Oral assessments can be especially effective at assessing complex thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, or evidence-based reasoning. They also allow instructors to assess skills, such as language fluency and oral communication strategies, that are harder to measure through written exams or assignments. In addition, oral or multi-media assignments allow students to explore topics of interest and bring their creativity and perspectives to class subjects.

Oral assessments also provide a number of other benefits. They can:

• Encourage students to prepare, research, and study differently or more deeply when they know they will need to explain, teach, or present a topic verbally.
• Provide opportunities to practice communication and presentation skills needed for future careers or community roles.
• Give instructors the opportunity to interact with students during oral exams and learn what they find interesting, how they think, and what they struggle with. Many instructors enjoy this process. 
• Enable instructors to offer immediate feedback or clarification so that the exam itself becomes an interactive learning opportunity.
• Pair effectively with writing assignments, problem sets, or projects as a way to discourage unauthorized or uncritical use of AI, while still supporting meaningful learning.

Forms of oral assessments include: 

Exams and discussions

• Oral exams.
• Question-and-answer discussions about a student’s paper or project.
• Mock job interviews.
• Oral defense (e.g., a thesis defense with questions and discussion).

Presentations and media-based assignments

• Presentations (e.g., research presentations, project reports, business or policy pitches).
• Videos (e.g., teaching a concept, digital storytelling).
• Audio assignments (e.g., podcasts, reflections).
• Poster sessions.

Interactive and performance-based approaches

• Simulations or roleplay scenarios (e.g., political science or public health contexts).
• Studio critiques or peer feedback sessions.
• Demonstrations or instructional explanations of a topic.
• Leading or participating in class discussions.
• Debates.
• Performances (e.g., theater, music).

Oral Exams

Considerations When Planning Oral Exams

The key steps in planning oral exams include deciding: 

• The structure of the exam.
• How to help students prepare.
• The logistics of timing and scheduling.
• How you will grade and give feedback.

Some factors to consider when incorporating oral assessment into your course: 

Alignment with learning outcomes 
When planning an oral exam, it’s important to begin by clarifying which aspects of your learning outcomes you want to assess. Oral exams are especially suited for assessing analysis and problem-solving skills and the construction of evidence-based arguments, but they can also be used to assess content knowledge, language fluency, and communication skills.

Frequency and number of exams 
Some instructors use oral exams as their primary assessment practice and give multiple exams throughout a semester, while others give one oral exam instead of a final or midterm. In some courses, oral exams are offered as an optional alternative to a written test or as an option for make-up exams.

Pairing with written work, projects, or problem sets 
Pairing oral exams with written work or problem-solving allows you to assess student understanding in multiple ways. For example, some instructors like to meet with students to discuss their paper or project in a one-on-one conversation that allows for in-depth intellectual discussion of a topic of interest. Other instructors ask students to complete a written quiz to assess their information recall, then follow with an oral exam to assess more complex levels of thinking and analysis.

Structure and interaction 
Oral exams vary widely in how structured they are and in how much interaction they allow between the student and the examiner. Some oral exams are highly structured with a set number of questions and without much interaction between the examiner and the student. Others are intended as an intellectual conversation in which the student and instructor explore a topic or discuss course readings together. Although both formats can be effective depending on the purpose of the exam, what is being assessed, and the learning outcomes, we recommend considering how oral exams can create special opportunities for more interactive discussions.

Examiners
If you have a larger class with a teaching team of TAs, you will need to decide who will give the exams. Some instructors prefer to give the oral exams themselves, because it gives them a chance to get to know students better and have a stronger sense of what and how much they are learning. Others work with teaching assistants to give the exams, but instructors note that teaching assistants need to know the material very well themselves to be able to administer an oral exam. It also takes training and coordination with the teaching team to ensure consistency in the exam experience and grading. 

Tips for Oral Exams

Preparing students and lowering stress

• Students may not be accustomed to this exam format, so it’s important to outline what they can expect and how they can prepare. Providing them with practice questions and a rubric or list of criteria is especially helpful.
• Consider including a practice session in pairs or small groups during class time or as part of a review session.
• Just as some students struggle with writing papers or with high-stakes test formats, the format of oral exams may be uniquely stressful for some students, particularly those who are introverted or neurodiverse. If students get nervous or stuck during the exam, allow them time to gather their thoughts or jot down ideas. Having paper available to write notes, make a diagram, or solve a problem can be helpful. Some instructors allow students to bring notes with them to consult during the exam.

