Criteria for Evaluation for Oral Presentations
It can be challenging to specify the criteria by which we assess oral presentations, but not providing that information about how they are being evaluated makes it harder on students. We also add work to ourselves if we try to grade presentations without a clear sense of what we are looking for. Therefore, consider using some of the following criteria to assess the merits of an oral presentation. They are writing in the form of questions to help you consider what you are looking for in a quality presentation.

• In what ways was the purpose of the talk explained clearly?    
• In what ways was the talk appropriately introduced?
• How well was the significance or importance of the talk explained?
• In what ways was the presentation logically organized?
• In what ways did the structure of the presentation make sense?  
• How well designed were the PowerPoint slides?                   
• To what extent was the voice projection clear and appropriate?
• How well were the beginning, middle and end of the presentation constructed and delivered?
• In what ways were the visual aids clear and appropriate?
• How well did the talk come to an appropriate conclusion or summary?
• In what ways did the presentation make an impact?
• In what ways did the handouts or materials distributed support the presentation?
• How thoroughly and accurately were the resources used identified?

Note that these questions avoid yes-no answers since yes-no answers do not provide any sense of judgment or any way to differentiate among fair, good, excellent and superior presentations. They can also be accompanied by a five-point scale from very poor to very good if you want to use them directly in grading.

Participation
Another area in which we evaluate student performance involves class participation. There are several challenges involved in evaluating participation: what to include in the list of activities that constitute participation, how to gauge quality in those activities, and what weight to give to various activities. The range of activities can vary with the course involved, the level of the course (freshman, sophomore, junior or senior) and the student actions expected.

However, we are still left with determining to what extent each student contributed to the discussion, came prepared to participate, showed up in appropriate and clean uniform, listened attentively and took notes during lectures, actively engaged in small-group work, helped with kitchen set-up, completed the cooking assignments, or participated in cleaning up.

Some faculty members develop check lists of all these activities and monitor each student in each class, giving them a check mark for each of the relevant activities. Other faculty members assign a daily grade, taking into account the range of possible activities, the effort applied and the quality of the performance. Whichever model works for you, the more explicit you can be—both to the students and for yourself—the easier it will be to make this daily assessment.

Summary
Thank you for reading this column about assessing both oral presentations and class participation. If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future “Mayo’s Clinics.”

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. His latest book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports (Wiley, 2013), debuted last autumn.