Description

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Remind students that whole-class and small discussions are designed to develop their oral communication to draw students’ attention to improving their oral communication.

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Action:

  • Tell students that you want them to improve their oral communication during in-class discussions.
  • Encourage students to ask each other for clarification or additional information to help provide students feedback about their oral communication.

Reason:

  • This sets the expectation that even in informal class discussions the goal is to clearly, concisely, and respectfully communicate your ideas.

Give an example presentation before students present in class to help students understand your expectations.

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Action:

  • Give a presentation that can serve as a model for students’ class presentations.
  • After the presentation ask students to describe what they thought went well and what they would suggest for improvement.
  • Draw students attention to the structure, content, and/or professional style.

Reason:

  • Expectations for formality and polish vary. Providing an example is likely more helpful than mere descriptions of your expectations.

Have students help create a rubric for oral presentations to get them thinking about all different aspects of a successful presentation.

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Action:

  • Ask students to co-design the rubric that you will use for evaluating student presentations.
  • Ensure students include important dimensions in the rubric by comparing it to existing oral communication rubrics.

Reason:

  • Allowing students to co-design a rubric using their own language can help them understand the rubric and can ensure they have read it.

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.

Give students plenty of opportunities to talk about the course topics to ensure they get practice expressing and clarifying their ideas

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Action:

  • Ask students to articulate their ideas orally and ask students to ask each other clarifying questions when they don’t understand what someone has said.

Reason:

  • Every class discussion is an opportunity to develop students’ oral skills since they receive feedback from their peers and you regarding the the clarity of their contributions.