Student Presentations as Learning Assessments

Student presentations serve as a learning assessment tool in educational settings, allowing students to convey information on a specific topic while demonstrating their understanding of the subject matter. These presentations often involve visual aids, predominantly created using computer software, and require students to research their chosen topics, design effective presentations, and develop presentation skills such as public speaking and audience engagement. While many students feel anxious about presenting, viewing it as a daunting task, some appreciate the opportunity to showcase their soft skills and knowledge.

Educators utilize presentations to enhance learning by encouraging students to explain concepts, thereby deepening their comprehension. However, the effectiveness of this assessment method has sparked debate. Critics argue that student presentations may result in superficial analysis and often do not accurately measure content mastery, as the grading may focus on presentation skills rather than the underlying knowledge. Additionally, group presentations can lead to unequal participation, where a few students do the majority of the work, raising concerns about fairness and effective collaboration. Overall, while presentations can promote engagement and communication skills, their implementation and assessment methods warrant careful consideration to ensure they serve educational goals effectively.

Published in: 2021

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Subject Terms

Student Presentations as Learning Assessments

Abstract

Student presentations usually consist of a set of visual aids that the student has prepared to accompany a speech on the assigned topic, although in some cases there are no visual aids. In the past the visual aids consisted mainly of a poster, projector slides, or transparencies placed on an overhead projector, but more recently they are almost always slide presentations designed and presented using computer software. Most students dislike being required to give presentations, due to an almost universal aversion to public speaking, although some prefer this mode of assessment because it allows them to use their "soft skills."

Overview

One of the most basic precepts of education has long been that, "If you want to learn something, try teaching it." Students have been hearing this advice for many years, primarily because it is true that the process of having to figure out how to explain a concept to another person causes one to think more deeply about that concept, as one puts oneself in the shoes of a person encountering the concept for the first time. Indeed, many college and university professors have one piece of advice for students who ask them how they can improve their grades, or prevent their grades from slipping: become a tutor. By helping others to learn the subject, the thinking goes, one cannot help but gain greater mastery of it.

Apart from being useful advice, this is also the theoretical underpinning for educators' use of student presentations as a part of how student performance is assessed (McDougall & Holden, 2017). An approach that is often used in a high school or college course is for a student's grade in a course to be determined by a final exam, a midterm exam, several quizzes or laboratory assignments, and a presentation. The content of the presentation is partly determined by the nature of the course, and often the student has some input into the selection of the topic. For example, an assigned presentation in a course about the literary works of the Romantic period would not permit one to create a presentation about mathematics, but it most likely would allow each student to select an author from the Romantic period about whom to present (van Ginkel et al., 2017b).

The vast majority of students feel a sense of complete loathing at the thought of giving a presentation, primarily because most people do not like giving speeches in front of groups; they are nervous that they will look foolish, or leave out important information, and that their grade will suffer as a result. For many students, the stress associated with preparing a presentation and spending weeks or months anticipating with dread the day on which it must be given, virtually eclipses the educational benefits of this type of assignment. It is not uncommon for students to find the mere thought of a presentation so stressful that they put it off and continue delaying work on it right up until almost the last minute, finally putting some material together the night before the presentation is due. Still, there are also those who enjoy presentations, or at least do not worry about them excessively, but this group tends to be a very small minority. The widespread dislike that presentations inspire has caused some educators to reconsider their effectiveness, on the theory that any teaching method that causes so much resistance cannot be effective in the long run (Amirian & Tavakoli, 2016).

There are several basic skills that instructors assess by assigning presentations. First, the student must conduct research about a topic, and part of a presentation's grade is usually related to how thorough and effective this research process is—have enough sources been located, and are they timely and relevant, and so on. Second, the student must design an effective presentation. This can involve the creation of visual aids such as slideshows, posters, skits, and many other types of demonstration, but it also includes techniques such as outlining and building one idea upon another in order to explain a complex topic while holding the interest of the audience. Finally, the student may be evaluated on presentation skills, which include speaking loudly and clearly, maintaining eye contact with the audience, memorizing one's lines enough to avoid reading from notes or from the slides, and using gestures and humor to hold the audience's attention (Al-Nouh, N. A., Abdul-Kareem & Taqi, 2015).

