There are a number of short assessment techniques that give the instructor quick and useful information about students' state of learning.  These techniques include the following which are described in Millis and Cottell.  (Millis, B. J. & Cottell, P. G. (1998). Cooperative Learning for Higher Education Faculty.  Phoenix: American Council of Education/Oryx Press.)  Here are some links to some of the techniques described in their book.

• The One Minute Paper.
• The Muddiest/Fuzziest Point.
• The Feedback/Participation Form.
• Directed Paraphrasing.

• http://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/millis.htm
• http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/CL1/CL/doingcl/reports.htm
• http://www.unca.edu/et/br011398.htm