I will report on the design, implementation and impact of the Practical Skills Passport (PSP). Launched in academic year 21-22, the PSP is a series of lab skills support sessions that aimed to increase student lab confidence post-lockdown.

1. The practical skills passport (PSP):
supporting student lab skills and
confidence post-lockdown
Dr Anna Smith (she/her)
School of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of St Andrews
aes29@st-andrews.ac.uk

2. Introduction
• A good grasp of lab skills is important for progression in
Neuroscience, Biology and related degrees.
• During the academic year 2020-21 many lab classes that had
previously been delivered in-person were redesigned as virtual
labs.
• Anecdotal evidence and evidence in the literature that students
have reduced confidence and competence when returning to in-
person lab classes
Aim: develop a programme of lab skills practice sessions to support the
return to in-person labs and improve student confidence in lab skills

3. 1. Development and
implementation of the
practical skills passport (PSP)

4. Design and development (summer 2021)
Team
Dr Gayle Doherty
School of Psychology and Neuroscience
Dr Fran Der Weduwen
School of Biology
Thomas Powell
Teaching lab technician

5. Design and development (summer 2021)
1. Discussions within team to define purpose and scope
2. Informal survey sent out to students registered on Biology and
Neuroscience modules
• 148 respondents
• Majority (~70%) reported low confidence in lab skills
• Included list of proposed lab activities to gauge interest
3. Protocols (‘task sheets’) designed and proof-read
4. Lab task testing
5. Finalisation of lab tasks and accompanying virtual learning
environment (Moodle)

6. Lab task testing
First phase: demonstrators from the School of Biology
Second phase: Psychology postgraduates from the School of
Psychology and Neuroscience with no prior wet lab experience

7. Format of the PSP
• Students self-enrol in the PSP VLE
• Book onto a 1-hour slot on a day when the teaching
labs are available
• Lab is set up with ‘stations’ – each station contains
the equipment necessary to do any task
• Demonstrators supervise
and offer guidance

8. Tasks offered in the PSP
1. How to use a light microscope
2. Using a haemocytometer
3. Preparing wet mount slides
4. How to use a dissecting microscope
5. How to use a balance accurately
6. How to use pipettes accurately and reliably
7. Using a spectrophotometer
8. Loading samples into a gel
9. Aseptic technique and safe liquid handling
10. Small volume pipetting

9. The VLE (Moodle) page
• General information
• Booking calendar
• Further information about each
task
• Protocol
• Key skills
• List of modules that use the
skill
• Whether any prior
knowledge is required
• Quizzes

10. 2. Evaluation of the PSP
Student engagement

11. Students engaged with the PSP in AY 21-22 and 22-23
Academic year 21-22 Academic year 22-23
Number of students self-enrolled on the VLE: Not recorded 152
Number of unique students booking into at
least one session:
71 26
Number of students
attending…
1 session 31 20
2 sessions 20 5
3 sessions 8 0
4 sessions 1 1
5 sessions 5 0
6-10 sessions 4 0
>10 sessions 2 0
Maximum number of sessions attended by a
student:
14 4

12. Patterns of student engagement varied
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number
of
students
attending
Week
2021-22
2022-23
Semester 1 Semester 2

13. 3. Evaluation of the PSP
Student experience survey

14. Student experience survey
• Two phases of recruitment: December 2021 and May 2022.
• E-mails sent to students who had self-enrolled on the PSP VLE during
the 2021-22 academic year.
• All responses anonymous, all questions optional
• Combination of Likert-style items and open-ended questions

15. Student experience survey: who responded?
0
1
2
3
4
5
Biology (and
related)
Neuroscience
BSc
Other
Number
of
respondents
Degree type
0
1
2
3
4
5
First Second Second
(direct
entry)
Third Fourth Other
Number
of
respondents
Year of study

16. PSP attendance improves self-reported task confidence
N = 9 respondents
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Number
of
respondents
Task
I feel a lot more confident
I feel somewhat more confident
No change in confidence
I feel somewhat less confident
I feel a lot less confident
Mean confidence score
across all tasks
= 4.71 (SD 0.48)
Sig. different from
hypothetical mean of 3
(z = 2.82, p = 0.005)

17. Student free-text responses (sample)
• “For me personally I think it was the most helpful that I got to be in the
lab without the stress of anyone watching me/having to finish
necessarily, it got me overall more confident moving around the lab…
[I] think the tasks were creative and actually quite fun”
• “The option to practice lab skills in a less intense/busy environment
than our practicals was extremely beneficial, it increased my
confidence in my abilities before I went into practical sessions and
helped me solidify my understanding of the technique after the lab.”

18. 4. Conclusions

19. Conclusions
Aim: develop a programme of lab skills practice sessions to support the
return to in-person labs and improve student confidence in lab skills
• Attendees in 2021-22 reported an increase in confidence in a particular lab
skill after practising that skill in a PSP session
• Student free-text responses regularly mentioned reduced stress and
increased confidence as benefits of the PSP

20. Remaining questions
• Do responses from the survey generalise to all PSP
attendees?
• Small sample
• Self-selecting
• Does the PSP help with proficiency as well as
confidence?
• What is the ongoing utility of the PSP?

21. Acknowledgements
• Dr Gayle Doherty – Lead PI
• Dr Fran der Weduwen – survey design, task sheet
design
• Thomas Powell – session set-up and delivery
• Our Psychology PGR road-testers
• PGR demonstrators

22. Thank you for listening!

23. Some tasks were more popular than others
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
Popularity
Task
2021-22
2022-23
Popularity = proportion of all tasks completed that year * = supplementary online-only tasks