No instructor should enter a classroom ever without a stack of 3 x 5 cards.
They provide us with the easiest and most (malleable) way of gaining all kinds of information from our students.
1. Beginning
When class begins,
you might hand out cards and ask students to write down the three (or one or
two or five) questions they have from the reading they did in preparation for
the class. If you want the cards to
do double-duty, you can ask students to put their names on them.
You can then do one of things: you can collect the cards, and pick a few, read the questions out loud and begin class with a discussion of the answers. Or you can simply ask the students to read aloud the questions they jotted down. Or you can ask them to chat with the two or three people around them, compare notes, and ask some of the groups to report. Or you can ask the students to pass their cards several places to the right or left, and ask them to pick a question--on the card they now have—that they also had. Begin the class with those.
You can also ask them at the beginning to write down what they hope the class will cover during the period, or what the most important part of the reading for the day was.
You can begin the class immediately after a midterm by asking students to comment on the exam difficulty, fairness, clarity, etc. Or on their performance: what could they have done better on
2. Middle
At any time during class, either planned in
advance or spontaneously, you can ask students to 1) write down a question
about the material just covered; 2) answer a question; 3) in one or two
sentences, describe an application of the point just made; 4) make a connection
to a larger issue or previous lecture; 5) indicate whether and where they are
confused; 6) solve an equation; 7) suggest an answer to a problem.
You can add a twist to any of these by setting up your prompt that will give them a creative boost: "Describe this process to your great-aunt—the one who doesn;t have a Ph.D. in Physics" or in a literature class, "Explain this idea to your roommate who is an EECS major and who doesn;t read fiction."
Develop a two part question and ask half the class to answer part one, and half the class part two. Then they can exchange cards and compare answers.
You can also solicit a completely different kind of information using cards at any time during class. Rather than assessing their understanding, you can ask them to comment on the class: spot checks on pace, clarity of board work, their level of engagement, desire for more or less discussion, or anything else you want to find out.
3. End
At the end of class, you
might ask students to write down what they thought was the most important point
(or points) of the day; or what questions they have as a result of the lecture;
or what was unclear to them. Or ask them to create an exam question based on
the day;s material. Collect them and begin the next class by addressing some of
these.
At the beginning of the next class you can say, for instance, "Most of you thought that x was the most important point. That's great. If you didn;t see that, be sure to review or see me." Or "Many of you thought that x was the main point. I hadn't intended it to be, so let me review what I had intended." Or "Many of you expressed confusion about x, so let's go over it again."
Not only can these various techniques using cards be used for assessment by you, but they can be used for self-assessment by students, and finally, they can be a tool for active learning. Any one of them can be done by an individual and turned into you, or they can be done by an individual and then discussed in pairs or small groups.
When soliciting any kind of feedback on content, you can remind students that if they;re unclear about something, they need to follow up—by rereading, by meeting with you or a GSI or a tutor. And of course all of these uses of cards actively engage students in the class, get them moving and thinking and doing. Finally, if you;re always checking on students; progress and attitudes about the class (don;t forget to add a longer midsemester evaluation, too), there are fewer surprises for both them and you at the end of the semester.
Needless to say, most if not all these 3 x 5 card activities can be carried out in other ways, through the use of clickers, for instance, or on the web in classroom management systems.