week 4
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Courseblueprintingwebinar.pptIntroduction to Course Blueprinting
In Three Easy Steps
Bobbi Martin MSN, RN, CNE
Course Objectives:
- Review how Bloom’s taxonomy is used to guide and level instructional and learning outcomes
- Identify three steps to blueprinting course material
- Demonstrate the ability to construct an exam informed by your course blueprint
Course Blueprints:
- Ensure that the exam serves its intended purpose by representatively sampling the intended learning outcomes and instructional content
- The exam blueprint is a measure of content validity
- Does the exam fairly test
- The content the faculty view as important?
- The intended learning outcomes or objectives?
Steps to Blueprinting Course Material
- Define the specific learning outcomes (course, unit/chapter) to be measured
- Develop a content outline using the amount of time spent teaching the material as an indicator for weighting
- Select appropriate number and level of questions for exam
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Guide for developing and leveling general instructional and specific learning outcomes (Bloom, 1956)
- Knowledge—define, identify, list
- Comprehension—describe, explain, summarize
- Application—apply, demonstrate, use
- Analysis—compare, contrast, differentiate
- Synthesis—construct, develop, formulate
- Evaluation –critique, evaluate, judge
Pharmacology Example
- Identify physical, developmental, psychosocial, religious, and cultural factors that impact drug therapy.
- Describe the mechanism of action, therapeutic uses, side effects, and adverse reactions for each major drug class
- Demonstrate the ability to accurately calculate drug dosages.
- Examine recent research findings and developments related to drug therapy
Bloom’s taxonomy
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
- A mixture of cognitive levels should be evaluated at each stage of instruction placing increasing weight on higher level skills as instruction progresses. For example:
- A foundations course will have a higher percentage of knowledge/comprehension questions (Identify, describe)
- An advance med/surg course will have a higher percentage of application/analysis questions (Compare, demonstrate)
| Semester | Know/ Comp | Application | Analysis |
| Course I (Health Assessment/ Foundations | 50% | 40% | 10% |
| Course II Med/Surg I | 40% | 40% | 20% |
| Course III Med/Surg II | 30% | 40% | 30% |
| Course IV Adv. Med/Surg or Complex Med/Surg | 20% | 40% | 40% |
| Course V Leadership/Mgmt | 15% | 35% | 50% |
| Course VI Capstone | 20% | 20% | 60% |
| Cognitive Code Blueprint |
Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Using higher level cognitive skills as instruction progresses is vital because higher level skills are more likely to result in retention and transfer of knowledge
- In addition, this will assist in preparing students for NCLEX exams that primarily test at the levels of application and analysis
Table of Specifications
- A table of specifications is what guides faculty when selecting the cognitive “level” for exam questions.
- Allows faculty to construct a test which focuses on the key areas and weights those different areas based on their importance.
- Provides the teacher with evidence that a test has content validity, that it covers what should be covered.
Example of a
Table of Specifications
Remember the NCLEX exam primarily tests
at the levels of application and analysis
| Table of Specifications | ||||
| Bloom's Taxonomy | ||||
| Knowledge & Comprehension | Application & Analysis | Synthesis & Evaluation | TOTALS | |
| Foundations | 45% | 50% | 5% | 100% |
| Med/Surg I | 25% | 60% | 15% | 100% |
Table of Specifications
- Tables of Specification typically are designed based on
- The list of course objectives
- The topics covered in class
- The amount of time spent on those topics
- Textbook chapter topics
- The emphasis and space provided in the text.
- In some cases a great weight will be assigned to a concept that is extremely important, even if relatively little class time was spent on the topic.
