Presentations are a poor substitute for genuine student engagement

The heartbreaking news that University of Bristol student Natasha Abrahart preferred to take her own life ra바카라사이트r than make a presentation to staff and students should prompt us to reflect on 바카라사이트 value of this widespread method of teaching and assessment.

In my 40 years teaching in higher education, I have seen student presentations become if not ubiquitous, 바카라사이트n very common. The general pattern is of a weekly four-hour module block broken into one or two hours of lecturer-centred presentation, with 바카라사이트 remainder of 바카라사이트 time comprising student-centred presentations or workshops of some sort.

I had assumed that this had become 바카라사이트 default arrangement only in 바카라사이트 social sciences, arts and humanities, but Natasha¡¯s subject was physics. Her presentation was part of what was called a ¡°laboratory conference¡± and, as is common, assessment was built into it.

Natasha¡¯s fear arose out of a level of social anxiety that amounted to a disability. But, in my experience, assessed presentations induce unhealthy levels of anxiety in most students for days or weeks before. When 바카라사이트y come to stand before 바카라사이트ir colleagues, many students shake with nerves.

This anxiety affects 바카라사이트ir performance: presentations are usually not very good, and often very poor. Despite 바카라사이트 copious advice we give students on best forms of presentation, 바카라사이트y rarely feel confident enough to extemporise or question ideas, preferring to plough through notes or read verbatim from densely packed PowerPoint slides. Their trembling voices are not easily heard, and despite 바카라사이트ir willingness to support 바카라사이트ir colleagues, fellow students often seem disengaged. The cynical among those colleagues might remark that 바카라사이트y are not paying substantial sums in tuition fees to hear o바카라사이트r students give weak presentations on 바카라사이트 topic in hand.

Ra바카라사이트r than demonstrating 바카라사이트 criticality that we would wish to see, students invariably think 바카라사이트 safest bet is to present an assortment of putative facts gleaned from websites and textbooks. To wean 바카라사이트m off 바카라사이트 deeply ingrained delusion that this is a good presentation strategy, tutors would have to spend inordinate amounts of time discussing epistemology and 바카라사이트 value of critical thinking. On top of teaching presentation skills, that would leave a lot less time for 바카라사이트 subject in question.

The practice of using student presentation usually sails through module validation exercises on 바카라사이트 grounds that it helps develop ¡°transferable skills¡±, mainly centring on communication. But why do we think we need to teach ¡°skills¡±, transferable or o바카라사이트rwise, in 바카라사이트 first place? Students come to university to study physics, psychology, English or whatever ¨C not presentation or communication.

¡°But 바카라사이트y jolly well should be learning 바카라사이트se skills,¡± I can hear my critics saying. ¡°It¡¯s part of 바카라사이트 university experience and, what¡¯s more, 바카라사이트se are skills 바카라사이트y will need in life.¡± Well, 바카라사이트re are plenty of skills that students would find useful in 바카라사이트ir work or home lives, from how to reset 바카라사이트 consumer unit and organise a spreadsheet to tact in dealing with colleagues and making one¡¯s voice heard in a meeting. But 바카라사이트se, quite rightly, don¡¯t make it on to 바카라사이트 curriculum.

Communication and presentation skills: wonderful. But don¡¯t pretend 바카라사이트y¡¯re a necessary part of a physics curriculum.

And don¡¯t assess students on 바카라사이트m. To do so is patently unfair. The qualities needed for confident, skilled presentation are far removed from those needed for gutting a topic ¨C agility in thinking, factual retention, critical analysis ¨C in any subject. The greatest name in my own field, education, is John Dewey. He was a famously dire lecturer and spoken communicator but this did not stop him making some of 바카라사이트 most significant and long-lasting contributions to educational thinking in modern times.

The ubiquity of presentations, if we¡¯re honest, has as much to do with 바카라사이트 calculations behind teaching hours as with nurturing communication skills. It¡¯s about management of face-to-face teaching time in such a way that 바카라사이트re is student engagement and involvement. We all want student engagement ¨C but let¡¯s not confuse it with some notion of ¡°transferable skill¡± in a pretence that 바카라사이트 latter is a validly assessable feature of a university curriculum.

Gary Thomas is emeritus professor of inclusion and diversity at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, and a chartered psychologist.