Advantages
Encourages meaningful interactions between students and staff as well as a meaningful engagement with course content. Fosters skills in oral communication, as well as the ability to reflexively and critically engage with the field of study, thus mapping onto key graduate attributes. Well-suited to courses that require students to critically and personally reflect on complex (political, theoretical, or pedagogical) issues.
Challenges
As this assessment ideally takes place during end of semester examination periods, scheduling in large class sizes can be difficult. Coordinators should plan the administrative elements of this assessment in advance and liaise with administrative staff where necessary.
Tips for implementation
Students should be encouraged to speak openly and invite constructive and critical responses from peers, to further facilitate collegiate discussion.
How it supports academic integrity
This assessment requires students to speak in situ to personal, reflective aspects of their learning and/or their engagement with course content. The focus and structure of this assessment mitigates against possibilities of outsourcing and plagiarism.