The Identification of Criteria for a Lab Report Scoring Checklist to Assess Practical Skills Indirectly in an Undergraduate Optics Course

Abstract

Practical skills are essential skills in physics courses, especially in the laboratory setting. Therefore, these skills must be appropriately assessed to ensure undergraduates' readiness in the working environment with adequate skills. This paper aims to identify the criteria for a scoring checklist to assess practical skills indirectly in an undergraduate optics course. This study employed a Developmental Research Type 1 design using qualitative and quantitative methods. A scoring checklist is constructed using the ADDIE instructional model of five main phases: (1) Analysis, (2) Design, (3) Development, (4) Implementation, and (5) Evaluation. In this paper, the researcher describes the first three phases of producing the lab report scoring checklist to assess practical skills indirectly among undergraduates in an optics course. In conclusion, a set of 47 criteria to assess practical skills indirectly among undergraduates in an optics course has been identified and is ready for the next stages of analysis. The process of identifying suitable criteria can be replicated where applicable to another course to identify or generate criteria that fit the study context.