Online student presentations are an emerging trend in education. Having students prepare and present their learning in front of the class online, allows teachers to reach a broader audience, including students who may not have access to modern technology. It also removes geographical restrictions for students who live far from the school, allowing them to participate in worldwide competitions, while at home or other remote locations.
Presentations are a large part of many course grades. Whether it is a shorter presentation
sharing a research plan or a large cumulative presentation, moving these online can pose
challenges. This guide will share some tips for (re)framing student presentations in the online
environment and suggest several alternate formats; as well as some guidance for group
projects and presentations, including grading.
Consider Students’ Technology Access
At this time, we suggest instructors keep things as simple as possible for themselves and their
students. Ask yourself the question, “What is the lowest tech option that will enable students
to show they have met the learning objectives?”
In addition to considering the learning objectives associated with the student presentation,
take students’ technology access into consideration. Many may be accessing your course using
a cell phone or with cell phone data instead of Wi-Fi. This makes options like live (synchronous)
video presentations challenging, if not impossible.
Reframing Student Presentations
Using the principles of Universal Design for Learning, offer students multiple ways to show their
learning. A traditional, synchronous presentation may work for some students, with others may
fair well recording their presentation and submitting it. Providing options like creating a
brochure, digital poster, infographic, blog post, or social media campaign may allow your
students to demonstrate their knowledge in a unique and engaging way.
Some specific tools are listed at the end of this document. Remember, you do not need to be
the expert in these extra tools, just to share them with students as options they can explore.
Students may also have tools that they are familiar with. Many of these come with mobile
applications that can allow students to create their product on their phone or tablet.
Group Projects
Just like with individual presentations, group projects or presentations require some rethinking
given the unexpected nature of the move to online teaching. Again, being flexible with your
students is key. Consider allowing students to opt to work individually, as they may not be able
to as easily work together as when they were on campus given schedules and caregiving duties
they have be coping with now. You can also allow groups to choose the type of project they will
submit.
Live presentations
One method for presenting “live” is Zoom meetings. Students can share their screen and a video of themselves talking; attendees can view and hear, and ask questions. One consideration is that presenter and attendees need stable, high-speed internet connections for this to be most effective. In addition, for all to attend, time zones where attendees and presenter are located must be conducive to attendance. Other than that, presentation format and structure can likely be identical or nearly identical to what students would have done in class.
Another alternative for live presentations is to use the Live Streaming function of Duke Capture (Panopto), if the presentation is happening in a room on Duke campus which is set up for Panopto. This could work, for example, if some attendees/classmates are meeting at Duke, and others are watching from a different location.
Recorded presentations
If live presentations aren’t ideal for some reason, including internet capabilities, time zones, the nature of the presentation, or the length of the desired presentation, students can record their presentation and post it online for asynchronous viewing. You can provide guidelines for the presentation just as you would for “in-class” presentations, including length, requirements for accompanying visuals, etc.
Presentation recording can be done with Zoom, by having the presenter start a meeting (students can use their personal Zoom meeting room), turn on video, share the appropriate visuals such as slides or a website that accompanies their presentation, then start recording immediately before beginning their presentation. When the recording is complete, students can post the link to the recording wherever required by the professor.
Students could also record their presentation in any other way that works for them, such as with their cell phone or webcam on a tripod, and then post the resulting video within their course Sakai site using WarpWire (WarpWire is a tool for video hosting at Duke, which is integrated into Sakai and also available separately).
Students can be asked to view others’ presentations before any live class meeting, so the presentations can be discussed during the live meeting. You may ask students to post comments about their peers’ work in a discussion forum as they watch the recording, or save comments for live discussion (or both). You may choose to provide a rubric or other peer evaluation tool, if you have peer evaluation as a part of the assignment’s assessment plan.
An option if you want students to comment on their peers’ work is to have students post their presentation recordings in VoiceThread, which allows for text, audio and video commenting on posted media. Keep in mind that you, as the instructor, will probably want to watch or at least spot check the posts to get a sense of the comments – make sure you allow yourself time for this.
If students are producing a creative work of some type and presenting on that, VoiceThread can also be a way for students to comment on their OWN presentation – they can record their work, post to VoiceThread, and then append comments explaining their creative choices to you and to their peers. Alternatively if students must create a poster and present that, the poster can be exported from the design software as a pdf and posted for viewing, then live or asynchronous discussion can happen after that.
However you plan to do student presentations online, this can be a rich learning activity for presenters and their peers. Contact Duke Learning Innovation if you’d like a consultation about your particular course plans.
Option 1: Students pre-record presentations and share in Moodle.
- Students watch on their own, and synchronous class time can be used for questions and discussion.
- This process can be less prone to technical complications than having students present live in a Zoom session.
Step 1. Students create presentation videos (or narrated slideshows)
Tools & Options:
- Zoom– Students can start a Zoom meeting with just themselves, and record it. They can share their screen or show slides if needed.
- Kaltura Video Platform– Students can use Kaltura’s Express Capture or desktop Kaltura Capture software for recording themselves and/or their screen. Students can access Kaltura through Moodle.
- Powerpoint- Students can create narrated slideshows.
- Google Slides- Students can add audio clips to a Google Slides presentation.
Step 2. Faculty Create a Space in Moodle for Students to Share Videos and/or Slides
TO SHARE PRESENTATIONS WITH THE WHOLE CLASS
- If you want everyone in the class to see each other’s presentations, create a Forum. Students can embed their videos in a forum post, or attach their slideshow files.
- We recommend the “single simple discussion” forum type if this is simply for sharing the presentations.
- If you want the students to comment on each other’s presentations in Moodle, choose the default standard discussion type. Each student can have their own discussion thread about their presentation.
- If you have a large class, think about breaking the students into groups for reviewing each other’s presentations.
- For ease of viewing, have the students upload and embed their videos with Kaltura (versus adding them as file attachments).
- Kaltura creates automatic English captions for all videos. It can also caption in Spanish or Chinese, and students can edit the captions if desired.
TO SHARE PRESENTATIONS JUST WITH THE INSTRUCTOR
- If the presentations should only be visible to you, or you want to review them before they are shared with the class, use a Kaltura Media Assignment, or regular Moodle Assignment.
Option 2: Students present live during a class Zoom session.
If students are sharing slides, faculty will need to enable participant screen sharing. During the meeting, click the Security button on your toolbar and select Allow Participants to Share Screen.
While this method is fairly straight-forward, there is more room for complications and lost meeting time due to issues with student’s internet connections, their ability to share their screen and start their slideshows, switching between students sharing screens, etc.
In this scenario we strongly recommend that the students practice hosting a Zoom meeting on their own and sharing their screen, so they can get the hang of it before the presentation. They can record their presentation and watch it afterwards to verify that the screen sharing looked OK.
If students are sharing videos, or anything with audio that other participants will need to hear, they should be sure to check the boxes for “Share computer sound” and “Optimize Screen Share for Video Clip” when starting screen sharing:
Conclusion
Student presentations are an integral part of academic life. It is not just about conveying knowledge, but also for learning new techniques on how to present your work in front of the class, your peers and more importantly, the professor. Over time, this has helped students learn how to express their ideas in a more effective manner by making use of some basic presentation skills.
