Commonly, oral assignments focus students' attention on three types of learning tasks:

• • analyzing and organizing information for ones' self,

  • communicating information to an audience orally, including visual aids,

  • perhaps, coordinating the oral presentation with a report or proposal.

The list below includes variations on these traditional themes: tasks designed to focus students' attention on orally communicating technical concepts in formal presentations and engaging in interactive discussion about technical concepts.

Ideas for Oral Assignments

• • Oral presentation

    • • As an individual or as a team

      • With or without visual aids

      • With or without an accompanying written assignment

  • Oral examination or interview

  • Interactive oral assignments

    • • Class participation

      • Meeting with an instructor to discuss progress on a project

      • Group discussion

      • Debate

      • Dialogue

      • Poster session or exhibition

Making Scoring/Grading Useful for Assessment

• • General principles for making scoring/grading useful for assessment (rubrics)

  • Attributes of oral presentations that could be used to construct a rubric (p. 38-39 of the pdf)

  • Example rubrics

    • • For an oral presentation #1

      • For an oral presentation #2

      • For an oral presentation #3

      • For an oral presentation #4

      • For an oral presentation #5 (pages 6-9 of the pdf)

      • For an oral presentation #6

      • For class participation

      • For an interactive meeting with a professor