A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
In the Life Sciences there is an increasingly limited capacity to engage students in laboratory exercises. Furthermore certain key protocols are not feasible due to costs and the length of time they take to complete. Most practical classes are procedural in nature with a strong decision making element woven through. These decisions at key points in the protocol influence the outcome and so provide directed stages for assessment and feedback within a safe and non-costly environment. Through the use of the online assessment tool QuestionMark experimental procedures can be represented as a series of steps instructions and questions with consequences. By delivering feedback at each step the student learns experiential details of the procedure through their choices and the individual decisions made influence the outcome of the experiment. Through incorporating branches and loops within the assessment structure the student actually gains pseudo practical experience. The specific example developed and for discussion here is the Western blotting protocol; a commonly used practical technique within the life sciences. This simulated online tool equips students with working experience and understanding of the protocol in a safe cost free environment where learning and experience is enriched in a risk free decision driven way.
Such is the flexibility of this design that the precise aims can be varied according to the intended objectives of the exercise. Furthermore it could be adapted for use in any decision driven context within the institution e.g in the physical sciences or even within procedural areas of Arts and Social sciences. The proposed talk will cover aspects of design feedback use of QuestionMark and assessment of success.
