Performance+Assessment+Oral+Presentation


 * Teaching Development **
 * Performance Assessment Task: Oral Presentation **

Oral presentations have been used in the fourth year //Environmental Biology of Fishes// course as a **formative use** of assessment in response to the question: "//**How can we help students improve?**//"

In the past, I have struggled with designing a valid set of performance criteria which would capture the student's true level of knowledge, reasoning, performance skills and academic achievement and which would be as objective as possible so as not to incorporate biases into the assessment process.

In this study, the rationale for using oral presentation as a valid performance-based assessment tool will be reflected, the reasons for this form of assessment based on the University of Guelph Learning Objectives will be linked, student outcomes will be defined, the achievement targets will be described, the performance criteria will be developed, the assessment task will be presented in a rubric  and the five quality standards will be reflected on.

//Environmental Biology of Fishes// is one of the courses taken by students generally in their final semester, before they are exposed to the world of fieldwork, lab work, and research or graduate studies.
 * Background **

In the late Nineteen-Eighties, students were required to write a paper on some component of a fish's adaptation to its environment, as part of their course requirement.

Students focusing their studies on //Marine Biology// and //Fish and Wildlife Biology// graduated without ever having to stand before an audience and present their findings or their thoughts on aspects of biology.

In order to correct students' lack of experience and perceived weakness and in order to facilitate an environment whereby students would learn to be effective speakers, many of the senior courses were required to incorporate an oral presentation or seminar component.

The //Environmental Biology of Fishes// course opted for the oral presentation component as a performance-based assessment tool for our students.
 * Students were expected to give an oral presentation (20 minutes) followed by a 10-minute discussion period, in which the candidate answers questions by their classmates or the instructors.


 * Students were required to base their presentations on a detailed description of a morphological, behavioral, physiological or genetic specialization in any fish species or group of species, and how that specialization is an adaptation to a specific environmental condition.

While the reason for introducing the oral presentation component was commendable, we were left with a giant task of assessing students objectively.

Over the years, a point system has evolved to 'objectively' evaluate student performance, however, I must confess, the assessment has been based on the evaluator's point of reference, therefore the same graders must be used for each student, and the graders' scores are pooled and averaged in order to obtain the student's final score.

<span style="color: #3683ec; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Following a review of Stiggins (2001), the oral presentation component was reevaluated as the method of choice, **providing a form of evidence of student proficiency** and **providing a formative use of assessment**, allowing students to perform skills to an audience within the course //Environmental Biology of Fishes//.

<span style="color: #3683ec; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">continued on next page

<span style="color: #3683ec; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">teaching-marie Wiki home
 * <span style="color: #3683ec; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This material was taken from a paper written by marie Thérèse Rush as an assignment component for the course: EDU6140 Assessing Student Learning, March 16, 2003. Masters of Education - Curriculum and Instruction, College of St. Scholastica, Minnesota. ||