| Course | C922 Emerging Trends and Challenges in 21st Century Nursing Education |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 1 |
| Paper type | Emerging issue analysis |
| Length | About 1,000 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | MSN Nursing Education |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for C922 Task 1
Emerging Issue Analysis: Teaching and Testing Clinical Judgment After the Next Generation NCLEX in an Associate Degree Nursing Program
Student Name
Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University
C922: Emerging Trends and Challenges in 21st Century Nursing Education, Task 1
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Emerging Issue Analysis: Teaching and Testing Clinical Judgment After the Next Generation NCLEX in an Associate Degree Nursing Program
The Issue
In April 2023 the licensure examination for registered nurses changed. The Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) introduced case studies and new item types, including extended multiple response, matrix, highlight and drag-and-drop items, designed to measure clinical judgment rather than recall (National Council of State Boards of Nursing [NCSBN], 2023). The change grew out of research showing that many new graduates struggled with clinical decision-making in practice, and it is built on the NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. For nursing programs, the issue is not only a new test format but a shift in what they are accountable for teaching: the thinking a nurse does between noticing a cue and taking action.
The Model Behind the Change
The clinical judgment model breaks judgment into six cognitive operations, beginning with noticing and making sense of cues, moving through ranking the possible explanations and working out options, and ending with acting and then checking whether the action worked. An analysis comparing the model with the frameworks nursing education already uses found that it aligns with the information-processing model and with Tanner's intuitive-humanistic model, and can be used to assess dual-process reasoning; the authors concluded it can help educators design tools that target specific cognitive steps (Dickison et al., 2019). In other words, programs do not need to abandon the clinical judgment frameworks they already teach, but they do need to teach and assess each step explicitly.
Impact on a Composite Program
The composite program is a three-semester associate degree program at a community college with 64 graduates a year and 11 full-time faculty. Its first-time pass rate was 88% the year before the change and fell to 79% the year after, below the state board's 80% benchmark, which triggered a required improvement plan. A review of the program's own examinations found that 85% of test items were standard multiple choice testing recall or single-step application, few items presented evolving patient information, and clinical evaluation tools rated students on tasks completed rather than on how they reasoned. Faculty reported uncertainty about writing case-based items and about how to grade clinical reasoning consistently.
Student feedback pointed the same way. In an exit survey, graduates who had not passed on the first attempt most often said the case studies felt unfamiliar and that they had rarely been asked in class to explain why one nursing action should come before another. Several said their clinical instructors had focused on completing care rather than on discussing what they noticed about their patients. These comments suggest that the gap lies in daily teaching, not only in the final review course.
Stakeholders Affected
Students are affected most directly: they face an examination that rewards reasoning they may not have practiced. Faculty must learn to write and grade new kinds of items and to change clinical teaching. Program leadership faces accreditation and state board scrutiny if pass rates stay low, and the college's reputation affects enrollment. Clinical partners feel the effect when new graduates arrive less ready to make decisions. Patients are the final stakeholders, since the purpose of the examination is safe care.
Challenges
Three challenges stand out. Faculty development: most faculty learned to write items for the previous examination, and writing valid case studies with partial-credit scoring is a new skill that takes time. Curriculum crowding: adding clinical judgment practice to already full courses risks either rushing content or adding hours the program does not have. Assessment in clinical settings: judgment is hard to observe in a busy unit, and without a shared rubric, ratings vary by instructor. An established rubric that describes noticing, interpreting, responding and reflecting at levels from beginning to exemplary offers one way to make clinical judgment visible and consistent across faculty (Lasater, 2007).
Opportunities
The change is also an opportunity. It pushes programs toward teaching methods that improve practice readiness regardless of the examination, such as unfolding case studies, simulation debriefs structured around clinical judgment and clinical post-conferences that ask students to explain their reasoning. It gives faculty a common language across courses. And it offers programs a chance to use data, from item analysis of their own tests to clinical judgment rubric scores, to see where students struggle before the licensure examination does.
Equity Considerations
The change may not affect all students equally. Case-based items are long and reading-intensive, which can add difficulty for students who speak English as an additional language, a sizable group in the composite program. Students who work long hours and have less time for practice testing may also be disadvantaged if clinical judgment is taught mainly through optional review products. A response that builds judgment practice into required course time, teaches the vocabulary of item stems explicitly and gives every student access to case-based practice without extra cost is more equitable than one that relies on purchased review packages.
Implications for the Nurse Educator Role
The issue changes the work of nurse educators in three ways. Educators become test designers in a new sense, writing case studies in which information unfolds and scoring partial credit fairly. They become coaches of thinking in clinical settings, asking students to say what they notice and why it matters rather than checking whether tasks were done. And they become users of assessment data, looking at item analyses and rubric scores across courses to find where reasoning breaks down. These are shifts in role, not only in technique, and they call for faculty development that is ongoing rather than a single workshop.
