For students to feel as if the process of active learning through all facets of the class has educational value, low-stakes assessments are often woven into the class lecture. This can be as complex as a 10 minute quiz or as easy as a small poll.

One of the most difficult aspects of injecting active learning into the classroom is the reluctant of some students to embrace the process. In the face of a new learning format, which may never be used again in their subsequent education, students often want to fall back on more traditional "chalk and talk" lectures.

Regular assessments provide students with a reaffirmation of the active learning process, without the instructor having to market the process as working.

Developing assessments which reflect the material, promote active learning, while also creating value can be tricky to develop. Keeping your ear to the ground, so to speak, is often a good place to start: What is the career path that students take once they leave your class? What do recruiters like to see/hear from potential candidates? How will students apply knowledge from your class in other classes? The answer to these questions can be a good place to get creative with assessment questions.

Moreover, reflecting on the type of knowledge you wish students to acquire can be another good place to start. For my class, we incorporate calculus into our problem solving methodology but for many students, calculus is something they will never be exposed to again. To complement the calculus, assessments often contain "back of the envelope" methodologies and try to include metrics students will have access to in the private sector.

Deciding on the type of assessment and how to manage class around the assessment is often the most time consuming element for an instructor.