Communicating a report (oral presentation)

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You are required to prepare for this Assessment Item by:

1. READING the Subject outline,
2. COMPLETING Topic 4 Research Writing for Task 1 Final Report
3. COMPLETING Topic 5 Communicating a report (oral presentation) for Task 2 Presentation

Project Closure is an important final step in project management. As part of closing down your project, you are required to communicate about the results, findings, conclusion and lessons learnt from your Project.

Report and Seminar Script Length: While the word length for the Report and Seminar is stated at 1500 to 2000 words approx., this may vary due to the nature of the project, advice from your lecturer and presentation modes. You are the best judge at this stage on length, together with advice from your lecturer. So your Report and Seminar Presentation can be done with some variation as long as you complete the TWO steps as described below. Use the marking criteria as a checklist for completed tasks.

WHAT TO DO:

You will be asked to communicate about your project in both written and oral formats:

1. Task 1: Final Report (as PDF and as a Final Post in Project Blog)
2. Task 2: Seminar Presentation
   The seminar is an oral, live to class or pre-recorded presentation as advised by your lecturer, as to the best format and presentation logistics for each class.
   
   Submit to EASTS both a cover page with Blog address (or Cloud site access link for big files), the Report and the Seminar presentation file (or cloud site access or Website etc.).
   EASTS can accept files sizes up to 200Mb, but if you have issues such as timeout, then use a Cloud site like Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud or Dropbox etc.

The intended audience could be your peers as well as invited guests and academics.                                                                               

1. TASK 1 Final Report in the Blog
   
   
   1. For the written report, this should be a final blog entry to close the project. (NOTE: your local lecturer may suggest an alternative report format)
   2. The written report entry can discuss the results, findings, conclusion and lessons learnt from your Project Research Aims and Outcomes.
   3. NOTE: the content of the Report should also be a the source for developing the script or outline for the presentation seminar in Step 2.
   4. Ensure that the Project Blog Report is your own work and has not been submitted elsewhere and complies with the University’s requirements for academic integrity.
2. TASK 2 Presentation Seminar
   1. The time has been deliberately limited to 10 minutes to force you into selecting the most appropriate subset of information to present for this situation and you will be heavily penalised if you take more than 15 minutes.
   2. NOTE: If doing a video presentation (MP4 file, YouTube, Vimeo, Voice-over-PowerPoint etc.) then try to halve the time for the online audience e.g. 6 – 10 minutes
   3. This seminar will vary according to your study mode and so can be done either/or:
      1. live to class of peers – if studying on campus, then question time is not part of the presentation time.
      2. pre-recorded video presentation – if studying online mode then technical production of the audio and video is considered in lieu of question time.
      3. If you are planning to do a research Masters, Professional Doctorate or a PhD after this course, then one variation for the seminar may be to do a Poster Presentation Seminar#. See details below the line.
   4. The seminar should be accompanied by appropriate audio/visual tools such as a set of presentation slides or examples of hardware/software/systems that are necessary for the audience to understand and follow your presentation.
   5. On campus students can ask your local supervisor for the date, time you will be presenting. 
   6. Presenting a seminar also demonstrates that you have understood the project work that has been carried out.

RATIONALE

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This assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s:

• be able to apply project management and information and communication technologies (ICT) tools to plan, execute, record and present their research and project work as a capstone experience.
• be able to demonstrate advanced communication skills in transmitting their capstone experiences and ideas.
• be able to justify to an audience of peers any conclusions and professional decisions made that contribute to creating new knowledge.

