With a primary objective to develop a new assessment regime to align with SC Model delivery it was decided to give vivas (oral assessments) a trial run. The Hotel School (THS) has a history of incorporating written case studies into both coursework and assessment tasks, so developing a case study-based oral presentation which requires students to reflect on theory covered in the latter weeks of the 6-week term seemed a natural reflection of SCM principles, designed to both enhance academic integrity and circumvent opportunities for academic misconduct.
From the outset two key hurdles were identified. From a teaching perspective one of the main hurdles is to make sure that the new assessment regime would be achievable in terms of volume and time spent marking, specifically, that assessments can be marked within a one-week turnaround at the end of the term. A parallel objective is to develop academic support material to assist students in preparing for this kind of assessment. Research conducted at Griffith University suggests that vivas (or interactive orals) allow students to “demonstrate knowledge verbally in an authentic setting representative of what would be encountered in the workplace” (Sotiriadou et al., 2020). Vivas are well known for their role in the defence of PhD. However, PhD defence is a high-stakes environment that doesn’t accurately reflect the lesser-stakes intention of this newly designed assessment task. Vivas allow the examiner to assess the student on the spot and, with use of a well-detailed rubric, the marker can complete the entire assessment process in an efficient and timely manner. In this presentation, we will look at how viva assessments have replaced content that was previously assessed via written submissions such as reports and essays and how vivas are currently being implemented at The Hotel School. We will also discuss how a generic viva rubric can be adapted across different units.
Sotiriadou, P., Logan, D., Daly, A,. & Guest, R. (2020). The role of authentic assessment to preserve academic integrity and promote skill development and employability, Studies in Higher Education (Dorchester-on-Thames),?45(11), 2132–2148. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1582015