Before you begin
- Define the specific learning outcomes to be measured
- Specific learning objectives
- are derived from more general instructional outcomes (course and unit objectives)
- Specify behaviors that students should be able to perform on completion of instruction
Keep in mind
- The mapping of unit/chapter learning objectives course learning objectives/outcomes program outcomes is done continuously
- Course blueprinting is something you begin at the start of the course, and continue to develop “as you go along”
- It is not and should not be done all at once
Step One
- Identify the units/chapters that will be on your first test
- As you teach the material, note the amount of time
spent on each unit/chapter
| Content | Time Spent on Topic |
| 1. Chapters 1-3 | 1hour |
| 2. Chapters 17, 19, 20 | 3.5 Hours |
| 3. Chapters 10, 11, 12 | 3.5 Hours |
| 4. Chapters 25, 26 | 1 Hour |
| Totals | 9 |
Step Two
- Divide the “time spent on the unit/chapter” by the total number
of hours used to teach the content for test one
- This shows the percentage of the test for those units/chapters
| Time Spent on Topic | Divide by time spent by total hours | % of Total Time |
| 1 hour | 1 divided by 9 | 11% |
| 3.5 Hours | 3.5 divided by 9 | 39% |
| 3.5 Hours | 3.5 divided by 9 | 39% |
| 1 Hour | 1 divided by 9 | 11% |
| 9 | 0.999 |
Step Three
- Finally, multiply the percentage e.g. 11% by the total
number of items on the test e.g. 50 items
- This gives faculty the number of items that should
be on the test for those units/chapters
| % Multiplies by total test items | No. of Items/section |
| 0.11 x 50 | 6 |
| 0.39 x 50 | 19 |
| 0.39 x 50 | 19 |
| 0.11 x 50 | 6 |
| 50 |
Completed Content Outline
Sheet1
| Content Outline and Relative Teaching Time | |||
| Content | Time Spent on Topic | % of Total Time | No. of Items/section |
| 1. Chapters 1-3 | 1hour | 11% | 6 |
| 2. Chapters 17, 19, 20 | 3.5 Hours | 39% | 19 |
| 3. Chapters 10, 11, 12 | 3.5 Hours | 39% | 19 |
| 4. Chapters 25, 26 | 1 Hour | 11% | 6 |
| Totals | 9 | 0.999 | 50 |
Sheet2
Sheet3
How does this inform the final exam?
| BLUEPRINT FOR UNIT EXAMS AND FINAL EXAM | ||||||||
| Course: NUR 201 | Lecture Hours: 40 | Exam I Number of Items: 50 | ||||||
| Indicate the time spend on each unit/chapter in the highlighted column. After you finish all the material prior to Unit Test I, you will be able to easily see what percent of the exam and how many questions should be allotted to the test based on the amount of time you covered the material. From this information, you decide what percent of your questions should be knowledge based (new information generally), or application or analysis level questions. | Exam II Number of Items: 50 | |||||||
| Exam III Number of Items: 50 | ||||||||
| Exam IV Number of Items: 75 | ||||||||
| Final Exam Number of Items: | ||||||||
| Lecture Hours | % of Unit Exam | # of Items on test | # of Items Knowledge/ comprehension | # of items Application | # of Items Analysis | % of Total Lecture Hours | # of Items Final Exam | |
| Unit/Chapter 13 | 30 min | .07 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.0125 | 1 |
| Unit/Chapters 14 & 15 | 1.5 hrs | .21 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | . 0.0375 | 3 |
| Unit/Chapters 16 & 17 | 2 hrs | .29 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | .05 | 3 |
| Unit/Chapter 26 | 30 min | .07 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.0125 | 1 |
| Unit/Chapter 27 | 30 min | .07 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.0125 | 1 |
| Unit/Chapters 28, 29 & 30 | 2 hrs | .29 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | .05 | 3 |
| Total | 7 hrs | 100 | 50 | 19 | 20 | 11 | 17% | 12 |
Going back
- Now that you know how many questions you will put on the exam from each unit/chapter
- How will you know what level of Bloom’s taxonomy should be used?
- Answer: From your table of specifications
- Or simply in collaboration with your colleagues or program director
Questions
