Bridging the educational research-teaching practice gap: curriculum development, part 2: becoming an agent of change.

Many faculty members in science departments are experiencing pressure to improve their courses, particularly with respect to the ways in which students are taught and assessed. The purpose of this article is to provide some insights and practical ideas on how curriculum change can be brought about-how motivated individuals can become agents of change. Change almost always elicits opposing and supporting forces, examples of which are given.

Bridging the educational research-teaching practice gap. Curriculum development, Part 1: Components of the curriculum and influences on the process of curriculum design.

This article summarizes the major components of curriculum design: vision, operationalization of the vision, design, and evaluation. It stresses that the relationship between these components is dynamic, and that the process of curriculum design does not proceed via a linear application of these components. The article then summarizes some of the major influences on curriculum design: policy, local context, societal expectations, research trends, and technology.

Bridging the educational research-teaching practice gap: Tools for evaluating the quality of assessment instruments.

Student assessment is central to the educational process and can be used for multiple purposes including, to promote student learning, to grade student performance and to evaluate the educational quality of qualifications. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that assessment instruments are of a high quality. In this article, we present various tools that instructors could use, both to improve instrument design and validity before presentation to students and, to evaluate the reliability and quality of the assessment after students have answered the questions.