PRESENTATION MARKING SHEET

This is a mock-up of the marking sheet I used for presentations in 1995. Details might change, but the principles will persist, unless I find good reason to change them. It seems to work well enough in practice.

NAME :

Computer Science 473 : Robotics and Real-time Control : PRESENTATION ASSESSMENT

Source of marks	Item	Notes ...........................................	Mark
Class	Choice
	Organisation
	Presentation
Me, from the seminar	Choice
	Organisation
	Presentation
Me, from the essay	Material ( / 20 )
	Treatment ( / 20 )
	Sources
	Presentation
	TOTAL ( OUT OF 120 )

There are three groups of entries, each containing three or four fields. The groups identify the sources of the marks :

Class :

these fields are as marked by the 773 group after listening to the seminar. They are essentially confined to matters of presentation and comprehensibility, as I think it's my job to assess the technical content. There is nevertheless bound to be some interaction between the content and the presentation; if you understand the material well, it usually comes across better.

( An interesting observation : experience shows that these marks make essentially no difference to the final grade. Even though there are differences between different people's assessment of the seminars, the average usually turns out to be almost the same for everyone, and after scaling down the total seminar mark to 25 the differences become tiny. I keep this factor in the assessment because I think it's helpful for all concerned to have an opportunity for thoughtful consideration of others' attempts at delivering seminars, and thereby to improve their own performances. )

Me, from the seminar :

I mark each seminar too. I ( try to ) take notes at the seminar, and after each I assess marks under the same headings as the class. I probably worry rather more about evidence that you really do understand what you're talking about well enough to link the parts together satisfactorily, and whether you've connected the specific material of the seminar to appropriate general topics. At the end of the seminar series, I review those marks and the notes I've taken, and try to fix any apparent anomalies.

Me, from the essay :

After the seminars have ended, I mark the essay which you give me; this tells me ( or should tell me ) what you really intended to say, even if your delivery and presentation in the seminar were dreadful. ( I do want the seminar mark to reflect your understanding of the topic rather than your facility with English. )

The fields within the groups identify different sorts of material :

Material

- is an assessment of the actual material you presented - relevance, adequacy, etc. Though this is the only explicit mention of content on the sheet, that's deceptive, for all my marks ( I can't speak for your colleagues ! ) are affected by the content. For example, the choice of material must be appropriate to put across the substance of your talk, and so on.

Treatment

- is an assessment of the what you did with the material you presented. It includes my impressions of your analysis of the topic, the organisation of the presentation, whether you made out a good case for whatever it is you're trying to say, and other matters relating to the sense of your treatment

Sources

- covers both evidence of study beyond the source document, and appropriate citations for references to read for information on the subject.

Presentation

- covers whatever you've done in the way of using your chosen media to make the communication ( seminar or essay ) comprehensible. Spectacle for the sake of spectacle doesn't count, so just using animated multicolour cartoons gets no credit from me - or, as experience shows, from the class. If you use them well to make a particular point, then you will get credit. Generally, though, it's much more important to present things as clearly and as simply as possible; diagrams should be big enough to read, and of good contrast, text should be to the point and neatly laid out, essay pages should be numbered, and so on.