Your students learn most effectively when they can do something with the information they absorb. The in-person and online activities you design should have a high failure tolerance and low stakes so that when your students practice with the information they learn, they can receive meaningful and useful feedback from you.
- Activities that are failure-tolerant allow your students multiple attempts, so you can and provide feedback along the way.
- Activities that are low-stakes provide opportunities for students to work within their understanding of the material with a low impact on their final grade.
In other words, the activities and assignments you design serve as the practice sessions to prepare your students for the high-stakes exams and projects. You should provide your students with ample opportunities to use the information they're learning by including at least one assignment or activity per week.
To learn more about high-stakes exams and projects, see the Assessing learning section of Keep Teaching.