Center for Excellence in Teaching
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Some things to consider when planning oral advocacy assignments:
- Prepare students with skills for success. Plan time before the assignment to practice reasoning, public speaking, evidence gathering, or persuasive technique skills.
- Model real-world activities and roles. Select activities that reflect what students may encounter in their future professional settings such as case conferences, debates, or panel interviews.
- Prepare logistics. Decide if students will represent a specific viewpoint or role. Specify the structure and timing of the activity. Consider how you will use the physical space to engage all students. If you have a large class, consider different modalities, for example, group videos.
- Engage in strategic questioning. Encourage students to share alternative arguments and questions to motivate engagement and learning. Require students to use scholarship to support their statements and generate new questions.
- Assess students. Debrief each activity to help students synthesize the information presented. Provide feedback to students based on strengths and areas for improvement using a rubric. Encourage students to critique their performance through self-reflection.
References
Golding, C. (2011). Educating for critical thinking: thought-encouraging questions in a community of inquiry. Higher Education Research and Development, 30(3), 357–370. USC Libraries Link.
Guo, K., Zhong, Y., Li, D., & Chu, S. K. W. (2024). Investigating students’ engagement in chatbot-supported classroom debates. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(9), 4917–4933. USC Libraries Link.
Nappi, J. S. (2017). The Importance of Questioning in Developing Critical Thinking Skills. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 84(1), 30-. USC Libraries Link.
Stanley, T. (2021). Promoting rigor through higher level questioning : practical strategies for developing students’ critical thinking. Routledge. USC Libraries Link.