Academic Presentations are an important part of the university learning experience. There are many different approaches that students can take to prepare and deliver presentations.
When preparing for a presentation it is essential to consider your audience. Researching their background, knowledge and understanding of the subject area is vital to ensure that you are delivering the information in an appropriate manner.
Effective Communication
Effective communication is at the heart of any successful presentation. This involves capturing the audience’s attention, making sure they understand what you are telling them and encouraging them to act on that information, such as remember it or provide feedback.
Effective presentation skills include good organisation (logical structure), clear, confident delivery and effective use of visual aids. Good writing skills are also important as they help you to create a clear and concise outline for your presentation and to develop effective slide presentations.
In addition, it is essential to make eye contact with the audience. This is a key way to maintain their interest and can be further enhanced by using rhetorical questions, smiling and adding a human touch to your content. Remember that new information tends to be forgotten quickly, so it is important to repeat key points throughout your presentation. The presentation expert Hermann Ebbinghaus’s work suggested that this improves retention. This is known as the spacing effect.
Collaborative Learning
In addition to facilitating teamwork and communication skills, collaborative learning also teaches students to learn from one another. This process is often referred to as Peer Instruction, and it encourages students to teach each other by addressing misunderstandings and clarifying misconceptions.
When students discuss their papers with their peers, they gain a more thorough understanding of the conventions that academic writing requires. In this way, they realize that if they want to be understood by their readers, they must follow certain guidelines for formatting and word choice.
Instructors who use group work should make clear to their students how the process will be structured and how it will be evaluated. For example, if students will be working in groups to prepare class presentations, instructors should explain that group work is an essential part of the course and that all members of each group must participate equally. Instructors may also want to consider using a tool like Solstice Active Learning that enables students to chat, hold video meetings, and share files, allowing for synchronous or asynchronous collaboration and presentation.
Development of Creativity
Many students are required to present at academic conferences and whilst these presentations are not usually graded they do require a certain level of creativity. To give a memorable presentation it is vital to have a clear message. Without this, everything you say and show can get a little muddy. Having a clear message allows you to filter out what is most important so that your audience will remember your work.
The use of visual aids can also help to make presentations more effective. Using effective and well-designed slides can simplify complex information, clarify points and reinforce verbal messages which makes them an essential tool for delivering effective academic presentations.
Attention-grabbing introductions also play an important role in academic presentations, catching the audience’s attention at the beginning of the presentation. This can be achieved through the use of startling statistics, thought-provoking questions or relevant anecdotes. This initial engagement can then help to ensure that the audience is attentive and receptive throughout the presentation.
Assessment
Academic presentations can be assessed individually, as a group or as part of a team research project. They are often used to assess students’ knowledge of a particular subject and can also be a formative assessment activity in which feedback is given in the classroom.
It is important for students to understand the aims and criteria of a presentation assessment. This is especially true if it will be peer or tutor assessed. Students should also be made aware of who will be assessing them and what weighting this will have on their final grade.
Tutors and peers can be easily distracted by gimmicks in presentations such as high-tech software and flashy animation effects, but this should not detract from the fact that the knowledge content is what is being assessed. Using non-verbal cues to convey a sense of confidence and energy can help keep an audience focused on the material. The use of short jokes or stories can help to keep an audience engaged as well.
