4.3 Assessment of virtual lab activities
Watch
Watch the video above, where Dr Marcellin Rutegwa distinguishes assessment for learning from assessment of learning in virtual lab or simulation-based activities. He then presents a number of techniques you can use to include assessment in your virtual lab activities, including methods embedded into the labs themselves (such as automated quizzing and learning analytics) and more traditional methods (such as pre- and post-tests and lab reports).
Read
Read the Background section of the article below for descriptions of virtual labs and learning analytics.
Learning analytics in virtual laboratories: a systematic literature review of empirical research
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-023-00244-y
Then read Section IV: Assessment Methodology of the article below, focusing on A. Assessing Lecturer and Lab Learning.
Assessing Student Learning in a Virtual Laboratory Environment
https://scispace.com/pdf/assessing-student-learning-in-a-virtual-laboratory-f2crp2xy50.pdf
Review
Open the link provided below and analyse it. Identify the technique used to assess the learners' activities and compare it to the ones discussed in the introduction video above.
Enzyme lab assignments
https://www.sciencecourseware.org/BiologyLabsOnline/protected/EnzymeLab/assignments.php
Explore
Explore ChemCollective's virtual laboratories: open each category and explore different assessment types used in this free collection of virtual labs. You will see that a range of assessment activities were used, such as autograded problems, tutorials, scenario-based activities and concept tests.
ChemCollective Virtual Labs
https://chemcollective.org/vlabs
Respond
In this final discussion for Module 4, you'll be asked to consider the range of possible assessment techniques for your teaching and identify which ones might be easiest and which ones are more challenging - for you or within your teaching context and assessment culture.
Quiz
When you have completed your readings and other activities for the week, including participating in the forums, you can move on to the quiz for Week 4.
To earn a Certificate of Participation, you will need to complete all five quizzes with a score of 70% for each. You can take each quiz as many times as you need to. If you don't pass the quiz on your first try, go back to the materials and then try again.