Penn State Learning Design Community Hub

Definition

A one-minute essay question (or one-minute question) is a focused question with a specific goal that can, in fact, be answered within a minute or two.

A 1-minute essay question can be used to check understanding, provide feedback, and promote reflection.

• Short, clear questions that require responses that can be answered quickly with knowledge or opinions the students expect to have.
• Can be spontaneous based on unexpected outcomes in a lesson or activity.
• Can be used to state what part of the lesson is most confusing (muddiest point).
• Can be used as an indicator of whether lesson’s concepts are understood (e.g., list the three most important concepts in today’s lesson).
• Can require a few words or a couple paragraphs.

Example - good

In one to three minutes, describe what was most confusing in today’s lecture (today’s homework, reading, etc.). Why was this concept confusing?

What is your opinion of euthanasia?

Main errors in this proposed one-minute essay question:

1. It would be very difficult to provide a sufficient answer within a couple minutes.

2. Without additional guidelines, students may try to answer in a manner in which they think the instructor wants them to answer.
   
   

Advantages of one-minute essay questions

• Useful in any discipline.
• Can be answered quickly and reviewed quickly.
• Can promote reflection and metacognition.
• Can show what students THINK the lesson theme is
• Can reveal what students value in the lesson
• Can reveal misconceptions
• Can check on background knowledge
• Can show that you are interested in students' opinions.
• Usually ungraded, but credit should be given for participation
• Can be composed quickly and at the last moment, depending on faculty and student needs.
• Can be used to improve teaching.

Disadvantages of one-minute essay questions

• Does not check in-depth understanding
• Students may not answer them seriously if they are ungraded and spontaneous.

Special thanks to the Schreyer Institute for their contributions to these pages.