Professional Role TransitionNursing Course
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Problem
Western Governors University was developing a Professional Role Transition nursing course within its competency-based nursing program. The course serves as a capstone learning experience that prepares nursing students to transition from academic study into professional clinical practice.
The course required significant instructional design coordination due to several complexities:
Alignment with competency-based program outcomes
Integration with assessment strategies developed by a separate assessment design team
Coordination across multiple subject matter experts (SMEs)
Ensuring alignment with preceding courses in the nursing program
Because of these factors, the course required a structured instructional design approach that could:
Maintain alignment between competencies, instruction, and assessments
Facilitate collaboration across multiple stakeholders
Translate complex clinical and professional practice concepts into clear learning experiences for nursing students.
Role
Lead Instructional Designer
I served as the Lead Instructional Designer for the course and was responsible for guiding the overall learning design strategy and coordinating development efforts across the project team.
My responsibilities included:
Leading SME workshops to structure course content and align instruction with program competencies
Directing the overall course architecture and learning progression
Facilitating collaboration between SMEs and assessment developers
Applying backward design principles to ensure course materials aligned with competency-based assessments
Writing instructional video scripts with detailed visual guidance for multimedia production
Establishing visual design standards for infographics and instructional graphics
Delegating development tasks and coordinating work across additional instructional designers
In addition to design leadership, I also played a key role in facilitating communication across stakeholders, ensuring SMEs, assessment developers, and instructional designers remained aligned throughout the development process.
Process
1. Competency Alignment
Because WGU uses a competency-based education model, the course design process began by mapping course content to program competencies and assessment requirements.
Working closely with assessment developers, I applied backward design principles to ensure:
Instruction supported measurable competency outcomes
Learning materials prepared students for assessment expectations
Content progression aligned with the broader nursing curriculum.
2. . SME Collaboration Workshops
To ensure the course reflected current nursing practice and program expectations, I facilitated structured design workshops with subject matter experts.
These sessions focused on:
Defining key professional transition skills for new nurses
Identifying realistic clinical and professional scenarios
Clarifying expectations for student competency demonstration
Aligning content with real-world nursing practice.
My role included organizing the workshops, guiding discussions, and translating SME expertise into structured instructional design plans.
3. Course Architecture & Learning Experience Design
I directed the overall course structure, ensuring that the learning experience progressed logically from foundational professional concepts to applied decision-making scenarios.
The course design incorporated:
Scenario-based learning activities
Clinical decision-making examples
visual learning assets such as infographics and diagrams
instructional videos explaining complex professional concepts.
This structure helped bridge the gap between academic nursing knowledge and professional clinical practice.
4. Multimedia and Visual Learning Development
To support diverse learning preferences and improve comprehension of complex concepts, I designed multimedia learning assets, including:
instructional video scripts with detailed visual guidance
infographics illustrating nursing processes and frameworks
visual reference materials to support clinical reasoning.
These assets were developed to reinforce key course concepts and improve learner engagement.
5.Cross-Team Coordination
As Lead Instructional Designer, I also coordinated development efforts across multiple team members, including:
SMEs
assessment developers
additional instructional designers
program development leadership.
This coordination ensured that the course maintained alignment across content, assessments, and program competencies.
Design Approach
Competency-Based Learning Design
The course was designed around measurable competencies rather than traditional lecture-based instruction, ensuring students demonstrate applied understanding rather than passive knowledge.
Backward Design Alignment
Instruction was structured to support assessment expectations, ensuring learners were prepared to demonstrate competencies in their program evaluations.
Scenario-Based Learning
Clinical scenarios were used to help students apply knowledge in realistic professional situations, strengthening decision-making skills.
Visual Learning Strategy
Infographics and visual assets were used to clarify complex nursing concepts and support learners who benefit from visual reinforcement.
Collaborative Course Development
Structured SME workshops ensured that instructional design decisions reflected current nursing practice and program expectations.
Tools
Canva — infographic and visual asset design
Microsoft Word — course documentation, scripts, and development planning
OEX LMS — course development and delivery platform
Backward Design Framework — competency and assessment alignment
Instructional Video Storyboarding — multimedia design and planning
Impact
The Professional Role Transition course strengthened collaboration between instructional designers, SMEs, and assessment developers while supporting a complex competency-based nursing program.
The project resulted in:
Stronger alignment between course content and competency-based assessments
Improved collaboration between subject matter experts and instructional designers
Enhanced visual learning assets that support comprehension of professional nursing concepts
A structured learning experience designed to support students transitioning into professional nursing roles
The project was also recognized internally for its design quality and collaborative leadership.
Program leadership highlighted the course as exceptionally thorough and well-structured, noting that the design approach demonstrated careful consideration of program alignment, course complexity, and stakeholder collaboration
Note:
Course materials owned by Western Governors University and not publicly shareable.
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