The Exit Ticket: a snapshot of student learning and potential participation points for students

This publication intends to provide an overview and reflection on using exit tickets or exit slips. After reading this document, instructors should be able to implement exit tickets in various instructional settings and facilitate a debrief session and reflection to fully utilize the benefits of the technique. A discussion of exit tickets as a way to take attendance or award points for participation is included.

Introduction

Exit tickets or exit slips are a type of formative assessment intended to provide instructors feedback on student learning. Exit tickets are a way for instructors to 1) assess student understanding of course material, 2) receive informal feedback on instruction, and 3) identify potential content needing additional instructional support. For students, exit tickets can also be a way to receive points or credit for participation, provide feedback on the learning processes, test their understanding of course concepts in a low-stakes environment, and, depending on design, receive feedback from the instructor. Due to the flexibility of exit tickets, the benefits of using the technique as described above can vary from instructor to instructor and course to course.

Exit tickets or exit slips are a form of assessment often delivered at the end of a lecture, section, module, or after content delivery. They can be tailored to fit the needs of the students and instructors, but essentially, students are asked to respond to a short questionnaire before leaving class or moving on to the next activity or content. The slip or ticket is often completed and turned in on paper, but other delivery methods have been used. Students often are asked to submit tickets individually. Students may or may not have access to additional information or resources. A key feature of exit tickets is that the question on the ticket is short and should be easily answered by most students. Other forms of exit tickets do not assess what was taught but rather provide an opportunity for students to reflect on the content, give feedback on understanding, or highlight areas of confusion. Students can receive credit for exit tickets or not; however, it is important that if credit is assigned, exit ticket weight or points are minimal so that they are low stakes. A key facet of the exit ticket strategy is that the instructor then either uses the information to reflect on content delivery, gives credit for attendance, debriefs the exit ticket with students at a later time, and/or uses the information to help guide future instruction.

Exit tickets have been used in academic settings in primary and secondary schools and suggest that in addition to improving learning outcomes through summative assessments, exit tickets can also improve accountability of student reflections.¹ Another reason why exit tickets are appealing is because they are highly flexible and can be tailored to match the needs of the students and specific learning environments. Other applications of exit tickets have been found to be effective, such as changing the modality of delivery to online exit tickets and gamifying its submission, such as through the use of Kahoot.²

Another reason to implement exit tickets is that they do not require substantial time to implement and can easily be combined with other formative assessment methods.

Depending on the needs of the students, classroom structure, and goals of the instructor, the way exit tickets are debriefed could be modified to a variety of applications. In case studies of exit ticket delivery, exit tickets can be revisited at the beginning of the next lecture so that students can try the question again, either with individuals responding or as a whole class learning exercise.³ There could also be an opportunity for students to attempt the problem again in groups. These options could allow exit tickets to either be a quick, relatively simple tool for instructors to integrate into their existing course structure or be used more rigorously as a way for students to interact with the material and solidify concepts.

Although relatively simple in its design, exit tickets have been used in various instructional settings with benefits to both students and instructors. This brief will describe exit tickets, provide examples of use in the classroom and the benefits of use, and discuss considerations for others considering adopting them into their own course.

Description of Teaching Activity

As introduced above, an exit ticket can take on many forms and is a highly flexible way for instructors to receive feedback on instruction. The summary below provides one example of how exit tickets can be used in an in-person undergraduate setting with a class size of approximately 20-50 students.

While designing a lecture or content module, consider identifying learning objectives related to the material that could be evaluated in the exit ticket. Likely, the material most suitable for exit tickets would be included under learning outcomes that fall under remembering, understanding, and possibly applying according to Bloom’s taxonomy.⁴ Simple exit ticket questions could assess students’ remembering basic definitions presented throughout the lecture, completing basic examples or sorting terms. An exit ticket could also apply a new equation with a different example. Generally, it is important to consider exit ticket questions while creating material to ensure that questions align with the material taught during that lecture.

Exit ticket questions can take various forms and range from true formative assessment to low-stakes summative assessment (see Dixson and Worrell, 2016⁵ for a full description of summative versus formative assessment characteristics). A few examples can be seen in Table 1, where some exit tickets are open-ended questions intended to prompt students to reflect on confusing concepts or models or provide feedback on the instruction. Other exit ticket prompts provide more structure and, with a correct answer, evaluate student’s ability to remember, understand, or apply their knowledge gleaned from that lecture period. When designing exit ticket questions, it is recommended that they be written with the aim that all students be able to answer the exit ticket successfully.

