A Novel Strategy for Assessing the Effects of Curriculum Reform on Student Competence

A new strategy has been developed to credibly assess the effects of curriculum reform on student competence. In order to implement the strategy, a comparative assessment was performed between the students in a section of a course with active learning and those in a reference section. The comparison used 25 faculty to conduct oral interviews that assessed student competence using each faculty member's definition of competence. Qualitative research methods were also employed to identify the reasons for any differences. The results show substantial differences in the students' reasoning and self expression skills that we believe are directly attributable to their structured active learning experiences.