Invite non-class members to presentations to create a context in which students must explain their ideas to an intelligent person unfamiliar with the class material.

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Action:

  • If feasible, invite people to attend students’ class presentations. You can use an online form such as Google Forms to collect RSVPs.
  • Consider having your guests provide feedback to the presenters.

Reason:

  • Students can take pride in sharing their knowledge with non-class members.
  • Imagining this type of audience for the talk encourages students to provide relevant background.
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Give an example presentation before students present in class to help students understand your expectations.
Remind students that whole-class and small discussions are designed to develop their oral communication to draw students’ attention to improving their oral communication.
Give students plenty of opportunities to talk about the course topics to ensure they get practice expressing and clarifying their ideas
Have students help create a rubric for oral presentations to get them thinking about all different aspects of a successful presentation.