38th Article "Developmental laboratory report-writing programe based on progression throughout the year: how to make better use of staff/student time and invrease student satisfaction"

Ayu Rini Tri Utari
16611046
Review of the 38th article


"Developmental laboratory report-writing programe based on progression throughout the year: how to make better use of staff/student time and invrease student satisfaction"

    This article describes an alternative approach to laboratory programs. Students are required to submit one part of the report at once and the main result of the full report after each trial. The selected part corresponds to the student's perceived difficulties. Evaluation results show that report writing is an activity that is considered difficult and time consuming, and there is an appreciation and detailed commentary on only one part that will be useful when writing the final report of the program.
The study is based on a comparison from three cohorts of the Year 2 programme at Sheffield: from 2013/14 to 2015/16. Across these years, there is an increase in student satisfaction from 64% to 73% as well as an increase in average mark when normalised according to the overall year mark. As well as being positive for the learning experience, it is argued that such targeted reports are more cost-effective in terms of training, monitoring and marking time for the graduate teaching assistants (GTAs).