Multiple choice questions are effective in covering a wider amount of material.  I disagree with the comment that standardized tests may be used to save time and effort.  Rather, standardized tests are effective in evaluating the course objectives and instructional approaches in settings where students must take and pass comprehensive licensing exams.

Classroom assessment activities seem to be a useful means to help both students and instructors assess the comprehension of the material.

I like the idea of asking about the "significance" of the material.  I sometimes do this by closing a lecture by asking what are the 2-3 most significant pieces of information from this lecture.  Different students will have differing ideas, which promotes more discussion and enhances understanding of material among the students.

I attempt to use multiple approaches during PowerPoint lectures to appeal to students with varying learning styles.

While every instructor would like to use the Socratic method, it is challenging without 100% buy-in from the students.  I often use reflection questions, e.g. what are the 3 most important concepts from this lecture.  Students will share them and realize that everyone had differing opinions on what ay be important, thus learning that everything is important.  

Probing is helpful to assess the student's true understanding of the material and showing that they are not offering a rote, memorized response.

Understanding how to apply appropriate wait time was informative, although it is still difficult to contain that one student who immediately blurts out a response.  The time out of a lecture period can be an impediment to using any of these questioning techniques.

The classification system helps the instructor to ask questions at an appropriate level to assess understanding of the material among the students.  The closed question categories resemble Bloom's taxonomy and help to determine higher order learning.