Assessment of oral presentation skills is an underexplored area. The study described here focuses on the agreement between professional assessment and self- and peer assessment of oral presentation skills and explores student perceptions about peer assessment. The study has the merit of paying attention to the inter-rater reliability of the teachers. Comparison of the teacher and peer assessment rubric scores points at a positive relationship, but also at critical differences. The lower intra-class correlation suggests that peers and teachers still interpret the criteria and indicators of the rubric in a different way. With regard to the comparison of self-assessment scores and teacher scores, we have to conclude that there are significant differences between these scores. Self-assessment scores are, for the most part, higher than the marks given by teachers. The results also reflect a very positive attitude of students towards peer assessment as a relevant source of external feedback.

No abstract

Although many educators help others to develop oral presentation skills, little research is available to direct the instructional design activities of these educators. In the present article an explorative study on university freshman is described, in which goal-setting, selfreflection, and several characteristics of the subjects during oral presentations were analysed.The research results emphasize the critical impact of motivational constructs, such as self-

No abstract

No abstract

The aim of this study was to design a method for evaluating the importance that consumers place on the characteristics of environmentally friendly (EF) products and on consumer EF behaviour. Attitudes and opinions of consumers regarding the EF value of the different aspects of consumer behaviour – purchasing, using and disposing of goods – were measured. The perception of EF behaviour was analysed for Belgian and Polish consumers, a Western and an Eastern European country. The cultural, economic and political differences between Belgium and Poland may imply that their consideration of EF behaviour is different. The perception of consumers about buying, using and disposing of EF products does not necessarily indicate their own EF behaviour, but it gives an indication of what consumers think is EF behaviour. On the basis of the results, policy‐makers and industry can diagnose the consumers' perceived cost–benefit relationship of EF consumer behaviour. An evaluation of what consumers think is EF can be made for the two countries. Marketers, government and EF organizations can draw on our research results when developing EF products and/or advertising campaigns.

The present study focuses on the design and evaluation of an innovative instructional approach to develop oral presentation skills. The intervention builds on the observational learning theoretical perspective. This perspective is contrasted to the traditional training and practice approach. Two experimental conditions -learners starting with observational learning versus learners starting with practice opportunities only-were compared in a crossover design. It was hypothesised that learners starting with observational learning would outperform learners in the practice only condition. The results suggest a significant differential impact on the development progress in oral presentation skills. This impact of the observational learning training approach is only found in a limited number of evaluation criteria. Results additionally suggest that students are highly motivated to learn this type of skills. Interaction effects between student characteristics and the instructional interventions were not significant.

No abstract