Tutorials and Seminars

Important information about tutorials and group work

• Cooperation and group work - an overview
• Discussion
• Cooperation
• Group work
• Plagiarism
• Oral Presentations in class
• Effective oral communication
• Tips for successful presentations

Cooperation and group work - an overview

Assessment in this department is based on essays, language exercises, oral presentations and other assignments as well as examinations. Some forms of assessment are individual while others involve group work. The following guidelines are designed to clarify acceptable practices in individual and group tasks.

Discussion

The department considers that discussion between students of the subject matter of units (including essays and assignments) is wholly desirable and of great educational value.

Cooperation

We regard discussion as a verbal exchange of ideas, to be distinguished, for example, from the borrowing or exchange of written notes on essay subjects, which we call cooperation. The department's view is that such cooperation is perfectly acceptable if, and only if, all students concerned acknowledge it in writing when the work is handed in. It must clearly be understood that cooperation must stop short of the actual writing of the assignment, and does not, under any circumstances, justify a student in copying from another student's assignment. It is therefore to be expected that the assignments will be clearly distinguishable from one another; it is also assumed that the quality of the assignments (and hence the marks awarded) will differ.

Group work

In certain forms of assessment that are designed as group tasks, cooperation will go beyond the stage discussed above and become a group project. In such a case, a single piece of work would be submitted by the members of the group, who would all get the same mark, or the group would collaborate on a class presentation and receive either the same mark or a combination of a group mark and an individual mark. If necessary, students might be asked demonstrate that they had participated actively in the task.

Plagiarism

In the interests of the overwhelming majority of honest students, any flagrant breach of these principles will be regarded as cheating, and the department may be obliged to report the matter to the appropriate authorities. Failure and exclusion from the university could result.

Oral presentations in class

Giving an oral presentation is not the same as reading aloud an essay: quite different skills are involved. The oral presentation gives you the opportunity to:

• develop your skills in oral communication in Spanish
• gain confidence by speaking on a subject which you have prepared in advance, leading to greater confidence in discussing and expressing views without prior preparation
• develop general communication skills, including the generic skills involved in the clear exposition of ideas
• stimulate class discussion, interaction and debate.

Effective oral communication

Think about what you appreciate about the way others explain or present information and ideas. What makes for a good presentation? What helps you to understand and remember what has been said? In what ways can other students be encouraged to participate in your presentation (through the use of questions or discussion points raised during or at the end of your talk?).

Tips for successful presentations

• The essential points: What do you want the students to be able to understand or remember at the end of your talk? Make sure that these points are repeated and highlighted both orally and through the use of visual supports (see below).
• The relevance of your presentation to the course or section of the course: How does your presentation relate to the main theme/s? Why have you been asked to give this presentation at this stage in the course? How does it relate to the subject of that week's class?
• Length: It is a common fault for oral presentations to run for too long, because people tend to overestimate the amount of material they need to prepare. Check with your teacher how long your presentation should be and keep to that time.
• It is a good idea to prepare a handout to distribute to the class with a summary and outline of your presentation. This gives you support for your talk, and enables the other students to follow more easily. A basic bibliography showing where your information came from should also be included.
• Visual material can also be very helpful (diagrams, pictures etc) but it is important that this should not confuse the people listening by demanding that they split their attention between too many things at once. Pause, describe what you have put on the OHP and why; if possible, ask the students for their interpretations/reactions etc. Quite often considerable time is spent preparing visual material, which is then not fully exploited in the talk. If you are using PowerPoint, you should keep visual effects to a minimum as too many can prove distracting or even irritating. If you need any particular equipment for your presentation you should discuss this with your tutor in advance to make sure that it will be available, and always have a ‘Plan B’ in case it is not working.
• Delivery: Presenters often speak quickly because they are nervous. It is important to speak clearly and at a pace that allows others to follow and to take occasional notes. Do not read from a prepared script, as your audience will find it much harder to follow you and you will not be communicating effectively. Equally, don’t be tempted to memorise your presentation as this has the same effect. You should need no more than a few brief notes to remind yourself of the order in which you intended to tackle the points you are raising.
• Pair/group presentations: If you are asked to work with other people to produce a presentation, then every aspect of it needs to be worked on as a group. Avoid splitting the presentation into separate sections without links or coherence. Always have a general introduction and conclusion that relates to the whole presentation no matter how many different people have been involved in it. Be explicit about the links between different sections, and make sure that there is only ONE handout, PowerPoint presentation, etc. for the whole group, not a series of different ones.