Table 1. Types of exit slips following Marzano (2012)⁶ and examples taken from the author’s own in-class experience.

Published literature shows that exit tickets can come in many forms^2,4. In some classroom settings, students are given a 3×5 index card and instructed to respond to a question posed by the instructor. In other settings, exit tickets are given electronically through a web-based platform. In its simplest form, an exit ticket is printed on an 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper and cut into multiple exit tickets.

Exit tickets are intended to be completed at the end of content delivery. In a face-to-face setting, exit tickets can be distributed in the last 5 minutes of instruction. If designed properly, students should complete exit tickets within a few minutes. Exit tickets requiring more reflection or computations might require a few more minutes of class time; however, they should not be burdensome or require substantial time as they are intended for the final 3-5 minutes of class. The opportunity to use notes, slides, textbooks, etc., is provided; however, students often do not utilize these resources. Exit tickets can be administered in pairs or small groups. One benefit of an exit ticket is that an instructor gains feedback from all students about content and learning, not just students willing to participate and engage. Students drop off the exit ticket on a desk in the front of the room as they pack up and leave the lecture. Students anticipate the exit ticket; they know it is used as their attendance grade and are interested in completing it each day. They also know that by being in class and submitting their exit ticket, they will receive credit toward their final grade for attendance. Often, students receive full credit for their exit ticket or, at the very least, very generous partial credit for completing the exit ticket but getting the incorrect answer.

After the lecture, exit tickets are read and graded by the instructor. Often, exit tickets are graded as pass-fail. Overwhelmingly, because exit tickets serve the purpose of both attendance and evaluation, grades are intended to communicate effort, not necessarily correctness. In some cases where exit ticket questions are more of a summative assessment, generous partial credit might be assigned to identify content weakness. Given the large burden of grading other assessments, exit ticket grade entry should not require much additional time for the instructor. For time efficiency, exit tickets should be entered into the course grade book quickly and seamlessly as other material is being posted after the lecture or attendance is recorded.

A key component of a successful exit ticket activity is the instructor using exit tickets to debrief and reflect on content delivery. This strategy could be completed by evaluating exit ticket responses, the number of students attending the class, or written reflections on course material. One benefit of exit tickets is being able to gain feedback from all students in a class, especially when not all students can or want to provide feedback on content through questions or discussions in front of peers. Based on exit ticket responses, instructors should tailor the next class session to fill in gaps in knowledge and provide a verbal discussion of exit tickets. The instructor may choose to continue with instruction if responses suggest that students met the learning objectives.

Discussion of Outcomes

Exit tickets are an appealing measure of student performance and retention of information, as well as a way to gauge the effectiveness of content delivery. There are notable benefits to both instructor and student to use exit tickets. A list of benefits for instructors and students follows:

Benefit to instructor

• Test student knowledge and receive immediate feedback on content.
• Unbiased way to assess participation and/or efficient method to track attendance.
• A structured method to gather feedback or perceptions from all students on content.

Benefit to students

• Individual feedback from the instructor, either correct/incorrect or perhaps more detailed feedback through comments.
• Low-stakes opportunity to formatively assess knowledge and determine potential questions for more summative assessment.
• Opportunity to provide feedback to the instructor about how the course is being taught with the use of open-ended questions.
• Potential participation points allocated for attendance.

From an instructor’s long-range perspective, consistently implemented exit tickets can provide year-to-year feedback on course delivery. For example, after a lecture filled with more challenging content, 24/24 students in attendance correctly answered the exit ticket question. The next year, the lecture material did not substantially change, yet only 15/34 students in attendance correctly answered the same exit ticket question. During class time, there was no noticeable difference in that students were struggling to grasp the concepts discussed. During the time allocated for students to complete related example problems in small groups, there was no marked increase in the number of questions students were asking or that many seemed to have difficulty. For these reasons, from an instructor’s perspective, the exit ticket provided valuable feedback to suggest that students would benefit from additional review and explanation of the content before moving forward.

