"Viva voce" or oral examinations are an intrinsic part of the examination of many doctoral theses. There is some ambiguity about their purpose; however, they are generally perceived to be an opportunity for the candidate to respond to the examiners' comments and questions. They also allow examiners to assure themselves of the candidate's…

The oral examination, or the viva voce, is the culmination of the doctoral examination process in many traditions. In these traditions, the chair or convenor facilitates the viva. The idea of convenors is one that has not been discussed at length within the literature of higher education. In this paper, we explore the findings of a qualitative…

Assessment is an important element of any effective teaching and learning strategy. Designing an appropriate assessment strategy is a continual challenge for instructors because the assessment structure must be well aligned with the intended learning outcomes. Technological advances have led to an expansion of online and distance modes of course…

This paper explores the views of a group of students who took an oral performance assessment in a first-year mathematics module. Such assessments are unusual for most subjects in the UK, but particularly within the generally homogenous assessment diet of undergraduate mathematics. The evidence presented here resonates with some, but not all, of…

This paper explores how 11 Canadian doctoral candidates performed as researchers in the final doctoral oral examination in handling questions that they identified as "difficult to answer". Drawing from communities of practice theory, the study views the defence as an examination in which a novice researcher (the doctoral candidate)…

Analysis of literature on oral assessment in college instruction identified six dimensions: primary content type; interaction between examiner and learner; authenticity of assessment task; structure of assessment task; examiner; and orality (extent to which knowledge is tested orally). These help in understanding the nature of oral assessment and…