Assessing by presentations mirrors real life situations. In today’s world, most positions require high performance and effective presentation skills. Being good at presenting is an art that can be developed from a very early age.
Technology may facilitate instruction and learning, but who’s doing the learning? In many cases, teachers are more active in the classroom than the students. Teaching certainly provides many opportunities to learn. Why not flip the classroom by allowing students to do the teaching?
Teaching as Way to Learn
Children are natural teachers. Children from a very early age enjoy sharing new discoveries and explaining what they discover to their friends, family members, and even strangers. Why not allow them to do the same in school?
Connecting for Learning
In learning through presentations, Jeff Utecht, an Educator, consultant, author, is very optimistic in saying that the only thing “constant” in education is “change”. Allowing students to teach through presentations connects them to learning because of the process involved in preparing, delivering, and engaging in social feedback after the presentation.
Jeff Utrecht suggests that students present their stories using Pecha Kucha method of presenting slides. Students can be assessed based on not only how they present, but on their ability to demonstrate what they had learned.
Partnering for Learning
Allowing students to teach in the classroom connects them to the content, each other, the teacher, and themselves. It may involve risk taking on the part of the teacher because teachers are used to being in control. The risk is worth taking. There are many aha moments and a great deal of satisfaction in learning. Student-led conferences are one way of partnering for learning with your students while assessing what their learning outcomes.
Student Led Conferences
Students love to present as a way to learn. Their presentations can be assessed by peers, themselves, the teachers and others. One way to generating a wide audience of assessors is to get students to organize a conference. Student lead conferences have become very popular in many schools in the USA. You may wish to try it with your students.