Interactive oral assessment
Interactive oral assessments (IOA's) involve staff engaging students in a dialogue about their understanding of a topic area they are studying. Students respond to structured or semi-structed questions about a topic area in real-time. These assessment tasks tend to evaluate learning outcomes centred on students’ understanding of the topic, students’ thinking processes or reasoning, the ability of students to apply their understanding of concepts to novel situations, and their ability to communicate or articulate their knowledge and understanding.
Examples currently used include:
Design project presentation – students present a completed project, prototype, or conceptual design to an audience and respond to questions in real time on why they made specific design choices, and how they iterated based on feedback or constraints.
Oral examination (viva) – students present their work (often a significant research project or a thesis) and are questioned by a panel on the content of this and its relationship to other work in the field.
Research presentation – students present their research to an audience and respond to questions that require them to articulate the research developments and justify their choices.
Mooting presentation – students participate in a simulation of an authentic scenario, in this case a court of law.
Visual art folio presentation – students create and present a body of artistic work, articulating their process and responding to questions.
Read TLI’s IOA webpage for practical and logistical guidance for IOAs
Review and share the Academic Skills guide to IOAs for students