Effectiveness of Rubrics Used for Assessing Presentation Skills of the Undergraduates of Bachelors‟ in Business Management Degree Program of the University of Kelaniya

Abstract

In the past few years there has been a considerable shift of teaching process where the “learner-centered‟‟ teaching is recognized as being significant and critical to learning. Along with that, in the domain of assessment, there is a role reversal of the teacher and the learner which implies for the necessity of improving the skills, the learner must be aware of what aspects to improve. Similarly in assessing “presentation skills”, wherein mostly a holistic mark and feedback are the only determiners of assessment, rubrics have a remarkable impact on the „improvement continuum‟. The present study addresses the gap; the potential of a rubric being used as a part of assessment for learning rather than its traditional use of being the method of assessment of and after learning. Hence, the objectives of the study are (i) to examine the accessibility and userfriendliness of the rubrics to evaluate the candidates (ii) to evaluate the effect of the type of feedback provided using rubric to the candidates after performance (whether it is individual or group, which criteria of rubric are being commented on). (iii) to investigate the extent of familiarity of the candidates with the rubrics and its impact on their performance (whether the familiarity is proportional to the obtained marks). The sample is 15 undergraduates of Bachelors in Business Management (Marketing) in the University of Kelaniya and the visiting lecturer who is coordinating the course “People‟s Skills”- which decides their internship opportunities depending on their score in the course. The rationale for selecting the sample group is the importance of presentation skill for marketing undergraduates and the importance of score in order to get selected to the internship program at Unilever and Nestle offered to a limited number of students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted along with class observations and analysis of marks sheets for the division of marks. The data was analyzed using Thematic Analysis Framework.