Instead of emphasising the formal criteria for the oral presentation (as I usually do) I've started talking about it being a good story. So, for example I have said:

A good story is a presentation that:
• keeps the audience interested (it is informed and gives us a new perspective);
• impresses the audience (you know the topic well, using “expensive” language and speaking enthusiastically about it);
• explores questions (and does not merely repeat “answers” written by other people);
• paints a picture of the context (telling us why this is a problem or interesting case in Portugal);
• is easy-to-follow (has a good structure, signposts and linking words);
• makes the audience believe in you (because you look them in the eyes, smile and communicate with them!)

I'll be interested to see if this gets more students taking on an identity of someone giving a presentation (i.e. "being" a presenter) rather than going through the motions of giving a presentation to get a high score on the evlaution.

I'm using Zoho writer to share documents - so this oral presentation task should now appear on the Zoho doc roll down on the right of the blog and here: "Oral presentation_final". It's in beta and it's the first time I've used it, so I wait to hear if there are any problems:

Category: Artifacts
Tags: oralpresentations,