noting that factors
influencing organizational performance change overtime. This may be as a result of shifting
priorities, staff attrition, and mission drift. Hence, improved outcomes attained one year may
fade the following. Hence, it is important that external and internal stakeholders collaborate
continuously in curriculum development. External stakeholders possess a crucial role in
sustaining improved outcomes.
There should be continuous on-going collaboration following deliberations about the
effectiveness of student learning. Moreover, there should be transparent dialogue regarding the

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 4
needs that the program and school faces so as to improve student learning (McCoy & Anema,
2012). Internal stakeholders should take the lead and provide external stakeholders with data as
well as other information needed so that both groups and up being productive partners as far as
student achievement is concerned. The collaboration and partnership activities should be directly
aligned to evolving issues surrounding student achievement goals. Information sharing should be
transparent, and achievement data should be meaningful, accurate, and clear. All the
collaboration should be data-driven and mission-oriented. This means that there should be
continuous collaboration since new data is generated every time (Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development, 2012).
From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that there are many factors that have an
impact on curriculum development and design. Hence, it is important that all these factors are
considered. This is based on the argument that the success of every curriculum is highly
dependent on these factors.

INFLUENCING FACTORS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 5

References

McCoy, J. L., & Anema, M. (2012). Fast Facts for Curriculum Development in Nursing: How to
Develop & amp; Evaluate Educational Programs in a Nutshell. New York: Springer Pub.
Co.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2012). Starting strong III: A quality
toolbox for early childhood education and care. Paris, France: OECD.
Sankaranarayanan, B., & Sindhu, B. (2012). Learning and teaching nursing. New Delhi: Jaypee
Brothers Medical Publishers.
Taylor, N. (2012). Health education in context: An international perspective on health education
in schools and local communities. Rotterdam: SensePublishers.