Editing Herzing Issues: Faculty Instruction and Curriculum Design (section)

=== HU-113: Identical assignment questions appearing in two separate concurrent credit-bearing courses (Clinical II and MedSurg I, Week 1, May 2026); confirmed intentional by Dr. Tressler; Dr. Prashad states it happens in 'many courses'; students submitting same answers twice for separate course credit ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| Medium
! Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| Duplicate Cross-Course Assignment Content
! Date added
| 2026-05-07
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | Dr. Jessica Tressler (Lead Faculty MSN-DE) / Dr. Raywattie Prashad (Program Chair) / Curriculum Committee
|}
'''Finding.''' Per the tracker's evidence, on May 4, 2026 the reporting student notified program leadership that Clinical II and MedSurg I contained identical assignment questions in week one of the current semester. Dr. Tressler confirmed on May 5, 2026 that the duplication was intentional, stating the rationale was reinforcement of professionalism and safety content. Dr. Prashad confirmed on May 6, 2026 that the practice extends to many courses across the program and said she would be posting a recording in all courses to emphasize this. Students are completing identical work counted separately toward credit for two distinct courses; both courses appear on the transcript with separate grades, and the identical assignments contribute to both.

'''Evidence.''' Email from the reporting student to Dr. Prashad, Dr. Black, Dr. Brown, and Dr. Gregg (May 4, 2026, 7:07 PM). Email from Dr. Tressler to the chain (May 5, 2026, 2:38 PM). Email from Dr. Prashad to the reporting student (May 6, 2026, 7:29 AM). Source Group: email chain, the reporting student to Dr. Prashad, Dr. Black, Dr. Brown, and Dr. Gregg, May 4 to 6, 2026; Dr. Tressler reply May 5, 2026; Dr. Prashad reply May 6, 2026.

'''Reported statement.''' <blockquote>Yes, we are aware that similar assignments appear in both Clinical II and MedSurg I during Week One... You should complete the assignment as directed within each course, even if the questions are the same, as they are tied to course-specific requirements.</blockquote> Dr. Prashad separately stated: <blockquote>There will be many courses where materials will be repeated and that is to reinforce knowledge.</blockquote> The reporting student replied inline that the students were basically doing the exact same work for two courses, and suggested the concepts could still be reinforced by asking different questions.

'''Standards.''' 34 CFR §600.2 (credit hour definition): each credit hour must represent a distinct, substantive learning activity. Requiring students to complete identical assignments in two separate courses and counting that work toward the credit hours of both courses does not represent distinct learning activity for each course. ACEN Standard 4: curriculum must be designed to build on prior learning rather than repeat identical content within the same semester. The stated rationale of reinforcement does not justify identical questions; reinforcement can be achieved with distinct but related content that builds on prior learning. 34 CFR §668.71-75 (Misrepresentation): students enrolled in two courses expecting two distinct educational experiences are receiving one experience counted twice. Academic integrity principles: submitting the same work for credit in two separate courses, sometimes called double dipping, is typically a prohibited practice when initiated by students; when the institution requires it, the same academic integrity concern applies to the curriculum design itself.

'''Impact.''' Students are spending time completing assignments for which they have already provided identical answers in a concurrent course, time that could be used for actual learning. In a program where students document 90 to 100 assignments per week ({{HU|HU-096}}) and extreme time pressure ({{HU|HU-096}}), institutionally required duplicate work increases assignment burden without increasing educational value. Dr. Prashad's statement that many courses will repeat materials suggests this is a systemic curriculum design feature rather than a one time overlap, potentially affecting multiple course pairs across the program. If accreditors or the Department of Education review whether course assignments represent distinct credit hour learning activity, intentionally identical cross course assignments may not satisfy the regulatory standard.

'''Notes.''' Attachments to the reporting student's May 4 email show the duplicate assignments. Dr. Gregg forwarded the reporting student's email to Dr. Tressler without informing the reporting student, then apologized: <blockquote>I forwarded your email to Dr. Tressler, as she oversees clinicals and communicates directly with the Med-Surg course lead, those are the courses you had questions about. I do not have visibility into courses outside of ours, so I would not have been able to provide accurate information. I apologize for not communicating that more clearly earlier.</blockquote> This documents an internal forwarding practice without student notification. Cross-reference: {{HU|HU-096}} (extreme workload, duplicate assignments compound an already documented overload), {{HU|HU-088}} (HESI covers untaught content, curriculum quality concerns), {{HU|HU-031}} (contradictory faculty guidance).

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