Designing a practical lab-based assessment: a case study Ademola Amida Department of Teaching and Learning, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA Isaac Chang Department of Technology, Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology, Normal, Illinois, USA, and David Yearwood University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to present the finding of a practical lab assessment used to evaluate students’ mastery of Ohm’s law. The researchers used an approach combining different instruction types and lab formats to examine whether this combination produced a unique effect on students’ performance. This multifaceted approach provided evidence about how assessment design could affect students’ lab performance. The study also discussed various strategies that could guide instructors and curriculum designers about how to incorporate lab tasks into their curriculum to facilitate students’ mastery of subject content. Design/methodology/approach – This study was a quantitative experiment that used a factorial repeated measures design. The design allowed the researchers to measure participants’ task scores and time across different treatment conditions, hence enabling the effects of lab format and instructional type to be observed. All participants were recruited through the convenience sampling strategy. Findings – The results suggested that there was a statistically significant difference in the time taken to complete the task. However, no statistically significant difference was recorded in the participants’ task scores. Overall, it appeared that participants performed better in the simulation-based labs with expository instructions. Originality/value – The current study contributes to the body of knowledge on the effect of lab format and instructional type on students’ performance in lab-based assessments. The results presented here may also help instructors to determine the most appropriate form of lab formats and instruction types to be used in an electronics course. Keywords Inquiry, Simulation, Assessment design, Expository, Instructional type, Laboratory format Paper type Case study Introduction In the past two decades, there has been a paradigm shift from the traditional teacher- centered form of learning to a learner-centered approach. This paradigm shift could be attributed to research findings, demands from accreditation agencies, government requirements, and the need for more accountability in learning. Assessment is a key element in the success of the learner-centered paradigm (Christ, 2013). However, research suggests that assessment techniques used in lab setting do not adequately fulfill the needs of an effective assessment (NRC, 2006a). Essentially, lab assessments are often non-practical tests – more academic – (Brinson, 2015) and, therefore, do not provide sufficient evidence to make accurate inferences about students’ learning. Practical lab- based assessment 567 Received 5 August 2019 Accepted 7 October 2019 Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology Vol. 18 No. 3, 2020 pp. 567-581 © Emerald Publishing Limited 1726-0531 DOI 10.1108/JEDT-08-2019-0194 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1726-0531.htm