Learning to let go: the challenge of de-crowding the curriculum

Nurse educators often lament there is not enough time to teach all the content students need to learn. Every year, information regarding healthcare increases exponentially. Typically, educators respond by increasing content without removing outdated information resulting in overcrowded courses. Little time is left for meaningful learning of concepts and life-long learning skills to sustain graduates throughout their careers. Reliance on conventional teacher-centered approaches to curriculum development have generated calls from professional organizations for innovative education programs. Innovation begins by shifting focus from massive amounts of content to teaching essential concepts and abilities necessary for today's health care environment. Decreasing the overload of content is imperative when moving from a teaching centered to a learning-centered curricula. Instead of concentrating on rote memorization, students engage in meaningful learning. De-crowding the curriculum can be frustrating because there is no quick fix. The challenge is to consider both faculty philosophical beliefs and assumptions about how students learn. Assumptions and beliefs regarding teaching, learning, essential content, and the learning environment should be clear from the outset. Without considering assumptions and beliefs efforts to de-crowd the curriculum rapidly devolve into a test of wills between faculty members. The authors present an overview of learning-centered education, a systematic method for de-crowding the curriculum, and a discussion of challenges encountered.