Saturday, February 22, 2014
Supporting and Grading Oral Assignments
Faculty often mention that they are reluctant to grade speeches honestly because they don't spend enough time supporting the speaking assignment (discussions in class, drafts, etc.) and/or they aren't sure how to grade speeches. How have/have you supported oral assignments in the past? What are your major concerns about grading speeches?
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In the past, I have graded oral assignments, typically by taking notes during the presentation and then returning the rubric (whatever that may be) and then scoring and calculating. In addition, I tend to have students score presentations (and write general comments to the presenters) and collect those and include a spot where I can incorporate the class’s average as a portion of the presentation grade. (When I do that, I offer selected qualitative feedback to the presenter to justify that score.) While I do like the rubric and think it offers students a good guide about expectations and assessment, I remain concerned about the amount of time I tend to dedicate (between taking notes while watching the presentations, returning to the uploaded media on Blackboard, averaging out peer-scoring, and then offering feedback on the delivery and media and content). I know that grading, for me, is a time-consuming process, in general, because I do like to offer students variations and substantial feedback, but at the same, I am envious of my colleagues who can grade presentations while they are happening. Others have shared that presentations are a “grading” treat because their grading occurs during that confined time and thus takes less time, but for me, it tends to take more time. Another concern I have is having to remove activities that I wish I could include, due to limited time. For example, I am envious of colleagues who can squeeze in class time to have students help them create the rubric, allowing that to become a collaborative document that give students agency over their assessment and the project, in general. But I cannot find them time to dedicate to do that, as class is filled with so many other objectives that seem to take priority. I worry that I am shortchanging something in order to cover something else, and I just focus on the overall purpose of the assignment and attempt to make decisions best suited for students learning and the larger project and course goals. And perhaps another struggle is feeling as students’ effort should take a larger place in the grading, especially having journeyed through their “composing” process and delivery practices with them, yet I have to be fair and objective. I look forward to hearing what others think.
Hello from Baltimore!
I wouldn’t say that I have been reluctant to grade speeches honestly because I haven’t supported my students with good preparation… although thinking back, that is probably true.
I would have said that I am reluctant to grade this type of assignments honestly because I find it hard to give detailed feedback in the moment, like Rachel was saying. I have quite detailed rubrics that I have used, so it doesn’t take that much time to circle things on it and write a few follow-up comments at the end of the speech. The problem is that there are so many different things that I have to listen for. In addition to organization, content/support, grammar and pronunciation take a lot of my attention (probably more for me than for you). I want to take notes for the students so I can be very specific about why they have earned certain grades and so they can learn from their errors, but I have a hard time keeping up with their speech and writing at the same time. Also, I really want to pay attention to them and be an active listener, instead of spending all of my time with my head down taking notes.
How have I supported speeches in the past? Well, I don’t really assign a lot of speeches per say (My students don’t have the ability to talk for a long time, students get bored listening as soon as they stop understanding what is being said). But I think that the activities that I do in class prepare them for what they have to do as their final oral exam (because in essence I combine a bunch of those activities into a real-life context). I have just started the final oral exam for my FRE 102 students, so you can look forward to seeing that this week in our workshop time.
I wouldn’t say I’m reluctant to grade speeches honestly, but I do agree that I have definitely not spent enough time supporting my speaking assignments. I guess I have fallen into that category of instructors who just expected students to know how to speak well without any instruction other than tips on formatting and reading over the given assignment (I’m learning the error of my ways!). My focus was always on the aspects of speaking that make it a “biology speech.” I am now seeing that building in steps for basic speech development can build on the critical thinking and help create better speakers as well as help teach content in courses.
I always use a rubric when grading speeches, which I give to the students when I give them the assignment. My rubrics tend to focus heavily on content needed for speaking successfully in biology and that specific biology context. As a result, I tend to have to make many comments and critiques on the rubric during the speech. So I agree with Katie that it is often hard to keep with the speech while doing this. However, I feel it does a disservice to my students if I do not do this. So, while I like rubrics for the purpose of letting the students know what to include in their speech and reminding me what to look for in each speech, they sometimes make me so focused that I have a hard time taking in the speech as a whole .
I wouldn’t say I’m reluctant to grade speeches honestly, but I do agree that I have definitely not spent enough time supporting my speaking assignments. I guess I have fallen into that category of instructors who just expected students to know how to speak well without any instruction other than tips on formatting and reading over the given assignment (I’m learning the error of my ways!). My focus was always on the aspects of speaking that make it a “biology speech.” I am now seeing that building in steps for basic speech development can build on the critical thinking and help create better speakers as well as help teach content in courses.
