The Minute Paper

At the end of class with just a couple of minutes remaining you would say to your students, “On half a sheet of notebook paper, write what you think was the most important concept in today's lesson and why you think so”. Compiling the results enables instructors to judge whether students are on target with their learning.

An alternative to the “most important concept” is the muddiest point paper. Using the same instructions, the instructor asks students to write what they thought was the “muddiest point” in the lesson which still has them confused. They can also be asked to add, “What percent of mud due to lack of clarity by instructor, due to lack of opportunity to ask questions in class, due to your own lack of preparation and/or your lack of participation in class discussion.

Instructors review the students' responses and give students a summary of results in the next class and any changes or suggestions that would help to promote learning.