The hidden benefits of more assessment

I've been adding more formal assessment into my classes this semester: weekly quizzes, open-note (to encourage better note-taking during the rest of the week). Writing all the assessments is pretty laborious, but the hidden up-side is that I have a lot more time and energy, because I'm not working my butt off to teach new material during that day.

This is clearly dependent on designing (and adapting) assessment materials that are in reach for these students at this time: in the past, I've always found weekly quizzes to suck, because I was putting them too far ahead of my students' ability, which meant that my students were really, really turned off. I'm getting a lot more "buy in" now, which I think has a lot to do with the students feeling like success on this quiz, today, is achievable.