> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.timelygrader.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.timelygrader.ai/user-guides-get-started-here/oral-assessments-guide.md).
# Setting up oral assessments
Is it an oral quiz or an oral defence?
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Picking either option will be dependent on your learning objectives as each is best suited for different purposes.
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## Before you start
* Think about your objectives with this oral assessment. Is it...
* A simple learning check or a compliance check? Oral quizzes are your best bet. These questions are based on questions you create.
* A method to ensure students wrote their own work? Oral defence is the way to go. These questions are based on the student submission.
## Steps
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### Pick if you want an Oral Quiz or an Oral Defence.
We will use the Oral Defence as our primary for this walkthrough since it is more complex. When you start the set up process, you will need to import a Source Assignment since questions will be based on what students are going to submit (or have already submitted).
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### Understanding Source and Destination Assignments
We've thought deeply about how Oral Assessments will work in practice, alongside the LMS, and this was an important area for focus: how are creating questions and how are we passing the grades back?
Therefore, we've created the Source Assignment and Destination Assignments. This is very relevant for Oral Defence but in some edge cases can also apply to Oral Quizzes.
**Source Assignments:** for oral defence, the use case is obvious. If we want to generate questions based on student submissions, we will need to fetch them somewhere. In most cases, student submissions will already be uploaded to their corresponding LMS Assignment.
**Destination Assignments:** these dictate where grades and feedback will be sent. In some cases for Oral Defence, Destination Assignments will be different than those of Source Assignments. For example, use generate the questions based on Assignment A but the grades for Oral Defence will go to Assignment B.\
\
If the student submission to both the written component and oral assessment are graded at the same time, the Destination Assignment can be the same.
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You will be able to choose where grades are going: to the same assignment selected as the Source Assignment or pick a different LMS assignment to send the grades.
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### Choose how questions are created
If you are using Oral Defence, you can influence how questions are generated based on the student submissions or specify the types of questions you want us to generate. For example, "*ask questions on their thesis statement."*
If you using Oral Quiz, you will need to create a question bank in which random questions will be selected when the student start their Oral Quiz attempt.
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Think of question generation this way: Oral Defence = dynamic questions. Oral Quiz = static questions.
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### Set a rubric
Yes, rubrics are still required! You will be able to choose which rubric you like to import or create a brand new one.
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### Pick how students can submit their attempt
Here you will be asked how student will submit their oral assessment.
Video with audio, audio only, or written response to accomodate students with accessiblity requests. You will also be able to change time, retries, and more.
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### Review settings and publish!
Last step is to review your settings and publish it to the students. For an Oral Quiz, once it is published, it will appear on the student side for students to begin their attempts.
For an Oral Defense, publishing is not the last step. Questions are generated from each student's own submission, so you must:
1. Import the student submissions from the Source Assignment.
2. Generate questions for each submission.
3. Review the questions, edit any you want to change, and approve them.
4. Release the approved questions.
Students can only start their Oral Defense once their questions are released. See [Generating and releasing Oral Defense questions](/canvas-support-articles/tutorials-oral-assessments-canvas/oral-defense-release.md).
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## Troubleshooting
Students cannot see the activity.
It is still a draft. Publish it from the editor’s top bar.
For an Oral Defense, students also need their questions released. Generate, approve and release the questions after publishing.
I imported into the wrong tab.
The type is set at import. Delete the draft and import the assignment again under the other tab.
A student is asked to submit their work first.
For an Oral Defense, they have not submitted to the source assignment in your LMS yet.
## FAQ
Which type should I use?
An Oral Quiz checks understanding of course material. An Oral Defense asks students to explain and justify work they have already submitted.
Where does the oral grade go?
To the destination assignment set in Passback Settings.
Are students scored on the feedback they get after each answer?
No. Immediate feedback never includes scores.
## Related articles
* [Oral Quiz or Oral Defense: getting started](/canvas-support-articles/tutorials-oral-assessments-canvas/oral-overview.md)
* [Building an Oral Quiz question bank](/canvas-support-articles/tutorials-oral-assessments-canvas/oral-setup.md)
* [Setting up an Oral Defense: source, questions and rubric](/canvas-support-articles/tutorials-oral-assessments-canvas/oral-defense-setup.md)
* [Generating and releasing Oral Defense questions](/canvas-support-articles/tutorials-oral-assessments-canvas/oral-defense-release.md)
