by Dana Hanna, Associate Dean (Education)*

One of the persistent challenges in higher education —is student engagement and the development of genuine communication skills. And marking long essays or poor handwriting in exams.

Many students perform well in traditional presentations. But this often reflects rehearsal rather than understanding. The real test, and employability skills, comes when they are taken “off script”: Can they respond to an unexpected question? Can they explain their thinking clearly in real time?

At the same time, written assessment can be time-consuming to mark and does not always provide a clear signal of what a student truly knows.

Interactive oral assessments or conversations (IOAs) offer a compelling alternative. Our past two Education seminars in the CBE have focussed on interactive oral based assessment. Raymond Liu’s presentation can be found here, and Simon Thompson’s here. In this blog post we’ll unpack some of the benefits and costs of running interactive oral exams (or conversations) with students. It is also worth noting that interactive oral exams are being done within the CBE with classes as large as 130 students.

If you missed the presentations, please see the recordings here. They really were full of great ideas!

Why Interactive Orals?

Interactive orals are not new, but they are gaining renewed attention as an assessment format that is both authentic and robust.

They provide:

• A clearer signal of student understanding. Unlike written work, where students may rely heavily on external support (including AI), oral assessments make it much easier to determine what a student actually knows.
• Development of workplace-relevant skills. Students must think on their feet, articulate ideas clearly, and respond to questioning—skills directly aligned with professional environments.
• Increased engagement. The conversational nature of IOAs encourages active participation and deeper learning.
• Faster marking and turn around of assessment. It is often quicker to converse with a student and gather the information necessary to make a determination of their performance than writing (and reading!) a paper based assessment. It has been suggested that a 15 minute conversation is equivalent to roughly 3,000 words.
• Opportunities for early intervention. Due to practice/mock orals and a greater emphasis on class discussion students are engaging regularly and directly, and it becomes easier to identify and support those who are struggling.

Moving Beyond Scripted Performance

A key limitation of traditional presentations is that they are often highly rehearsed. Interactive orals shift the focus from performance to understanding and adaptability.

Even if students are given a pool of potential questions in advance, the interactive format allows examiners to:

• ask follow-up questions
• probe reasoning
• clarify ambiguous responses
• explore depth of knowledge

This makes it difficult to rely on memorisation alone.

So, how does one include an effective Interactive Oral Exam? Well there are a number of different options as our two speakers (and the audience!) demonstrated. But the key points are to ensure that they are deliberately structured and scaffolded throughout the course. Below are some important aspects that were demonstrated by Raymond and/or Simon in their talks:

1. Use a Question Pool—But Carefully

Providing students with a pool of possible questions can help guide preparation. However, this can create a false sense of security if not managed well. Good practice includes:

• making it clear that questions may be adapted or extended.
• avoiding providing fully worked written answers. It’s better to discuss the questions in class rather than distributing written solutions.

When doing the IOA, some instructors reinforce randomness (and fairness) by selecting questions visibly (e.g. rolling a die).

2. Contextualise Questions

Questions are most effective when embedded in scenarios, cases or narratives.

This allows students to:

• apply knowledge rather than recall it
• demonstrate judgement
• engage with realistic problems

These scenarios can be provided to students prior to the IOA, or during.

3. Prioritise Structure in Responses during practice

Students often struggle not because they lack knowledge, but because they lack a clear way to express it. Explicitly teaching a response structure is critical. For example:

• define the key concept
• answer the question directly
• support with evidence or examples

Students should also be encouraged to ask clarifying questions and check assumptions before responding (these questions in themselves can demonstrate a level of understanding).

4. Build in Progression and Consistency

Confidence improves when assessment formats are consistent and students have the opportunity to practice. Some common elements that were shown in our discussions were:

1. In-class participation: low-stakes practice with peers (as group work) or with lecturer in discussion based sessions.
2. Mock exam (e.g. Week 10) OR an earlier (but lower stakes) interactive oral assessment: same structure as final, smaller question pool, shorter time, and/or lower stakes.
3. Final exam: broader pool, deeper questioning, longer time and/or higher stakes.

Mock exams are particularly valuable, even if many students initially struggle. They provide a realistic benchmark and highlight gaps in preparation.

5. Allow Depth Through Interaction

One of the strengths of IOAs is flexibility during the assessment itself. Examiners can:

• extend high-performing students with deeper questions
• prompt or guide weaker students
• adjust the level of challenge dynamically

This makes the format both rigorous and supportive.

Practical Considerations

What are some practical considerations of running IOA?

Format and Logistics

• Typically conducted in person (this removes the concern regarding avatars or deep fakes and students reading from a script or accessing notes off screen). Interactions are also less stilted in person and don’t have technology failure concerns (and stresses).
• Recorded (with appropriate notification/consent processes) – this can be done in a tutorial room via Echo360.
• Around 10-15 minutes per student over a block of a number of hours (with some rest breaks!).

Marking Approach

• A structured rubric helps ensure consistency, transparency and speed of marking. The more detailed the rubric the finer the grade which can be given.
• Staff can keep track of where students perform on the rubric as the conversation unfolds, with comments entered between speakers (and grades uploaded at end of day).
• One staff member may lead questioning while another records notes and marks against the rubric.
• When using multiple markers the rubric sheets and marks entered into the system can be used to moderate between markers as necessary.

Managing Expectations

Clear communication (early and often) with students is essential:

• explain the purpose and format early
• emphasise that memorisation alone is insufficient
• clarify how questions may vary
• scaffold preparation strategies

Student Experience

Both of our speakers noted that student feedback on IOAs is often positive:

• they are shorter and more focused than written exams
• feedback is received more quickly
• there are fewer academic integrity concerns (good for students and staff!)
• many find them more engaging and authentic

Downsides?

This sounds amazing! what are the downsides to IOA? Well…

• if you have a lot of students – this is still a long (and let’s face it potentially draining) process. But relying on tutors can still make IOA effective for our middle size classes. This in itself will require some training of the tutors on what to look for – investing in doing some orals together to compare notes and set standards before leaving the tutors to assess on their own (much as you would shadow mark for any assessment).
• it might not be as easy for very technical exams, or where you want to assess some computer based skills.
• some students won’t love it. Especially students for whom English is not a first language, or those on an EAP. For our international students – emphasising that this is about showing a level of understanding, not fluency will be key, and providing (and encouraging) all the practice opportunities in classes. For our EAP students, there may need to be alternatives put in place depending on conditions.

Related Resources

PPT download link: About Interactive Oral Assessments – CBE Education

Hopefully this gives you some ideas. Remember, any questions, please feel free to reach out to your Associate Dean (Education)!

*written in conjunction with GenAI.