Different types of oral presentations
Oral presentations are a form of assessment that calls on students to use the spoken word to express their knowledge and understanding of a topic.
It allows capture of not only the research that the students have done but also a range of cognitive and transferable skills.
A common format is in-class presentations on a prepared topic, often supported by visual aids in the form of PowerPoint slides or a Prezi, with a standard length that varies between 10 and 20 minutes.
In-class presentations can be performed individually or in a small group and are generally followed by a brief question and answer session.
Oral presentations are often combined with other modes of assessment; for example oral presentation of a project report, oral presentation of a poster, commentary on a practical exercise, etc.
Also common is the use of PechaKucha, a fast-paced presentation format consisting of a fixed number of slides that are set to move on every twenty seconds.
The original version was of 20 slides resulting in a 6 minute and 40 second presentation, however, you can reduce this to 10 or 15 to suit group size or topic complexity and coverage.
One of the advantages of this format is that you can fit a large number of presentations in a short period of time and everyone has the same rules.
It is also a format that enables students to express their creativity through the appropriate use of images on their slides to support their narrative.
When deciding which format of oral presentation best allows your students to demonstrate the learning outcomes, it is also useful to consider which format closely relates to real world practice in your subject area.