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USING POSTER PRESENTATION ACTIVITIES FOR ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Abstract
There has been a growing view that traditional assessment methods, such as essays and exams are not fit for purpose. This view has been amplified recently by the rapid increase in the availability to students of Artificial Intelligence tools. While one of the alternatives to traditional assessment, the oral presentation, has increased in popularity, it can be resource intensive, logistically difficult to organise and can cause high levels of anxiety amongst students. In trying to retain many of the advantages of oral presentations but overcoming some of the disadvantages, poster presentations have been proposed as an alternative assessment. This paper details a poster presentation assessment activity undertaken with undergraduate students of English attending a residential course as part of the degree they study with an open university in Thailand. The assessment activity has been generally well received by the students, all of whom study remotely prior to this event and have fewer opportunities to communicate directly with their fellow students than is the case with students on full-time courses. Therefore, it is proposed that research should be conducted into the activity so that a better understanding can be gained of student perceptions of the assessment, particularly how those who indicate that they experience high levels of apprehension during oral presentations feel about the activity. During a future iteration of the course, students will be invited to participate in research of the assessment activity. Participants will complete McCroskey's PRCA-24 questionnaire prior to the course beginning, in order to establish levels of apprehension felt towards different modes of oral communication. Then, following the assessment activity, students will be surveyed in order to establish which mode of oral communication they felt the activity most resembled and to capture their impressions of the activity, particularly focussing on apprehension and whether the activity bridges any communication gaps created by the nature of the course.
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Students enrolled in a landscape plant identification course were assigned a plant project at the beginning of the semester that comprised a written portion and a presentation portion. During the Spring 2014 semester, an electronic slide presentation portion was replaced by a “trade show” display presentation format. The modification was implemented to provide a more meaningful and applicable learning experience because trade shows are important events in the horticulture industry. Using this format, students were required to present or sell their plant genus by constructing an informative display, similar to that used for a tradeshow. Groups of students presented on different days. Students who were not presenting or selling were the “customers,” and they perused the trade show to learn about the various genera. A postactivity assessment survey was administered to gain insight into the student learning experience. The activity was evaluated during five spring semesters. Students responded that they were more comfortable with the trade show style of presentation than with a traditional presentation style, with a Likert scale rating of 1.5 (1–5). When asked to rate their ability to be creative with this activity, students agreed (Likert scale rating of 4.2) that the trade show activity allowed them to be creative. Eighty-nine percent of the students liked the activity. When asked to rate the activity compared with a more traditional speech in front of the class, students gave it a rating of 1.4, which is between excellent and above average. During the five semesters, nearly all students (97%) recommended that the trade show activity should be implemented again in future classes. The trade show format was well-received by students and can assist with the professional skills development of students.
Poster presentations are a task based activity in which students develop a research topic, ask questions, gather and analyze data, and present it to their peers. This paper provides a chronological explanation of how a poster presentation project was implemented into a university class of English majors over a six-week span. Included are suggestions for organization, pitfalls to avoid, hints at which areas need special emphasis, and recommendations about how to gather useful feedback. ポスター発表は、学習者が研究テーマを設定し、疑問に思ったことを調べ、データを集めて分析し、それをクラスメートに発表するというタスク中心教授法（TBLT）のアクティビティの1つである。本論では、英語専攻の大学生向け授業における、6週間にわたるポスター発表課題の実践例を時系列に説明する。さらに、構成方法への提言や失敗しないための注意点、特に重点を置くべきこと、役立つフィードバックの集め方についても提案する。
Given the importance of communication skills, the high incidence of communication apprehension felt amongst accounting students is concerning. Much research has investigated apprehension towards oral communication and has confirmed public speaking as the mode which raises the greatest fear amongst students. Despite widespread evidence of this apprehension, little research has considered the explanations of students for these feelings. This study provides confirmatory evidence of levels of apprehension towards presenting felt by new first year undergraduate accounting students attending a British university. It then seeks to establish possible reasons for the apprehension by considering student reflections of presenting. Three groups, identified as those who are apprehensive, those who are confident and those who have overcome apprehension, reveal differing explanations for levels of apprehension experienced. The study provides a unique insight into reasons that students feel apprehension towards presenting. Further studies in other settings would provide greater insights into this important area.
Presentation assignments for second language speakers can take several forms, such as a traditional class presentation or a poster presentation. Poster presentations, which are given repeatedly to small groups, seem to have several advantages, including increased speaking opportunities, more interaction between the speaker and the audience, and less anxiety for the speaker. However, these benefits have not been discussed critically in the literature, let alone researched in experimental studies. This article compares poster presentations and class presentations and their effects on 75 low-proficiency speakers of English at a Japanese college. Video-recorded data, two recall tests, and learner surveys were used to test the hypothesis that poster presentations would lead to an increased rate of speaking, more vocabulary retention, and better affective effects. The results confirm some of these hypotheses, and highlight several factors that second language instructors should consider when planning oral presentations.
Research reported by Porter (1981) and Parks (1980) has raised significant reservations concerning the content validity of the items on the early versions of the PRCA. The present study investigated the content validity of the most recent version of the instrument, PRCA‐24. The results of this research indicate that the scores generated by the new instrument are relatively independent of the context‐based content of the items employed and are capable of substantially predicting apprehension in a context not represented directly in the items on the new form.
Poster projects are an alternative method of motivation, learning, and information dissemination in education. The main purpose of this initial study was to determine the effect of poster projects on the motivational and learning process of managerial accounting students. In addition, the authors aimed to compare the opinions of managerial accounting students regarding traditional term papers and poster projects. A poster project that culminated in a professional-style poster session was assigned. Students completed a group project producing a poster describing the production process of a manufacturing company and determining the most appropriate costing system for that company with underlying reasons. Two questionnaires were conducted after each assignment in order to measure the effect of the poster project on the motivation and learning of the managerial accounting students. This pilot study is the first to explore perceptions of poster projects as a motivational and learning tool in managerial accounting courses in the world.
One successful alternative to conventional class assignments is having students construct a poster on a topic in psychology. Students in my sensation and perception course prepared a poster depicting a specific Procedure or instrument used in sensation and perception research. Working in pairs, students presented a summary of the nature and use of their method or instrument, as well as a description of its history, and how it has and may continue to improve individuals' quality of life. Students perceived that the project strengthened their communication skills, improved critical thinking, fostered independent learning, and aided them in appreciating the role a particular methodology plays in understanding sensory and perceptual processes.
A phenomenographic study of students’ experience of oral presentations in an open learning theology programme constituted three contrasting conceptions of oral presentations—as transmission of ideas; as a test of students’ understanding of what they were studying; and as a position to be argued. Each of these conceptions represented a combination of related aspects of students’ experience, namely, their awareness of the audience and their interaction with that audience, how they perceived the nature of theology, affective factors, and how they compared the oral presentation format with that of written assignments. The conception of the presentation as a position to be argued was associated with a particularly powerful student learning experience, with students describing the oral presentation as being more demanding than the written assignments, more personal, requiring deeper understanding, and leading to better learning. The study draws our attention to the various ways in which students may perceive a single form of academic task and their need to develop their understanding of assessment formats.
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