Finding Teachable Moments in Poor Student Presentations

The slides were too busy. The flow was confusing and circuitous. The tone was generally awkward. Students covered things that their teammates already had just a few minutes ago. Sometimes they looked at each other with the expression What are you doing?

I looked around the room at the rest of the class had completely zoned out. Students were looking down at their devices, not up at their colleagues. That's never a good sign. A quick, anonymous Slack poll confirmed what I suspected: the class wasn't picking up what the students were putting down. Far from it.

I graded the group of students according to the public rubric. (That is, they all know ahead of time how I will be evaluating them.) The grade reflected the quality of the presentation, and a good rubric minimizes the professor's subjectivity. Rather than just criticize, though, I offered tips beyond those that I had already posted in Slack. I also indicated that I'd be happy to discuss the grade with them.