Instructor preparation

• Write out a list of questions, but also remember that one advantage of an oral exam is the ability to ask follow-up questions and explore what students find especially interesting or challenging.
• In a short oral exam, you may not have time to cover all the class material. Consider prioritizing topics where students can demonstrate more complex thinking, and revisit your learning outcomes to clarify what you hope students will learn from the exam experience. 
• One Cornell instructor provides their students with a list of 35 exam questions at the beginning of the semester and randomly picks a few for each student during the exam. This encourages students to study all the topics, gives them a way to prepare and practice, and levels the playing field since everyone receives the same study materials. 
• If this is your first time using oral exams, you may want to try out the format and questions with a low-stakes assessment or start with a small class. 
• For grading, be sure to prepare a rubric or set of criteria in advance. If your teaching assistants will be involved, you may want to co-create a rubric with them, and then meet after the first exams to assess and adjust it.

Scheduling 

• Oral exams can range from a few minutes to an hour, but 15-30 minutes is more common. When setting your syllabus and scheduling, it’s important to consider:
  • The number of students in the class. 
  • The time available to meet with each student.
  • The need for breaks for yourself or other examiners.
• Students will need a way to sign up for a designated time slot. A shared Google Sheet or Canvas Calendar can work well for this purpose. 
• For in-person exams, you may need a quiet office or a classroom space, especially if teaching assistants are involved. Depending on the exam, you may want a desk or board space available for students to solve problems or draw diagrams.
• Zoom can be a good option for online oral exams. We recommend using a Zoom link with the ‘waiting room’ feature enabled so you can let students in when you are ready.

During the exam

• Consider taking notes or recording the exam so you can return to calibrate your grading and rubric and adjust scores if needed. 
• Printing a rubric or checklist for each student can help with quick note-taking during the exam and make feedback easier afterward.
• Having paper or course materials available, such as the textbook or readings, can also be helpful. If a student is struggling with a concept, you might look at a section together or use the paper to draw a diagram, equation, or solution.

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Audio and Video Assignments 

Considerations When Planning Audio and Video Assignments

Audio and video assignments can take many forms, ranging from informal video reflections using a phone or tablet to more structured podcasts or videos developed over multiple iterations across the semester. The time commitment can be minimal or significant depending on the assignment’s design and your learning goals, as well asyour own and your students’ familiarity with the involved technology and with the creative process.

With this in mind, we recommend:

Aligning assignments with learning outcomes
Before developing an audio or video assignment, be intentional about your learning outcomes and consider whether a media-based format will best meet them. If you’re most concerned with assessing content knowledge, then assigning a simple, 2- or 3-minute audio or video reflection that requires little to no editing might be enough. Some Cornell instructors who want something a little more substantial ask their students to create a brief teaching video on a concept for their peers (Cardace et al., 2024).

If you would like your students to develop teamwork and communication skills, consider a longer, more structured video or podcast in which students may also gain experience with audio or video editing tools. If this approach sounds like a good match for your learning outcomes but you’re not sure where to start or would like additional support, CTI’s Storylab, part of the Creative Technology Lab, offers consults on developing digital storytelling assignments.

Preparing students
It’s easy to assume that students know how to record and edit video and audio; however, this is often not the case. Taking a few steps ahead of time to prepare your students can help to make the assignment smoother and more equitable.

Therefore, it’s important to: 

• Gauge prior experience. Ask your students about their experience with creating and editing podcasts and videos. 
• Offer support. Be prepared to share resources or teach basic skills during class time.
• Set clear expectations. Provide examples of the type and quality of work you expect.
• Clarify evaluation criteria. Create a rubric that outlines your criteria and performance levels and describes how they relate to grades. If you will also assess collaboration, consider a second rubric for evaluating team functioning.  
• For longer video and audio projects, providing students with a project timeline. Students often misjudge the amount of time that it will take to record and edit – highlighting the components and milestones for the project can help them stay on track.

