Practical Skills

This page describes an implementation of an assessment method by a lecturer or group of lecturers. The content of the page is the result of an interview conducted through the RAFT project in DIT in the 2013-14 Academic Year. 

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Lecturer and Contact Details

Sinead Ryan

Programme and year on which assessment was offered

Description

Practical skills evaluation for Instrumentation modules (and suitable for any evaluation of skills using an Instrument or Equipment).

Students are given a 10-15 minute one-to-one individual assessment. The Instrument room is set up with five Instruments, and one is chosen at random. They must prepare for all Instruments. Initially there is a theoretical component of assessment. Students are questioned on their knowledge of the Instrument and its uses. During the teaching activities they will have been given the questions for each Instrument, and the answers provided during the pre-practical talk. Then there is a practical component of assessment. The students must perform a simple analytical technique or experiment to demonstrate their competence. Finally, they are then given sample results similar to what could be expected from the analysis. Using these results, the students must carry out a short calculation. 

Why did you use this Assessment?

It is practically based. The learning outcomes require their ability to use the Instruments, so there is no other good way to determine if the learning outcomes have been met other than to observe their use of the Instruments.  

Why did you change to this form of assessment?

This method of assessment has always been used, however the aligned teaching & learning activities have been improved. Previously, all students worked on the same Instrument each week , and the whole class moved to the next Instrument the following week. This was not ideal, as there were insufficient numbers of some of the more expensive Instruments to allow all students get hands on experience, so there were situations where they could just observe. Now, three Instruments are set up at a given time, and the students rotate each week. The first week has a pre-practical talk on the principles of all the instruments, including the questions which will form the theoretical component of the assessment. Students are given a worksheet for the instrument they will use that week. It has questions based on the instrument and experiment and needs to be completed during the laboratory session and submitted at the end. The worksheet also requires results from the experiment, which will demonstrate the student’s accuracy in using the instrument. There is also a calculation based on the results. These activities align to the practical components of assessment. The worksheets are also corrected as a further component of assessment.

How do you give feedback to students?

Feedback on the submitted worksheets is given at the end of the rotation. It can’t be given until all students have completed the Instruments, to avoid them seeking the answers from those who have used the instrument earlier in the rotation.

Feedback on the one-to-one practical skills evaluation is provided as soon as the student has finished the assessment. They are told what went well, and where they made mistakes.

What have you found are the advantages of using this form of assessment? 

  • The assessment is quickly marked at the time of assessment using a simple marking scheme in a table.
  • Assessment is aligned to the practical skills learning outcome 
  • Hands on experience of the Instrument, and practical assessment motivates them to pay more attention/engage during the semester
  • Using rotation, students get more time on the Instruments.
  • Students are assessed on more than just the theory, which takes better account of the different type of learner, and doesn’t favour students who are strong on theory but have weaker practical skills.
  • Assessment highlights the importance of the associated calculations, and motivates students to learn how to do the important calculations.

What have you found are the dis-advantages of using this form of assessment?

  • Time consuming method of assessment as class numbers are increasing. It is about 5 students per hour per tutor (at best).

If another lecturer was using this assessment method would you have any tips for them?

  • Putting more structure on the teaching activities through using a rotation over several weeks actually makes the teaching a lot easier than changing the experiment on a weekly basis.
  • Videos to show students how to use the Instruments would be a beneficial improvement. These could be used in pre-practical activities, or linked via a QR code taped to the Instrument and viewed using a SMARTphone during the practical as a reminder.

Do you have any feedback from students about this assessment?

No complaints. Students verbally said they liked the practical component.

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