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Help your students succeed by providing alternative assessments. Learn why a student might need an alternative to presentations and what you need to consider.
Why an alternative is needed
An alternative assessment may be requested by a student registered with Accessibility Services if their ongoing health condition/disability impacts on their ability to complete a presentation.
For example, it’s common for students who experience heightened anxiety and/or panic attacks, conditions impacting on memory or newly diagnosed conditions to request alternatives for presentations.
Alternative assessment process
Find out more about the process in our Alternative assessments resource.
Alternative options
It’s important to keep in mind that each student’s requirements for alternative assessments might be different, but these are some potential options:
- 1:1 or small group presentations: arrange with the student to present 1:1 or to a small group of familiar people at a separate time (this can be in-person or online).
- Recorded presentations: offer the option for the student to record the presentation and send it to you.
- Prompts: allow the student to use prompts or have a copy of the script so you can prompt them, acknowledging in advance that you are focusing on their content/knowledge and not so much their eye-contact/body language.
- Short breaks: this will allow the student to utilise any self-soothing techniques.
- Comfortable: allow the student to sit down and present, wear sunglasses or a hat if this makes them feel more comfortable during the presentation.
- Written presentation: allow the student to submit their slides and notes
- Portion: allow the student to present as much as the student can manage and submit the remaining presentation in written format.
- Negotiate presentations in group work: if the student is requesting an alternative to a group presentation but is comfortable in contributing to the group work, you can offer flexibility for the group to assign preparation and presentation roles.
What you need to consider
Alternative assessments need to be reasonable, so there are several key questions to ask when considering a request:
- Does the alternative meet the subject learning outcomes?
- How many presentations are required across the student’s subjects? It may be possible for the student to manage with a small number of presentations but not possible to manage all of them.
- Has the student demonstrated previous presentation skills?
- Does it adhere to the inherent requirements of a course?
- Is it feasible to implement?
- What is the most suitable option to allow for the extra time that might be needed for marking?