Conclusion
The Next Generation NCLEX is an emerging issue that has already arrived. For the composite program, the drop in pass rates and the review of its own examinations show that the real gap is not test format but how clinical judgment is taught and assessed across the curriculum. The response plan that follows will address faculty development, test design and clinical evaluation together, using the clinical judgment model as the organizing framework.
References
Dickison, P., Haerling, K. A., & Lasater, K. (2019). Integrating the National Council of State Boards of Nursing clinical judgment model into nursing educational frameworks. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(2), 72-78. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20190122-03
Lasater, K. (2007). Clinical judgment development: Using simulation to create an assessment rubric. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(11), 496-503. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20071101-04
National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2023). Next Generation NCLEX. https://www.nclex.com/next-generation-nclex.page
What the C922 Task 1 instructions ask
The first C922 task asks you to analyze an emerging issue that affects nursing education. Most versions ask you to describe the issue and its background, explain its impact on a program, identify stakeholders, analyze challenges and opportunities, consider equity, and explain implications for the nurse educator. The issue should be current and supported by recent sources. The evaluator reads for analysis tied to a specific program context rather than a general summary of the topic, and for a balanced view that recognizes both the problems and the openings the issue creates. The analysis prepares the ground for the response plan in Task 2.
How this C922 Task 1 example is built
The paper starts with the change itself: what the examination now includes and when it began. The model behind the change is explained so the reader understands what is being measured. The impact section moves to one program with specific figures, which makes the issue concrete. Stakeholders are listed with how each is affected. Challenges and opportunities are kept in separate sections, each with three points. The equity section considers students who read in an additional language and those with testing accommodations. The educator role section describes three new demands on faculty, and the conclusion sets up the response plan. Sources come from the licensing body and peer-reviewed work on clinical judgment, which keeps claims about the examination accurate.
Where the C922 Task 1 rubric puts the marks
Evaluators rate every C922 Task 1 aspect competent, approaching competence or not evident. An issue aspect checks that the emerging trend is described accurately with current sources. An impact aspect wants effects on a specific program. Stakeholder, challenge and opportunity aspects each look for specific, supported points rather than lists of possibilities. An equity aspect asks who may be affected unevenly and why. An educator role aspect looks for concrete implications for faculty work. APA citations, including dates of recent changes, and professional writing are assessed throughout the analysis. Evaluators notice when figures, such as the drop in first-time pass rates, anchor the impact section rather than general claims about difficulty. An analysis that ends by pointing toward a response prepares well for the second task.
C922 Task 1 help: what sends it back
Issue analyses come back most often because they summarize the topic without applying it to a program. Choose a program, real or composite, and show the issue's effect with figures. Second, sources are dated. Emerging issues need current evidence, so check publication dates. Third, challenges and opportunities are blended. Separate them so each can be judged. Fourth, equity is treated in a sentence. Name the students who may be affected and the mechanism, such as reading load. Finally, the educator role section should describe changes in what faculty actually do, such as writing case studies or grading partial credit, rather than repeat that educators must adapt.
Get a C922 Task 1 example written to your instructions
Send the C922 Task 1 requirements and the rubric aspects, plus the pressure you intend to argue if you have already chosen one. We write a custom example that defines the issue, sources it from current professional and research material, and holds a claim, delivered in 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.
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C922 Task 1 questions, answered
What counts as an emerging pressure for C922?
Something changing the conditions programs work under, visible in more than one place and more than one year. Faculty supply, competition for clinical placements, the regulatory position on simulation, incivility and learner mental health, generative tools and assessment integrity, and the diversity of the applicant pipeline all qualify in most versions. A single institutional announcement does not, and neither does a product.
How recent do the sources need to be?
Recent enough to support a present-tense claim, which normally means the newest material comes from the last few years while older work establishes the pattern behind it. Check your own requirements, since some versions state a currency limit. Reports from nursing organizations and regulators tend to be fresher than textbooks, and an evaluator reading a claim about what is emerging looks at your dates first.
Can the same pressure carry both tasks in this course?
In current versions that is usually the intent, with the analysis establishing the pressure and the response plan answering it. Confirm it against your own requirements before committing. If the course does carry one issue through, choose something with enough published material behind it to survive being examined twice, and something a program could realistically act on without new legislation.
What counts as an emerging issue for C922?
A recent or developing change that affects how nursing is taught or tested, such as a new licensure examination, faculty shortages or new technology. The sample analyzes the Next Generation NCLEX.
Where can I find a free C922 Task 1 sample paper?
The full issue analysis is reproduced above, annotated section by section. If you are writing about another trend, send the C922 task and your first custom analysis is free.