ASSISTments: Great Way to Assess Understanding (formatively speaking ;-)!

My Take

Initially, my teaching partner and I built our own content and it is not all that time consuming. Building content forced us to think about the problems we assigned for homework - were they indeed necessary to solidify understanding? In class, I only review those homework problems that most students missed (and make it a point to check in with students who show more unilateral confusion). As students do their homework, ASSISTments gives them instant feedback and the ability to comment on a problem in real time. I glance at their comments before class and this makes class time even more productive. I cannot imagine teaching without ASSISTments.