MARKING CRITERIA AND STANDARDS

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Criteria	HD	DI	CR	PS
Project Reporting in Blog or other document Applies the skills and tools needed in project closure, academic writing, advanced communication and presentation skills.	Reporting demonstrates highly advanced skills in project closure, academic communication and presentation skills.	Reporting demonstrates high-level skills in project closure, academic communication and presentation skills.	Reporting demonstrates competent or basic skills in project closure, academic communication and presentation skills.	Reporting demonstrates the basic skills in project closure and most academic communication and presentation skills. Some aspects needed more work.
Report and Seminar Quality Apply critical thinking, opinions, reflection; and findings are significant to the workplace or profession.	Report or presentation integrates and applies key concepts from the area(s) of study. Purposeful application to the workplace through critical thinking and reflection is evident.	Report or presentation integrates and applies many concepts from the area(s) of study in meaningful and application to the workplace, critical thinking and reflection.	Report or presentation includes other experiences in information technology, with many instances of critical thinking and reflection.	Report or presentation incLudes some other experiences in information technology, but has very few or no instances of critical thinking and reflection.
Content selection and presentation skills Logical sequence and ease of presentation. Use of available time and overall organisation of the seminar.	Presents information in logical, interesting sequence that the audience can easily follow and delivered on time.	Presents information in logical sequence that the audience can follow and delivered close to time given.	Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around but is close to being on time.	Audience cannot understand some of the presentation  because there is no sequence of information and either falls short or goes over the time limit.
Seminar Presentation Skills. Audience engagement and interest maintained. Expertise and ability is shown to justify results and conclusions to peers.	Demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) with explanations and elaboration of the project in the report; Maintains eye contact with audience or the camera, seldom returning to notes. Student uses a clear voice that all audience members or viewers can hear the presentation.	Demonstrates ease with explanations and willing to elaborate at times in the report. Student maintains eye contact most of the time but frequently returns to notes. Student’s voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly. Most audience members or viewers can hear the presentation.	Demonstrates comfort with explanations, but fails to elaborate at times in the report. Student occasionally uses eye contact, but still reads most of report from notes or the screen. Student’s voice is low. Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members or viewers have difficulty hearing all the presentation.	Demonstrates just a basic does grasp of information about the project throughout the report; Student reads all of report with no eye contact or the video sounds like a prepared speech. Student mumbles or incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly audience members or viewers to hear.
Audience Interaction and Impact Skills How well the questions were handled in the ‘live’ seminar. OR How well the technology was used for impact in the online video seminar: e.g. slides, content, audio, video and focus quality.	Answers all questions with detailed explanations and elaboration. OR The video demonstrated high technical skill or digital literacy with special effects, editing and visual design of content. The audio and focus were loud and clear at all times.	Answers to all questions, but fails to elaborate at times. OR The video demonstrated competent technical skill with special effects, editing and visual design of content.  The audio and focus were loud and clear at all times.	Able to answer only rudimentary questions from the audience. OR The video demonstrated some technical skill with special effects, editing and visual design of content.  The audio and focus were mostly loud and clear.	Cannot answer all questions  about subject. OR The video demonstrated basic technical skill with camera, slides and screen recording.  The audio and focus were sufficiently lacking quality at times.

NOTES:

The Seminar Presentation may be marked using the following criteria which are all weighted equally, using a scale of 0 to 5 where the values indicate that the particular criterion was assessed as:

0 = totally unsatisfactory
1 = not met very well
2 = could be improved
3 = satisfactorily addressed
4 = met quite well
5 = excellent

 It is expected that in most cases a satisfactory mark will be awarded. Higher marks will need to be earned by producing genuinely better than satisfactory performance in that criterion. The expected satisfactory standard is described below.

Presentation Seminar Checklist

The Presentation Seminar will achieve a satisfactory rating if using this as another checklist:

How well the key points were made:
highlight the most important aspects of your presentation or leave the audience with a clear impression of any message that you are trying to convey

Ability to communicate:
talk in a clear and easily understood manner, use language that is appropriate for the audience and vary the intonation and pace to emphasise particular aspects

Selection of appropriate aspects from the Capstone Report for the audience:
choose the aspects of your investigations that are most relevant for this audience – choose a depth of treatment that is appropriate for this audience

Keeping to the point of the presentation:
stick to the point of the presentation and not introduce digressions that you may think of during the presentation

Use of the available time:
conclude your presentation close to the allocated 10 minutes and try not cram too much into the presentation so that it is too rushed or runs too far over time – also alter the pace or planned depth of treatment of some parts to remain on schedule

How well resources were used to support the presentation:
use resources such as PowerPoint slides, handouts etc. to effectively support your presentation and manage the resources so that the audience is not distracted by them from the points you are trying to make

Organization of the presentation:
arrange the components of your presentation in a logical sequence present information in an appropriate way

Degree to which the speaker appeared to be expert in that topic:
demonstrate a degree of confidence in the subject matter to convince the audience that you know what you are talking about.

Audience engagement:
look at the whole audience not just a small section, make eye contact with different parts of the audience and recognize when your audience is not understanding what you are trying to say and do something about it.

How well the video was made or the questions were handled in the live seminar:
understand the question and if necessary engage in a dialogue to clarify the question – provide an answer that satisfies the questioner.

Other Presentation Seminar Requirements

Use references not older than three years.
Only list references that you have cited within your report.
Be sure to cite (in the text) any references that you have used.
Use APA referencing style.
Full marks will be awarded for high accuracy and excellent descriptions.
Satisfactory answers will score up to 75% of the allocated marks.
Deductions will be made for major omissions, errors and over use of quotes.
Poor referencing will result in deductions to the total mark.