An interactive platform for formative assessment and immediate feedback in laboratory courses

Abstract The aim of this work is to use the laboratory platform as a unique tool for engaging and encouraging the students to develop critical thinking and guided self-evaluation abilities. Moreover, the fact that the teaching process in the lab is held in small groups enables the detection of difficulties in an early stage, thus allowing an immediate feedback and relevant assistance. Taking advantage of this unique environment we have developed a rubric score based interface for students and teaching assistants (TAs) aimed to encourage student’s reflection and engagement while enabling a rational and valid grading of students’ performance by the TAs. The rubric consists of eight parameters which are evaluated in each lab session, both by the student and the TA. Following the lab session, a comparison of both evaluations is performed by the lab manager thus enabling real time intervention and formative assessment, along with important insights on the learning process of the student. Our preliminary studies, performed in Chemistry laboratories, indicated that this methodology enabled an efficient formative assessment of the learning process during the course. This tool might help students to rapidly improve their performance in laboratory courses, by stimulation of a continuous reflection process.