Reflection of Outcomes

As described, the implementation of exit tickets benefits both students and instructors and has also been found to be effective in improving student learning outcomes. It can be difficult to determine improved student learning outcomes; however, instructors will quickly discover the benefit of using exit tickets. Instructors will likely find value when students collectively perform poorly on an exit ticket or have trouble responding to a ticket’s prompt. This way, instructors can use these responses in future content delivery to improve students’ learning outcomes. This strategy of “reteaching” could be simply revisiting content at the start of the next class period, calling attention to the content again in an online post or email, or even spending more time in the next class session to completely re-teach the material. Exit tickets may remain static year to year and provide a useful gauge for instructors when assessing effectiveness. Unlike larger pre-post evaluation assessments that typically assess learning over multiple topics or modules, exit tickets can provide more targeted and timely feedback for instructors.

Unlike other forms of in-class assessment, such as online polling, the flexibility in the form of exit tickets is appealing and versatile for complex problems, short answer items, and more traditional true/false or multiple-choice questions. This immediate feedback has often proven useful in adjusting delivery and re-emphasizing points in the course application. Often, exit tickets have provided a concrete way for an instructor to decide if content needs to be changed, such as spending more time the next lecture reviewing or integrating other activities and reviews into a section.

Once procedures are established, students also appreciate the exit ticket as a means of taking attendance. As an example, if the instructor forgets to announce the exit ticket, students may ask for their exit ticket. This suggests that students are motivated by the formative or low-stakes summative assessment and the reward of a few points allocated for attendance. Students learn to appreciate the opportunity to test their knowledge of the recently covered material.

Discussion of Potential for Adoption in Other Courses

As instructors consider the adoption of exit tickets in their courses, time should be devoted initially to determining the purpose of including exit tickets. In many ways, exit tickets can benefit both instructors and students, but without careful consideration for the purpose of exit tickets and the motivations behind including them, the practice can seem random and disjointed, and students may lack motivation to participate.

Particular attention should be paid when introducing or observing students utilizing exit tickets during this process. It would be beneficial to explain to students the purpose of exit tickets with a clear discussion as to how exit tickets will benefit student learning and success in the course. Points do not need to be awarded for completion or correct answers. However, students would likely even benefit from knowing that the instructor will read the exit tickets, analyze their responses, and adjust the course appropriately, which may motivate participation and encourage class attendance. Establishing these practices might also be a way to help signal an interactive learning process and for the instructor to signal a collaborative classroom environment.

As instructors create lessons and plan content for a course over the period of instruction, it might also be useful to plan exit tickets for an entire module or course. This will encourage an instructor to determine the purpose of the exit ticket, the style and structure of the assessment, and align the exit ticket with the course learning objectives. Thoughtful planning of exit tickets can also help ensure they align with other forms of summative assessment or other formal mid-semester evaluations.

Finally, maintaining consistency and frequency of exit tickets could be important to the overall success of the tool. While exit tickets may not need to be utilized every class period, frequent exposure to exit tickets and familiarity with their use in the instructional design can help motivate student participation. If students can use exit ticket content as study material, students would benefit from more frequent administration of exit tickets. If exit tickets are designed as a way to receive informal feedback in this way, frequent use will help students feel comfortable providing targeted feedback that instructors can then use. When consistently used to record attendance and provide a reward, instructors may also see a decrease in absenteeism.

References Cited

1. Basco R. Exit slips as predictor of academic performance. Journal of Education, Management and Development Studies. 2021; 1(2):52-61.
2. Kirzner RS, Alter T, and Hughes CA. Online quiz as exit ticket: Using technology to reinforce learning in face to face classes. Journal of Teaching in Social Work. 2021; 41(2):151-171.
3. Wylie EC, Lyon CJ, Goe L. Teacher professional development focused on formative assessment: Changing teachers, changing schools. ETS Research Report Series. 2009;1:i-32.
4. Danley A, McCoy A, Weed R. Exit tickets open the door to university learning. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching. 2016. 11(1):48-58.
5. Dixson DD, Worrell FC. Formative and summative assessment in the classroom. Theory into practice, 2016. 55(2):153-159.
6. Marzano R. Art and science of teaching: The many uses of exit tickets. ASCD, 2012. 70(2). Available from: https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-many-uses-of-exit-slips.