Pairing with written work
Including graded, written work, such as an annotated bibliography, a research report, and a script at the various milestones will allow students to show their progress and demonstrate their understanding of the learning objectives while reducing the stress of having the entire grade based on the final product. 

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Student Presentations

Incorporating student presentations into your course can help students practice and develop communication skills they may need in their future careers and roles. 

Considerations When Planning Student Presentation Assignments

Developing presentation skills 
Providing guidance and practice opportunities to students can both improve the presentation quality for your class and encourage students to refine their skills and strategies.

• Spend time in class discussing presentation skills. You could also provide handouts or resources describing good practices and strategies. Another strategy is to ask students to view a short video of a presentation or look at samples of slides to discuss together what they see as positive or negative aspects. 
• Provide a rubric or feedback form ahead of time to clarify expectations and specify good practices.
• Give opportunities for practice and feedback:
  • Offer practice sessions for the whole presentation or parts of it. For example, in class, you could have students practice the first two minutes of their presentation in small groups and give each other feedback.
  • Ask students to submit slides or a presentation outline for peer or instructor feedback.
  • Consider asking students to record themselves doing a practice session on Zoom. They could self-assess using a rubric, or you could incorporate peer feedback, for example, by pairing students to watch each other’s practice videos.
• Setting constraints (e.g., length of presentation, number of slides, types of slides, or not using slides) may help students focus their preparations and priorities.

Encouraging students to pay attention to their peers while presenting

If there are many presentations in a row, students may find it difficult to pay attention to each presentation.

The following strategies may help:

• Give students something specific to do while listening, for example, completing a feedback form, or writing a takeaway or question on an index card. 
• Assign rotating roles to students, for example: time-keeper, class note-taker, and question-askers.
• Ask presenters to incorporate audience involvement or interaction. For example, pose a question to the audience and ask for some volunteers to answer, or a short turn-to-your-neighbor discussion. They could also ask the audience to vote on a question or predict the outcome of a research study.
• Design the assignment so that presentation topics are interesting and relevant to other students in the class. For example, some instructors ask students to focus on a controversy or scholarly debate in their field. 
• Consider spreading out the presentations during the semester so that there are no more than two or three presentations in a class period.

Using class time well

Presentations can take up considerable class time, including the transitions between presenters. Some suggestions for managing the time are:

• Limit the length of presentations and remember to keep track of the time. It is helpful to ask a student or teaching assistant to help keep track of time and signal the student presenter if they are running over.
• Consider having students present in groups or pairs, especially for group projects.
• Video recordings instead of in-person presentations can be helpful by moving the presentations outside of class time. You could ask students to watch and provide feedback to a set number of their peers, so that students can learn from each other. One example is featured in this case study.
• Streamline transition time between presentations by loading slides on one laptop ahead of time.

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References

Cardace, A., Hefferon, K., Levina, A., Angert, E. R., Buckley, D. H., Miller, W., Sanfilippo, L., Silva, T., & Aslan, C. (2024). Versatile video assignment improves undergraduates’ learning and confidence. Active Learning in Higher Education, 27(1), 123-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874241287208

Davey, S. K., Birbeck, D., Nallaya, S., Sallows, G., & Della Vedova, C. B. (2025). Utilising one-on-one interactive oral assessments as the major final assessment within a bioscience course. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 50(7), 1154–1171. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2025.2502577

Eberly Center (n.d.). Considerations for oral assessment approaches. Carnegie Mellon University.

Gallant, T. B., & Bettinger, D. A. (2025). The Opposite of Cheating. University of Oklahoma Press. https://www.oupress.com/9780806194967/the-opposite-of-cheating/

Joughin, G. (1998). Dimensions of Oral Assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 23(4), 367–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293980230404

Office of Teaching and Learning (n.d.) Guidelines for oral assessments and exams. University of Guelph.

Penmantle, R. (2025, March 25). Making assessment meaningful and fun: Using oral exams. University of Pennsylvania Almanac. 71(28).

Theobold, A. S. (2021). Oral Exams: A More Meaningful Assessment of Students’ Understanding. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 29(2), 156–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2021.1914527

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