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  • Overview
  • Purpose
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  • Findings: Year One
  • Findings: Year Two
  • Findings: Year Three
  • Transferability
• Research & Development
  • Overview
  • Six Research Questions
  • Methodology
  • Literature Review
  • Stakeholder Consultations
• Model Framework
• Toolkit Framework
  • Overview
  • Curriculum Collaboration
  • Why Collaborate?
  • Values, Principles & Themes
  • Issues
  • Limiting Factors
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Legal
  • Communities of Practice
  • Curriculum Sustainability
  • Evaluation
  • Networking Technology
• Implementation
  • Overview
  • Dissemination of Results
  • Phase Reports
• References
• Credits

Project Overview - Findings

Summary of the Third Year

In summary, the third year of the project focused primarily on curriculum development. Under the leadership of the Commons Management Team the processes were facilitated by the Curriculum Quality Assurance Department (CQAD). Communities of practice meetings, consisting of faculty from each college, were convened. A Consultant provided expert leadership in the design and development of a Common Practical Nurse Curriculum (CPNC). More specifically, the purpose of the project was to develop a conceptual framework and supporting materials, and processes as foundations for CPNC (Polowick, 2010).

Over the fall 2010, the following key deliverables were achieved and were reported in the Consultant’s report (Polowick, 2010, p. 4):

• Vision statement
• Commons conceptual framework
• Key concepts and organizing principles within a curricular diagram
• Selection of appropriate nursing models related to core content
• Program outcomes
• Process and action plan for the actual course selection and course development

The CPNC is based on a broad model, the nursing metaparadigm and its concepts of client, health, environment, and nursing. The curriculum combines the NorQuest College and Northern Lakes College Practical Nurse programs curriculums. Members of the COPs characterized the process as 'panning for gold' in order to develop a ‘gold standard Practical Nurse curriculum’.

Lessons Learned Development Phase (Year Three 2010/11)

What follows is an unranked list of lessons learned that was generated by the Curriculum Commons Management Team at the conclusion of the third year of the project:

• Collegial relationships are a critical element of sustainability.
• Developing the model and toolkit was relatively easy; implementing is tough.
• Support from College Executive is essential.  These individual s understand the ‘bigger picture’ and the relative importance of this initiative to Campus Alberta.
• It is important that Management clearly define and communicate their expectations to all project participants, including:  the Communities of Practice, the Operations Team, the curriculum developers, and the project consultants.
• Formalize the reporting process to strengthen accountability.
“Our collaboration has gone beyond the PN program. We now share resources, and it has made a number of things better. We learn how other institutions do things…all sorts of spinoff benefits. Collaboration also maximizes resources”

Guy Harmer, Keyano College
• Communities of Practice are effective; however, clear terms of reference that describe the members’ roles and the scope of their responsibilities enables the process.  Members are subject experts whose primary role is teaching and learning.  Individually and collectively they are essential and valuable assets to the project.
• Faculty who participated in the COPs wanted to have their input considered and incorporated into the curriculum. They want to ‘see their input’ reflected in the courses that make up the curriculum.  Faculty is able to contribute curriculum resources and assessment tools.  Faculty workload is an ongoing consideration.  Finding the balance between faculty teaching workload and their interest (and time) to participate in COPs is critical.
• Communications within the project could be strengthened by establishing systematic feedback loops, which help ensure alignment of project objectives with the project activities.
• “You need to first understand the organizational cultures of the potential collaborators”
• Julia Melnyk, Northern Lakes College
• Amalgamating two existing curriculums added complexity to the development of the CNPC conceptual framework and course development. 
“You need to first understand the organizational cultures of the potential collaborators”

Julia Melnyk, Northern Lakes College
• Nursing Consultant plays an important role in leading and managing the curriculum development process.  This process is more complicated in highly regulated health professions programs.  It is assumed this process would be simplified in non-regulated programs.
• The ‘shelf life’ of collaboration depends, in large measure, to its utility and relevance to the collaborators.  Collaboration needs to be responsive to the unique needs of the institutions (i.e. urban versus rural colleges)
• The Management Team learned a lot from each other and developed working relationships that go beyond the curriculum commons project. 
• This project will inform future collaborations, and the website (www.curriulumcommons.ca) will be a valuable resource to colleges contemplating collaborative initiatives.