Conventional take-home assignments and online quizzes are compared as formative assessments intended to engage students in learning. Using data from six semesters for each, we consider five characteristics: participation, timeliness and nature of feedback, fit within overall course assessment, and cost of delivery. Both assignments and quizzes generated high participation. Marked feedback took up to five weeks with assignments but was immediate with quizzes. In both cases, passing the formative assessment did not ensure a pass in the exam, but failing it indicated a lack of engagement and almost certain exam failure. The 10% course weighting for quizzes fitted better than the 30% for assignments. The assignments were costly to administer, but online quizzes had a marginal cost close to zero. As formative assessments, we find that overall online quizzes were as effective as take-home assignments and cost considerably less.