The fastest way to make an oral check feel like a trap is to spring it on a class. A short paragraph in your syllabus makes it an ordinary, expected part of the course — and it is the first thing a curriculum committee or accessibility office will ask to see. Take whichever length fits.
For an assignment table or a schedule row.
Oral check (Viva): after submitting, you will have a short recorded conversation about your own work. Counts toward the assignment grade.
The usual choice, drops under “Course policies”.
Oral checks with Viva. For some assignments in this course you will complete a short spoken check-in about the work you submitted. After you upload your assignment, a voice tool called Viva asks you a few questions about your own reasoning and choices; it usually takes 6 to 10 minutes and happens right in your browser. There is nothing to install and no cost to you. The point is simple: work you understand is work you can talk about. Your instructor reviews the conversation alongside your submission and makes every grading decision. If you have an approved accommodation, or anything about a spoken format would make this harder for you, contact me and we will arrange an alternative.
Process, accessibility, grading, and privacy. Use when a committee or accessibility office will read it.
ORAL CHECKS WITH VIVA What it is For selected assignments in this course, submitting your work has two steps: you upload the assignment, and then you have a short spoken conversation about it. We use a tool called Viva for the conversation. It asks you about your own reasoning, choices, and evidence, the same things I would ask if we met in office hours. Conversations usually run 6 to 10 minutes and take place in your browser; there is nothing to install, and students are never charged. Why we are doing it Work you understand is work you can talk about. This is not an AI-detection tool and it does not judge your writing style, your accent, or how polished you sound. It gives you a place to show what you actually know, and it gives me evidence of your understanding that a document alone cannot provide. How it works 1. Submit your assignment as usual. 2. Start the conversation. Some assignments include an optional practice round that does not count toward your grade. 3. Answer in your own words. You may refer to your work; you do not need to memorize anything. 4. I review the conversation together with your submission. Deadlines and what counts as complete The conversation is not optional and it is not separate homework: it is the second half of submitting. Uploading your file alone leaves the assignment incomplete, and it shows that way to both of us until the conversation is done. Start the conversation within 15 minutes of submitting. If you miss that window you are not locked out, and if you upload and never start, Viva emails you a reminder with a link; a late start is simply recorded for me to see. Viva itself never applies a penalty. [Instructor: state your policy here, for example "An assignment with no conversation byearns no credit for the conversation portion."] Accessibility and accommodations Accommodations are available and are set up before you start, including extra time, captions, additional thinking time before each question, a slower speaking pace, a mid-conversation rest break, and skipping image-based questions. If a spoken format is not workable for you, tell me and I will arrange a one-to-one oral check or an equivalent alternative. You do not need to disclose anything beyond what you are comfortable sharing, and using an accommodation never appears in your results as a negative. Grading The conversation contributes to the assignment grade. Viva does not assign your grade. It produces a report on understanding and authenticity that I read alongside your work. Every grading decision in this course is mine. If something in a conversation looks off, I will look at the evidence and, where appropriate, talk with you before any decision is made. Privacy Your conversation is recorded so that I can review it. Audio is stored securely and deleted within 30 days; the transcript is kept with your coursework. Your data is not sold, is not used for advertising, and is not used to train AI models without your separate, explicit consent. Full details: vivaproof.com/legal/privacy Questions Ask me at any point in the term. If something goes wrong during a conversation, like audio trouble or a connection that drops, the conversation ends there. Tell me and I will set you up with another attempt. A technical problem will not count against you.
Adapt any of it freely — change the assignment names, the length, the tone. The two lines worth keeping are that students are never charged and that accommodations are available on request. Prefer a printable handout? Download the PDF. Forwarding to a colleague or a teaching centre? The faculty FAQ answers the usual questions in one page.