Carnegie Mellon University
CMU Core Competencies Initiative  ›  Communication & Presentation  ›  Resources & Tools  ›  Oral Presentation Rubric

Oral Presentation Rubric

communication core value checklist: Value 1: Compelling & Credible Communicators who enact this value make a case or provide materials that are insightful, thorough, and relevant for the audience. Value 2: Coherent & Clear Communicators who enact this value incorporate strategies to lessen the audience's cognitive burden for comprehension. Value 3: Considerate and Ethical Communicators who enact this value anticipate diversity and variation within audiences; prioritize access through document design and language choices that show empathy toward various perspectives. Value 4: Conscientious & Mindful Process Communicators who enact this value set goals, demonstrate resilience in the face of task problems, employ self-regulation strategies for managing tasks and incorporate feedback as needed.

What is it and how does it work?

Developed for Dietrich College to evaluate oral presentations across a variety of courses and departments, this rubric can be used in whole or in part to assess student presentations for evidence of student mastery of the Communication learning outcomes. This tool may be used with live or recorded presentations and is particularly useful for summative presentations such as those related to course projects, mentored research, and pitch competitions.

Which skill(s) are targeted?

  • Produce content that is credible and compelling to a target audience across multiple formats (oral, written, and visual).
  • Prepare coherent and clearly organized oral, written, and visual products based on purpose, genre, context, and audience.
  • Anticipate and evaluate how communication products are received by target audiences in order to respect diverse perspectives.

NOTE: While the rubric can be used in whole to evaluate artifacts for all communication competencies, individual row(s) can also be used if artifacts are more targeted to specific skills but not necessarily the full set.

Who has used it?

  • Dietrich College General Education Program
  • Emerging Leaders Program

icon indicating less than 1 hour time commitmentEducator time commitment

Approximately 15 minutes to review the rubric; artifact scoring will vary based on number and characteristics of the artifacts.

icon indicating a time commitment is not applicableStudent time commitment

No additional student time commitment.

Contact eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu for help with incorporating this resource.

Educator how-to steps

  1. Access the rubric in the shared Core Competencies Canvas course. 
  2. Consider your teaching context and assignment goals for students' communications.
  3. Identify one or more values criteria that is aligned to your assignment criteria and add it to your assignment rubric. (Note: you can apply/copy/edit the Canvas rubric  to your Canvas course assignment. Alternatively, you can download and edit the Excel file.)
  4. Set up the assignment in Canvas (or as you normally would) and include the rubric so that a) students can use it to help guide their work; b) you and/or your TAs can use it to grade the students submission.

See these related resources…

Designing Effective Powerpoints

6-minute video developed by the Communication Support Team to help students develop Powerpoint slide decks.

Presentation Strategies

5-minute video developed by the Communication Support Team to help students effectively structure and deliver oral presentations.