Further Insights

A number of reasons for assessing student learning through the use of presentations have been suggested over the years, and the reception to these has been mixed. One benefit that is often pointed out is that presentations allow teachers to cover a topic much more thoroughly than might otherwise be possible, by in effect using the students as supplemental instructors. Instead of a teacher presenting one lecture on factors that led up to the American Civil War, for example, the teacher could assign each student to present on a factor, and many more facets of the topic would be explored. One student might discuss economic factors, another would explore the effect that religious views played, and yet another would present about social influences. While it is true that this type of approach would allow many subtopics to be explored, critics have pointed out that it is fairly common for students' analysis of their topics to be superficial at best, leaving the quality of their instruction open to question (Malouf et al., 2014).

Another benefit that is attributed to the use of student presentations is the notion that it helps students become accustomed to a set of skills that they will need later in life, when they have reached adulthood and entered the world of work. Many professions require one to occasionally give presentations about one's job, issues facing the organization one works for, and so on. Therefore, the argument goes, it is helpful for students to begin practicing such presentations as part of their schoolwork, in the hope that they can become more comfortable with the task through repetition. This rationale is used with particular frequency in courses designed for students interested in careers in education or academia, since these fields often require one to write papers, present them at conferences, and respond to questions from colleagues.

Learning how to present one's ideas in these fields is especially important, as the nature of the work requires it. The main criticism leveled at this argument is that there are many jobs that do not require one to have experience at creating and delivering presentations, yet students making this observation are often not aware of the need to prepare for opportunities in life other than those they might currently choose or anticipate (Masaki, 2016). If one only prepares for the job one hopes or expects to have, then if there comes a time when one must switch to another profession, the adjustment will be a difficult one.

Issues

One cause for concern regarding the use of student presentations focuses on the type of grading used for the presentations. Some teachers assign grades for presentations themselves, using a rubric to ensure consistency, as they would for any type of assignment. Others, however, use a peer assessment approach in which each presentation is graded by all of the students in the class, and these grades are then averaged into a student's final grade for the presentation. Using peer assessment in this way causes concern for many, because students may be tempted to base the grade they give to their peers on factors other than the quality of the presentation, such as personal feelings or a desire to cause mischief. This possibility is more pronounced when the peer grades are provided anonymously, because then students need not fear that they might be questioned about the grades they assigned.

Apart from concerns about peer assessment being too severe, there are also those who worry that it tends to be too favorable. Most students dislike presentations, and many therefore give their peers elevated grades in the hope that when it is their turn to present, their classmates will be similarly lenient. The end result is that peer assessment tends to be either too positive or too negative. Supporters of this approach maintain that even if the grading is not reliable, the experience itself still gives students exposure to evaluating peers and thus justifies its continued use (Sinclair, 2016).

Students are sometimes asked to present as individuals, but often they are assigned to groups to create joint or team presentations instead of individual presentations. Often this is done to save time, because if everyone in a class presented individually, many class periods would be used up by the presentations, whereas using group presentations would minimize this effect. Group presentations usually involve students being assigned to groups of four to six, and then working as a group to develop and deliver the presentation. Educators tend to be strongly supportive of this type of learning activity, believing that it forces students to learn how to work together, how to negotiate and discuss different viewpoints, and how to divide up the various tasks required by a project and schedule them to ensure that they are completed on time (Aryadoust, 2015).

While this sounds like an excellent instructional modality, in practice the results are frequently disappointing. The chief complaint that students have about group presentations, regardless of the age of the students or the subject matter being studied, is that almost invariably there is a huge imbalance of ability and motivation. That is, groups tend to consist of one or two individuals who have a thorough understanding of the material and a strong desire to complete the presentation satisfactorily, and a larger number whose understanding is incomplete and whose contributions are minimal or nonexistent.

Rather than dividing the work equitably, group dynamics tend toward reticent or uninterested group members simply relying on the most motivated members to do the bulk of the work. This is fundamentally unfair, because the members who do the work are carrying more than their share of the burden, and those who are only minimally engaged are excluded from an opportunity to learn. It is also problematic as a form of assessment, since the entire group winds up being graded on work that only a few members contributed to (van Ginkel et al., 2017a).

