Engineering lecturer’s perceptions of student self-assessment in enhancing technical oral presentation skills

In recent years, self-assessment (SA) has been increasingly implemented as an alternative method of assessment in tertiary educational contexts. The research described in this paper employed semi-structured interviews as an instrument to evaluate engineering lecturer’s perceptions towards student SA in developing their non-verbal communication skills in technical oral presentations. A sample of 10 engineering lecturers from a technical university participated in the study. Semi-structured interview data revealed that most engineering lecturers viewed student SA positively and they reported on student SA as providing learning values because the latter viewed student SA as a learning aid. The results further showed that student SA could promote the students’ learning, an increase of students’ willingness to deliver oral presentations and self-enabling. Therefore, student SA can be a powerful method to increase learning by raising the awareness of the necessity of non-verbal communication skills in delivering technical oral presentations.