Curricular Transformation Assessment

I would like to share a 2019 article entitled, "The Knowing is half the battle: Assessments of student perception and performance are necessary to successfully evaluate curricular transformation" by Shaw et al. The authors remind us that "Student-centered pedagogies increase learning and retention and that student buy-in, has been positively associated with engagement and increased learning gains." They measured learning gains and attitudes in a biology course, integrating Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). Students perceived substantial learning gains and concept assessments confirmed these gains. IBL content was introduced to via case-studies instead of a sequential textbook material. Substantial time was devoted to application and group discussions of student-generated questions. Over time, buy-in increased as demonstrated by the results of multiple assessment instruments.

Over the life of the program, 724 students were enrolled, taught by 13 faculty. Across all years, overall course grades did not differ (median grades ranged from 76.2% to 77.1%, p = 0.101), however, students were more likely to answer concept questions correctly after the course (p < 0.05 for all years).

If you are interested in active learning, here is a new video resource, created from Patricia Cross' foundational book on Classroom Assessment Techniques that might be of interest.

Shaw TJ, Yang S, Nash TR, Pigg RM, Grim JM (2019) Knowing is half the battle: Assessments of both student perception and performance are necessary to successfully evaluate curricular transformation. PLoS ONE 14 (1): e0210030. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0210030