Program evaluation is a necessary component of curricular change and innovation. It ascertains whether an innovation has met benchmarks and contributes to the body of knowledge about educational methodologies and supports the use of evidence-based practice in teaching. Education researchers argue that rigorous program evaluation should utilize a mixed-method approach, triangulating both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand program effectiveness. This approach was used to evaluate the University of Michigan Dental Hygiene Degree Completion E-Learning (online) Program. Quantitative data included time spent on coursework, grades, publications, course evaluation results, and survey responses. Qualitative data included student and faculty responses in focus groups and on surveys as well as students' portfolio relections. The results showed the program was academically rigorous, fostering students' ability to connect theory with practice and apply evidence-based practice principles. These results also demonstrated that the students had learned to critically relect on their practice and develop expanded professional identities; going beyond the role of clinician, they began to see themselves as educators, advocates, and researchers. This evaluation model is easily adaptable and is applicable to any health science or other professional degree program. This study also raised important questions regarding the effect of meta-relection on student conidence and professional behavior.

Distance education offers an opportunity to catalyze sweeping curricular change. Faculty members of the University of Michigan Dental Hygiene Program spent eighteen months researching best practices, planning outcomes and courses, and implementing an e-learning (online) dental hygiene degree completion program. The result is a collaborative and portfolio-integrated program that focuses on the development of relective practitioners and leaders in the profession. A team-based, systems-oriented model for production, implementation, and evaluation has been critical to the program's success. The models and best practices on which this program was founded are described. Also provided is a framework of strategies for development, including the utilization of backward course design, which can be used in many areas of professional education. Prof. Gwozdek is Clinical Lecturer and

Previous research has suggested that transformative learning can be fostered in higher education by creating active learning experiences that are directly related to content taught, are personally engaging, and can stimulate relection. The aim of this qualitative study was to assess changes experienced by students in an e-learning dental hygiene degree completion program beyond attainment of competence-changes that may be described as transformative learning. The data used were transcripts of focus groups that had been conducted with each of the irst ive cohorts of students to graduate from the program; a total of 30 of the 42 students in the ive cohorts (71%) participated. Using their previously developed Transformation Rubric for Engaged Learning, the authors categorized focus group data to identify changes in students' conidence, pride, skills, perceptions of the world, and personal identity at the transformative and nontransformative levels. Every participant reported at least one change; overall, the students averaged 8.3 changes. The vast majority (84%) of these changes were transformative. Middle-performing students showed a disproportionately higher rate of transformational changes in the areas of conidence and pride. The e-learning program appeared to have had a signiicant transformative impact on students, but additional research on the effect on middleperforming students is warranted.Ms.

Recently a group at Kalamazoo College presented themselves with this challenge: How can we help undergraduates articulate the benefits of and connections among their coursework and educational experiences, learn to use cutting-edge technology, and present themselves effectively to potential employers? Here is what they came up with: the Kalamazoo Portfolio, a World Wide Web-based document and a new graduation requirement. Readers can view it for themselves at http://www.kzoo/∼pfolio/ .

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