Activities to End the Class

Please note that these activities can be implemented at any time. The lesson time frame is just a suggestion based on the research information found.

Quiz/Test Questions

Students become actively involved in creating quizzes and tests by constructing some or all of the questions. This exercise may be assigned for homework and evaluated itself. By asking students to contribute exam questions, instructors encourage them to think more deeply about the course material, explore major themes, compare the different views presented, make applications, and demonstrate other higher order thinking skills. The students’ questions may be used on exams, as the basis of review sessions, and as models of the most effective questions. Further, instructors may ask students to discuss the merits of the questions submitted. Students might discuss the relative merits of two different questions on the same material, including degree of difficulty, effectiveness in assessing learning, scope, and so forth.

The Fish Bowl

In this technique, the instructor ask students to write down one question concerning the course material. They should be directed, for example, to ask for clarification of some aspect of the material that they do not fully understand; or, perhaps, to ask about applying course material to practical contexts. At the end of the class (or at the beginning of the next class if the question is assigned for homework), students deposit their questions in a fish bowl. The instructor then draws several questions out of the bowl and asks the class to answer them. Instructors can edit the questions or skip ones that are not appropriate for what they are trying to accomplish. Then instructors can invite students whose questions were not selected to see them after class or during office hours to have their questions answered.

An alternative option to the actual fish bowl, could be a Google doc. The instructor will create a Google doc and share the link with the students where they will write their questions. The instructor will display the questions during the first minutes of class and randomly pick some of them to answer.

Muddiest (or Clearest) Point

This is a variation on the one-minute paper, though you may wish to give students a slightly longer time period to answer the question. Here you ask (at the end of a class period, or at a natural break in the presentation), "What was the "muddiest point" in today's lecture?" or, perhaps, you might be more specific, asking, for example: "What (if anything) do you find unclear about the concept of 'personal identity' ('inertia', 'natural selection', etc…)?"

Using an anonymous poll will increase student participation. Polleverywhere is a great real time polling tool that can be utilize for this and many other activities.

Daily Journal

This activity allows for more in-depth discussion of or reaction to course material. You may set aside class time for students to complete their journal entries, or assign this as homework. The only disadvantage to this approach is that the feedback will not be as "instant" as with the one-minute paper (and other assignments which you collect the day of the relevant lecture). But with this approach (particularly if entries are assigned for homework), you may ask more complex questions, such as, "Do you think that determinism is correct, or that humans have free will? Explain your answer.", or "Do you think that Dr. Kevorkian's actions are morally right? What would John Stuart Mill say?" and so on. Or you might have students find and discuss reports of scientific studies in popular media on topics relevant to course material, such as global warming, the ozone layer, and so forth.

Pass the Pointer or Pass the Presentation Mode

Place a complex, intricate, or detailed image on the screen and ask for volunteers to temporarily borrow the laser pointer to identify key features or ask questions about items they don’t understand.

Or Using the ALC control panel you will change from Presentation mode to Master mode to display the main screen on all the TVs group stations and let them present from their seat. Or display their TV group station on to the main screen and they can still present from their seat.

Student Summary of Another Student's Answer

Many students hear little of what their classmates have to say, waiting instead for the instructor either to correct or repeat the answer. In order to promote active listening, after one student has volunteered an answer to the question, the instructor can ask another student to rephrase, in his or her own words, the student’s response. Having students summarize or repeat each others contributions to the course fosters active participation by all students and promotes the idea that learning is a shared enterprise. Confronted with the possibility of being asked to repeat a classmate’s comments, most students will listen more attentively to each other.

Exit Ticket

Exit tickets are short prompts that provide instructors with a quick student diagnostic. These exercises can be collected on 3”x5” cards, small pieces of paper, or online through a survey or course management system.

Exit tickets collect feedback on students’ understanding at the end of a class and provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. They can be helpful in prompting the student to begin to synthesize and integrate the information gained during a class period. For example, a muddiest point prompt: “What was the muddiest point in today’s class?” or “What questions do you still have about today’s lecture?”.

Advantages of Exit tickets include: participation of each student, prompt for students to focus on key concepts and ideas, a high return of information for the amount of time invested, important feedback for the instructor that can be useful to guide teaching decisions (e.g., course pacing, quick clarification of small misunderstandings, identification of student interests and questions).

More Ideas

Hand out 4X6 cards to the students (one per student) and ask them to write down on the cards (one side) the major points covered in the class or the purpose of that specific class. Then, have them discuss what they have written with a partner for about two minutes. Then, ask them to write a revised version of the points or purpose on the reverse side of the card, which they hand in as they are leaving class.
Have students develop an outline of the day's presentation.
Ask students to propose three goals which they would like the class to accomplish at the next meeting.
Have students write one or two good multiple choice questions and present these questions (via overhead) to the class. Discuss the questions.
Have students answer the discussion questions at the end of the assigned chapter. They then explain their answers to the class.
Have students summarize the main topics of discussion in one or two paragraphs and then relate them to yesterday's discussion.
Have students keep a journal, taking a few minutes to write down their feelings and thoughts regarding various topics.

Sources:

[Journal on Excellence in College Teaching "Active Learning in the College Classroom" - Faust & Paulson]

[School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington- "Active Learning Techniques"]