Meeting Abstract
The Biology Department at Elmhurst College has made a commitment to incorporate the recommendations of Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (AAAS 2011). Careful planning and implementation have allowed for changes, or planning for those changes, at every level of our biology curriculum, including a new mission statement and learning outcomes for our major. Complete re-design of courses began with the introductory sequence for biology majors, incorporating core concepts and competencies, as well as student-centered learning and authentic research experiences (Guenther et al., 2019). As we assess our success and challenges at the introductory level, we are beginning to move our re-design into upper-level courses of the major, as well as courses taught by the biology department for non-major students. Here we will share assessment of implemented changes and lessons learned on the path to a departmental overhaul incorporating Vision and Change.
