7. Incorporate oral interviews to test understanding or application of knowledge

Oral interviews require a student to respond verbally to unpredictable prompts and are therefore much less vulnerable to cheating. They can also allow for in-depth assessment of students’ understanding, through interaction and dialogue in which students explain their thoughts and reasoning. While some students may feel heightened pressure and stress in live performance-based assessments, oral interviews can mirror real-world tasks and foster the development of, and assess, oral communication skills. They can also be conducted in a relatively informal or conversational way.

Scalability is an understandable concern with this form of assessment in subjects with large enrolments. It may be necessary to have multiple assessors conducting the interviews which will require careful planning including moderation meetings with assessors.

Examples

Scenario- or case-based interviews

Students are given a short scenario and asked to identify key issues or explain the relevance in relation to the subject and/or answer questions. For more complex cases, students are given longer time to read and analyse the case prior to the oral interview.

Practice-based or procedural interviews

For subjects that involve practical skills, students may be asked to explain the steps or procedures in completing a task including identifying any safety protocols.

Paired interviews or role play

Students are assigned a partner and asked to take on the role of interviewer and interviewee on a given topic, and then reverse roles for another related topic. This kind of task is appropriate for subjects that require students to develop high level oral communication and interpersonal skills.

Case Studies

For more practical examples of this strategy, see also the following case studies:

Designing continuous assessment to support experiential and project based learning