Amina Begum

Instructors should have good computer skills, be familiar with concepts of quality and statistics, have good organisational skills as well as have understanding about economics and have good team building skills.

Guidelines about safety rules, dress code , behaviour and attitude to be observed in Lab should be known. Occupational health and safety officer should be available to administer proper guidelines and do regular checks, to prevent work related injuries and accidents In addition to this the instructor should be well trained in how to manage or handle such a situation.

An effective assessment should cover all the 3 domains of cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Lab assessments can be tough, as it can be time consuming as well as exhausting. Competency assessment tests performance more than the knowledge and we should make sure that we assess all the 3 following: 1. foundation skills, 2. technical skills, 3. professional skills. Rubric is an important tool and can help in better assessment. 

I do agree cooperative and active learning have positive effects in the lab: as students are more engaged, they grasp the materials much faster and easily. There is significant improvement in their cognition as well as they are able to reflect back in a more better way.

Teaching in a lab can have many challenges, in many aspects such as the visibility of the students who are standing in the back; the instructor / instructors mite not be able to demonstrate certain things due to lack of appropriate models or study materials; may be due to budgeting issues, spacing… >>>

Competency based education is a student centered  learning approach, it helps them to master their skills on their own speed and capabilities. This can lead to better results and student outcome, and prepare them for modern world work environment.

Incorporating bloom's taxonomy will help bring out the student's cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills.

Comment on Charles Trenk's post: I totally agree with the point that students are more focused on the end results rather than the process and it is quite a challenge.

Hence, during my practical sessions in the anatomy lab I try  my best to put my objectives in a simplified way with minimal detailings and focusing on small groups of 10 to 12 students.