The Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP) is a global initiative that seeks to create opportunities for the broad exchange of educational and training information and strategies among conservation educators and practitioners. The lack of access to such resources is a significant obstacle to building capacity in biodiversity conservation. To expand teaching resources and availability, NCEP has created over sixty web-based curricular modules on biodiversity topics that emphasize active learning pedagogies and the application of critical thinking to conservation problems. To complement the modules, we developed a multi-component assessment framework that evaluates 1) content knowledge before and after using the modules, 2) student confidence in their knowledge of biodiversity, 3) interest in biodiversity topics, 4)development of process skills that are important for conservation, and 5) changes in worldview and environmental orientation. Using this framework, three NCEP modules were tested in five diverse undergraduate courses and institutions with various class sizes. We predicted significant learning gains in content knowledge and changes in ecological attitudes and worldviews. We found significant learning gains in content knowledge as well as increases in student confidence in content knowledge and greater interest in the field of biodiversity conservation. Module use did not change the overall environmental worldview of students in the study population. We also detected statistically significant declines in overall student confidence in process skills important to conservation. Analyses revealed no significant differences in any study variables based upon demographics such as school, gender, ethnicity, class standing, reason for
enrollment or academic major. Results demonstrate the value of the NCEP modules in enhancing biodiversity education, and the value of assessing student ability and perceptions of ability as measures of the effectiveness of educational programs.