Perhaps the most pressing concern about the use of student presentations as learning assessments is a basic lack of clarity about what is being assessed. One would assume that assessment of the presentation would be based largely on the student's ability to demonstrate mastery of the core concepts conveyed by the curriculum, but in many cases what winds up being assessed is the student's ability to give presentations. Critics charge that, while being able to give effective presentations is a valuable skill that should be encouraged, students should be assessed on their understanding of the course content rather than on a set of skills that is tangential to that content. In other words, a biology student studying the internal processes of cellular reproduction may receive a poor grade, based on an evaluation of his or her ability to maintain eye contact during a presentation—regardless of how well the student understands cellular reproduction. (Chaqmaqchee, 2015).

Terms & Concepts

Final Exam: Also known as a comprehensive exam, the final exam for a course usually tests all material that students have learned during the course, and counts for a large part of the student's grade.

Midterm Exam: A midterm exam is held near the midpoint of a course and covers all of the material students have learned up until that time. It may count for a significant part of the course grade, or it may serve primarily as a means for students to find out what to expect from the final exam.

Peer Assessment: Peer assessment is an approach to grading in which students grade each other. It is often used in assessing student presentations, since all students have a chance to witness the presentation.

Rubric: A set of benchmarks developed to assist with grading an assignment and reducing bias on the part of the grader. A rubric will specify what elements of an assignment must be present in order to earn a particular grade.

Soft Skills: Personal qualities that can help one to achieve success, yet are not related to quantifiable skills. A quantifiable skill might be the number of words one can type per minute, while a soft skill might be the ability to be a good listener.

Summative Assessment: An assessment given near the end of a course of study, in the hope of determining how well the student understood the course. A final exam is a type of summative assessment, as is a chapter or unit test. Student presentations are sometimes used as summative assessments.

Bibliography

Al-Nouh, N. A., Abdul-Kareem, M. M., & Taqi, H. A. (2015). EFL college students' perceptions of the difficulties in oral presentation as a form of assessment. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(1), 136–150.

Amirian, S. R., & Tavakoli, E. (2016). Academic oral presentation self-efficacy: A cross-sectional interdisciplinary comparative study. Higher Education Research & Development, 35(6), 1095–1110.

Aryadoust, V. (2015). Self- and peer assessments of oral presentations by first-year university students. Educational Assessment, 20(3), 199–225. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=108839961&site=ehost-live

Chaqmaqchee, Z. A. (2015). Empowering learning: Students and teachers outlook on peer assessment for oral presentation. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(27), 75–81.

Malouf, J. M., Stein, S. J., Bothma, L. N., Coulter, K., & Emmerton, A. J. (2014). Preventing halo bias in grading the work of university students. Cogent Psychology, 1(1), 1–9.

Masaki, K. (2016). L2 academic discourse socialization through oral presentations: An undergraduate student's learning trajectory in study abroad. Canadian Modern Language Review, 72(1), 95–121. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=113883252&site=ehost-live

McDougall, J., & Holden, H. (2017). The silence about oral presentation skills in distance and online education: New perspectives from an Australian university preparatory programme. Open Learning, 32(2), 163–176. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=123074690&site=ehost-live

Sinclair, S. (2016). The introduction and refinement of the assessment of digitally recorded audio presentations. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 31(2), 163–175. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=118260619&site=ehost-live

van Ginkel, S., Gulikers, J., Biemans, H., & Mulder, M. (2017a). Fostering oral presentation performance: Does the quality of feedback differ when provided by the teacher, peers or peers guided by tutor? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 953–966. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=123767855&site=ehost-live

van Ginkel, S., Gulikers, J., Biemans, H., & Mulder, M. (2017b). The impact of the feedback source on developing oral presentation competence. Studies in Higher Education, 42(9), 1671–1685. Retrieved January 1, 2018 from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=123952860&site=ehost-live

Student Presentations as Learning Assessments

On this Page

Subject Terms

Student Presentations as Learning Assessments

Abstract

Overview

Further Insights

Issues

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

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