Welcome to the main evaluation web site for the
Undergraduate
Curriculum Development Testbed (UCDT), a program initiative funded by the
University of Michigan and the National Science Foundation to foster
institution-wide reform of undergraduate education. The Testbed intends
to bring together innovative curricular elements in the design of interdisciplinary
undergraduate lecture courses and laboratory modules in the field of earth
system science and global change. The overall goal of the proposed work
is to establish improved methodologies for the infusion of interdisciplinary
courses and materials into the undergraduate programs of major research
universities.
The UCDT implementation plan called for the evaluation team to work
closely with the curriculum development team to create a meaningful evaluation
plan. The development of the evaluation plan, activities, and products was
guided by four major principles:
A formative prospective dominated evaluation activities and was used
to identify and to develop relevant indicators for improving UCDT activities.
To ensure that these efforts are maximally useful information, evaluation
became an integral part of UCDT activities rather than last-minute add-ons.
Given the broad scope of UCDT goals and activities, the evaluation
team used multiple approaches to understanding UCDT's impact on macro (institutional)
and
micro (individual) outcomes within a diverse educational community.
In addition, every effort was made to use (adapt) existing sources
of evaluation data (for example, the student-ratings of instructor effectiveness
provided by U of M's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching) to collect
data.
Last update: 23 June 1998 |