I always use a rubric when grading speeches, which I give to the students when I give them the assignment. My rubrics tend to focus heavily on content needed for speaking successfully in biology and that specific biology context. As a result, I tend to have to make many comments and critiques on the rubric during the speech. So I agree with Katie that it is often hard to keep with the speech while doing this. However, I feel it does a disservice to my students if I do not do this. So, while I like rubrics for the purpose of letting the students know what to include in their speech and reminding me what to look for in each speech, they sometimes make me so focused that I have a hard time taking in the speech as a whole .
If I assigned speeches, I would definitely be reluctant to grade them.
Honestly, the few times that I have assigned a presentation of any kind--they are usually in groups and I grade the only on the content of their presentation. It would be fair to say that part of that is because I only prepared them with content and not with delivery, so it would have been unfair to do so, even if I did know how to assess their speaking.. which I don't. In the future, I think that if specific guidelines and expectations can be put forth about what makes a good presentation, then i could incorporate that into class, though with a small group presentation it becomes a bit more difficult. I am not sure how I would go about assigning a presentation grade for four people who are collaborating on one presentation. But I am open to ideas! I have been in more classes with speaking assessments than I have taught them, and I recall having some success with the "audience" of other students grading the presentation--that might help take the responsibility off of the one professor who has to also grade for content. just a thought. taking in all of the content, substance, and style during a 5 minutes presentation is a daunting task at best--no matter how detailed the rubric.
When I have graded oral assignments in the past my rubric has focused on five points: (1) the ability to follow directions; (2) substantive information provided; (3) ability to relate presentation to in-class material/previous readings; (4) organization of presentation; and (5) delivery of presentation. Despite using a rubric, I do not like grading speaking assignments because I feel that much of my grading is subjective in nature.
So, my main issue with speaking assignments is that I feel like I can't be totally objective with my grading. As a result, I tend to be fairly lenient with my grading. I understand it is hard to get up there and speak well in front of peers. I know it is scary and uncomfortable for the students. This uneasiness comes off in many of my students’ presentations and I feel bad that I have to grade off on something like “not making eye contact with the audience” or “for simply reading off their notecards”. Maybe they were nervous. Maybe they didn’t feel well that day. Maybe they have a fear of public speaking (as many of them say). So, how can I grade off on something they cannot control. I mean, how do you tell someone that you can’t understand them because of language acquisition issues or because they use slang while talking. These are the types of things that I grapple with when grading my presentation assignments…
Keep in mind, I have no problem letting students know they need to improve their writing – so, yes, there is a double standard here…
As someone who is for all intents and purposes an introvert, I completely understand the fear of speaking in public. I was there as a student and still have quite a bit of anxiety when I speak, as was probably quite evident in my tenure presentation this past September. I also admit that I have not supported speaking as much as writing in my classes because the curriculum requires students to take a speech class, so why should I spend time talking about how to prepare a speech. This is the classic “that is not my job” defense. On some level, this thought is still hanging around in the back of my mind. That is largely because we require students to retain information from class to class in the major, so why not the GEC courses as well? However, I concede that I need to provide better support as related to speaking within the field.
What I have done in the past to support speaking is providing information about available resources for support in speech preparation (what to say and how to put it on a PowerPoint) and practice. I have also posted examples of my own presentations that were presented to a professional audience and crafted to fit a prescribed time limit. I also provide a list of dos and don’ts for PowerPoint presentations (OK, mostly don’ts). I realize that all of the above supports the mechanics of the presentation, not the person giving the presentation. I did require students to take the speech anxiety quiz on the library webpage one semester thinking that would help them identify problems, and it sure did. I think they were worse that semester than any other. Having them see a number that rated their anxiety level was not the correct approach. In hind sight, I should have known better. That sure would have messed me up as an anxious student.
In terms of grading presentations, I have a rubric that I use during the presentation to mark the level of mechanics. During the entire presentation, I am jotting down notes about things that are not on the rubric. These range from posture to pronunciation issues. As some others have mentioned, grading presentations is a time consuming process for me. I take the notes I write during the presentation, and rewrite them as what I hope are constructive comments. Each student then receives a personalized rubric with their grade and written comments below.
While I feel comfortable assessing their abilities, I am most concerned about how I present the negative aspects of their presentation. This is a necessary part of improvement, but I know how easy it is to shut someone down with negative feedback. I am mindful to write my comments as constructively as possible, and always include positive and negative comments. Within reason, I try to strike a balance between positive and negative comments. This does not mean if I have six negative comments that I must have six positive ones. It does mean that I may pick my battles and address the most egregious infractions first and deal with the minor ones in a more general way.
