One of my students relayed a very interesting learning technique that another professor is using. She writes:
"Every morning, after taking attendence, the professor immediately gives a quiz consisting of one question based on the lecture from the previous day.
She gives students the option to "suicide" or write down the answer to what we think the question is going to be before she asks it. Those students choosing to "suicide" get double points if they correctly answer whatever question she eventually asks BEFORE she asks it. Those students who don’t "suicide" just get one point if they get the answer right. It’s actually quite fun and engaging.
So far I’ve suicided on every quiz question and gotten them right, which means I received double points for each quiz because I paid attention in class and correctly anticipated the questions!
The professor made it clear that quiz questions are going to probably be on something we spend a good part of the lectures on, so most of the time it is not that difficult to anticipate what they will be. In fact, I often wonder why more students DON’T suicide, but I guess they just like to play it safe."