I have been using the "ticket in" approach to check comprehension & preparedness (as well as take attendance) for several years. Students know they will be held accountable for completing the at-home readings with their ticket in. Additionally, students can ask question that they had about the readings for me to address in class on their ticket-in. It has proven to be a low stakes, high efficiency assessment of readiness to learn, as well as clarifying information they encounter between class sessions.
This semester, I intend to add a "ticket-out" assessment, where the student reports (on the back of the same index card as the ticket-in) the most interesting thing they learned in class and why; as well as has an opportunity to ask questions which I will address in the next class.
Student feedback on the ticket-in has been excellent. I will investigate through student response if the ticket-out has added value by increasing attention in class, forcing a review of class content, or getting their questions answered more quickly than without the second assessment.
Comments
Christina, I too use the ticket in the door, and I have incorporated the ticket out a few times, with the intent of doing it more (student responses have been very positive). I applaud your risk-taking and look forward to the results. One question, though; how will you measure increased attention in class?
Hi Pete, that is always the sticky-wicket. I will ask for a subjective self-appraisal of how those cards served the students or changed their behaviors.
how much time to you take for this activity - I like it, and am thinking about using it. Do you think it should be done EVERY lecture or just once a week, for example?
Christina, it seems that the ticket out the door is very similar to a "muddiest point" classroom asssessment technique. It provides a loop-closer on every class period! How much time does it take for you to process that information, and do you feel teh value justifies it?
Also, what are the consequences for NOT having the ticket in the door- a reduction in points (that is a lot of grading per assignment) or are they not allowed to attend class that day? (what happens if they had an official absence or something similar that prohibits them from completing it?) I ask because I like this technique but struggle with the mechanics of employing it regularly.
I tried to implement this, but have found that the management of so many cards for every class period has made it difficult to manage. I had all students submitting a card for all of my classes which resulted in approximately 300 cards per week. I felt as if I was surrounded by notecards. LOL! So, I scaled back. In two classes, I'm having students submit a card once per week. In my other two classes, students are asked to submit notecards whenever something is unclear or if they still have questions. Some of the challenges I found expecting a ticket in/out for every class period from every student were that some students were writing the notecards during class when I needed them to be participating, copying their friends' cards, or writing the cards ahead of time before they had read the chapter/material for class which defeated the purpose as far as I was concerned. Students are very creative in trying to "get around the readings" while attempting to get credit for doing the assignment. I think it's a great idea, but I'm finding managing the system difficult to do. In the past, I've had students submit an anonymous card/piece of paper where I have them submit what they learned from class that day and/or any questions they still have to check for comprehension. I've done it anonymously which leads to students being more honest about their feedback. However, the drawback is that I'm not able to track individual students. So, I see benefits to the tx in/tx out, but need guidance on the implementation of such a program. Thanks for the idea, Christina!