I use a rubric, and all of the points on the rubric come from things other than delivery. The rubric focuses on content, organization, and preparation and presentation of images. This last item is actually extremely important for graphic design students. Nothing on the rubric is subjective at all. I see the small (usually 3 minutes) speeches my students give as preparation for the spoken presentation of their senior project, which is a major part of their capstone experience. So in my classes, all of which come before capstone, my primary objective is to give them a low-stakes experience with public speaking in their own discipline. We focus on all the things they can easily control, and none of their grade comes from delivery, so that they can mess up but keep going without getting a bad grade (and thus developing even more anxiety prior to capstone). We talk a bit about delivery, and how to improve it, but I don't grade for it. I'm not sure how well this actually works in terms of managing their anxiety, but I know it works very well in terms of teaching them to organize their thoughts and stay under a time limit. Well, it works in the context of the design history class. Second-round presentations are usually much better than the first ones; everyone gives two. But by the time they get to capstone, some of them have managed to forget what they learned. I don't know if having bigger, longer, "scarier" speaking assignments prior to capstone would help cement this stuff in their memories, or not.
I am guilty of assignments that often include "and there will be a brief presentation." I honestly cannot say that I have have the tools to grade the spoken component of an assignment that I give. I generally base that portion of the grade on if they are prepared, organized, speak clearly, and have a clear knowledge of what is being spoken about. I do have to agree with those that lean toward the more subjective side of grading oral assignments. That is exactly what I do. Although I am accustomed to grading with rubrics for written assignments, I tend to not use a specific rubric for the oral component of an assignment. I look forward to gaining a lot of information in regard to this topic in the seminar!
Except for the capstone course I taught a couple of years ago, I haven't assigned speaking activities in class (although I have required students to read a poem or a piece from a play). For the capstone, the rubric was basically the same as for a paper: is there a thesis, is the thesis developed with evidence, is the speech organized, etc. I don't feel comfortable in grading speeches and I think it's because I never had any training in speaking except when I took a speech class in high school. Too, my own comfort with speaking in front of people has just evolved over the years -- although that's not to say that I am always prepared as I should be -- so I guess I am saying that although students may not speak so well now, they will do so given enough practice and opportunity. But I am eager to try out a speaking assignment, given the materials we are reading and discussing. Oh, yes, the capstone assignment was supported by students visiting the speaking center.
I use a rubric, a copy of which is given to the students with the assignment. When I listen to the presentation, I make some notations, but most of my grading is done off the video of the students' presentations. The students are required to come view the recording of their presentation in my office (to receive their grades), and we discuss the presentation and a couple of take-aways that may improve performance for the second required presentation. I try very hard to make this viewing and feedback a positive and learning experience for the students, but most of them (grad students) do a decent job and are already aware of their delivery tics and pitfalls. Organization and content are typically well done, and so grade differentiation is perhaps (too much) on delivery aspects. I score them based upon the point distribution in the rubric, and the discussion/video reviewing follows that rubric. I always point out the positive aspects of their presentations to them. The second presentation is also recorded, and I grade from that recording, but the students are not required to view that presentation, and I do not grade the second presentation with the idea of detailed feedback to the student in mind. This grading process takes a tremendous amount of my time. I also struggle in my attempt to be fair and objective in grading presentations. I'm much more comfortable grading other types of work, although I have finally developed *some* confidence in grading after the third iteration of this course. The students present for about 5 - 10 minutes total with another student, with whom they also work on the organization, content, powerpoint, etc. They work with a different partner on the second presentation. Their grade on the project (written report + oral presentation) is differentiated from their partner's through their oral presentation grade.
It is not that I am not honest in my grading, but I haven't put nearly enough thought into just how they should be graded. I'm guilty of requiring the oral presentation as an afterthought to a written document, and I usually just grade for content. I write comments for the students regarding their speaking manner and delivery as well as the way the speech was organized and the quality of their power points or handouts, but I usually give them credit simply for doing it. As a result, I am always disappointed in the overall quality. I definitely would like to see some examples of rubrics that I could provide when the assignment is made as I know students are often motivated by grades. Having several things laid out in a rubric would make it easier for the students to know my expectations and for me to grade their efforts.
As a designer, it is important to be able to present one's ideas effectively. I have expectations for the student to communicate well, make eye contact, speak clearly and use effective words. There is never enough time to critique the individual, though. Glad that they are required to take a speech class!
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