Short assessment techniques

Not all assessment measures need to be used as summative assessment (assessment that is graded and is counted towards students' grade in the course).
Short assessment techniques can be used as formative assessment (assessment that has as scope measuring student learning for class management or teaching purposes, the results of formative assessment are not added towards grade). Formative assessment methods help the instructor measure the strengths and weaknesses, or eventual misunderstandings that students might present concerning to a particular topic. They are also good methods to use as short revisions, memory aids, or as tools to refocus the class discussion.


Enjoy!



- Formative quizzes – quizzes that are not graded, can be used to evaluate how students understood a certain topic. Use similar questions as they will be on the exam. Use a power point slide or overheads to post the question. Responses can be shown by raising of hands. Clickers can be handy for this type of activity, unless you have a group larger than 150 where the time to get in the results from clickers takes longer than solving the problem (clickers for very large classes are not efficient).


- Minute paper – is a very powerful way to assess the degree students understand the topics and concepts they studied in the respective class period. Can be used 20 minutes in the lecture or at the end of the class. The task should not take more than 5 minutes maximum of class time. If it is used in the middle of the lecture then some questions might be: “Explain shortly the main concept discussed in this part of the lecture,” “Give an example of this concept or principle,” “How could this concept apply to…” a possible next topic in the same lecture, “How does this idea relate to your experience with…?” used at the end of the class period the One minute paper questions are: “1. What are the most important things you learned in today’s lecture? 2. What is the question on today’s topic that remains in your mind after this lecture?” Collect the responses – this is also a good way to take attendance if you request names (however names might affect honest statements of questions from students). The collected can form a basis for next class starting 5 minutes. Possibly you need to revise a concept, give some examples, or clarify some topics. Also you can use it as a basis to give good examples.
- Pause procedure – ask student in pair or group with 2-3 other students seated in proximity to compare notes or results from a short exercise in class. Allow 2-3 minutes and ask what questions if any arose from their review.


- Door Pass - used at the end of class to take attendance and also to see what do your students "take home" from the topic you taught that class period, and what questions they might have. If you are not interested in attendance then the same can be used as an anonymous response gathering. Once you collect the Door Pass you can tally what type of questions your students list and which are the most popular topics/concepts they still remember by the end of the class. Next class period you could reteach a topic if you notice that the large majority of the class has specific questions.


- One Word Chapter - do you ever wonder if your students did the assigned readings? Wonder no more and give them a short task. Ask them to do the assigned readings for the next class, and when they completed the readings then they are to think about a representative word that would summarize the entire chapter. Write that word on the provided form and beneath it write the reasons why they choose that word and how it relates to their readings. bring the form to next class. Then in class ask the class to tell you what word someone choose. Write the word on the board and ask by raising hands to tell you how many in class choose the same word. Ask for another word. Do the same. After all words are written on the board come up with connections between the words and start your lecture from there. You will have the class focused, and your students will feel that they participate in the learning, and many interesting connections can come up starting from those words.


- NFL Game - I (Dr. Szabo) was teaching a course the same time when the NFL seazon was running. My students were talking all the time about NFL and one day they asked me if it is possible to leave early so they can get to see the game from the beginning. Since NFL was so popular I thought I will invent a game to assess what my students remember besides the NFL scores. This short assessment method is good to use at any point in lecture when you finish a topic, or at the end of a class to see how your students handle the topics you taught. Ask them to complete briefly the form by listing "N = what is something new they learned from the current topic," "F= what they know from the topic so well that they would be comfortable to teach a friend," and "L= what is that content they feel like going back to the books and learn some more." They don't need to spend lots of time with this, no more than 4-5 minutes at the end of the class. Collect them all and tally the responses. You will see what topics need to be retaught, since if your students tell you they need to learn some more, that means they have questions on that topic. Often students don't have questions because they do not understand the new concepts. By asking what is something they need to go back and learn is a tactful way to ask what exactly they did not understand. If the large majority lists a certain topic it is a good sign you must start the upcoming class time by revisiting that topic.


More teaching strategies to be found in:

Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.