Abstracts - Earli

located at, the intersection of the academics’ multiple perspectives on the purposes and impact ofassessment in their respective courses and disciplines. Integrating these multiple perspectives inorder to maximise that contribution is complicated by the need to recognise the multilayeredcontexts in which learning and assessment are enacted, and by the heterogeneity attending theacademics’ ideological constructions of assessment in relation to such contemporary ‘hot topics’as generic skills and graduate attributes, the effectiveness of online content and coursemanagement systems and the current commodification of knowledge, by which education is a‘good’ and assessment confirms the learner’s purchase of that good. D/discourse theory is anappropriate means of highlighting and interrogating those contexts and that heterogeneity, andthereby of evaluating the contribution of assessment to developing potentials for student learning.P 1301 September 2007 11:00 - 12:20Room: 0.100BPaper SessionStudent learning in higher educationChair:Richard Joiner, University of Bath, United KingdomExploring the impact of environment, behaviour and personal characteristics on the developmentof oral presentationsLuc de Grez, Vlekho Business School, University of Leuven, BelgiumMartin Valcke, Ghent University, BelgiumIrene Roozen, Vlekho Business School, University of Leuven, BelgiumAlthough teaching of presentation skills is a very important topic in education, it has hardly beenresearched. The aim of this paper is to investigate two parts: (a) Learning part: the relationshipbetween the student characteristics, their learning process and their performance; (b) Instructionalpart: the importance of ‘self reflection’ and ‘general versus specific goal-setting’. The researchdesign is based on our theoretical framework where we have analysed reciprocal interactions ofinstruction, performance and student characteristics. The experimental subjects were first yearstudents (n=101). First, student characteristics were collected. Later, they have receivedinformation about effective non-verbal behaviour in general and in the context of an oralpresentation. They were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions in a 2x2factorial design (general/specific goal setting and no- or invoking self reflection). In eachcondition the students participated in three sessions and delivered during each session a 3-minutepresentation. The presentations were videotaped and analysed by experienced researchers. Bothwere unaware of the research questions. The results show that it is possible to teach students togive better oral-presentations. The study resulted in a relevant research instrument to assess oralpresentation skills. The research results also give a first view of the complex interrelated nature ofvariables that plays a role in the acquisition of oral presentation skills. The motivational constructs‘self-efficacy’, ‘achievement goal’ and ‘attributions’ play a significant role and need furtherexploration in future research. As to the experimental intervention, goal setting has been detectedto be a significant design variable. Fostering self reflection did not result thus far in significantdifferences.– 848 –