1. JUST IN TIME TEACHING
A 21ST CENTURY TEACHING TECHNIQUE
NameEACHER-SCHOLAR FORUM 2013
@T
School
Department
DR. JEFF LOATS
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

2. 2
THE EVIDENCE STANDARD
Teachers can feel bombarded…
I strive to be a scholarly teacher …
Common (evidence-based) themes:
• Focus and attention
• Using emotions appropriately
• Repetition and practice
• Feedback

3. 3
In what area have you studied/taught?
A) Humanities
B) Natural sciences & mathematics
C) Professions & applied sciences
D) Social sciences
E) Teacher education
…no surer way…

4. 4
In your teaching do you have a method for
holding students accountable for preparing for
class?
A) I don’t, but I ask/threaten really well.
B) I use a paper method (quiz, journal, others?)
C) I use a digital method (clickers, others?)
D) I use Just in Time Teaching.
E) I have some other method.

5. 5
OVERVIEW
1. Motivation for change
2. Basics of Just in Time Teaching
3. Mock example
4. Evidence for effectiveness
5. Summaries

6. 6
FEEDBACK THAT WORKS
“Improvement of performance is actually a
function of two perceptual processes. The
individual’s perception of the standards of
performance, and her/his perception of his/her
own performance.”
The Feedback Fallacy – Steve Falkenberg (via Linda Nilson)

7. 7
PHYSICS EDUCATION REVOLUTION
Eric Mazur, Physicist at Harvard:

8. 8
“ALL SIMILARLY (IN)EFFECTIVE…”

9. 9
University of Washington
University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
University of Colorado

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TECHNIQUE & TECHNOLOGY
Technique:
Just in Time Teaching
Learner Teacher
Technology:
Online question & response tools

11. 11
JUST IN TIME TEACHING
Online pre-class assignments (“WarmUps”)
First half - Students
• Conceptual questions, answered in sentences
• Graded on thoughtful effort
Second half - Instructor
• Responses are read “just in time”
• Instructor modifies that day’s plan accordingly.
• Aggregate and individual (anonymous) responses
are displayed in class.

12. 12
WHAT JITT IS NOT…
JiTT is not about
… online courses or distance learning.
… computer-graded homework.
… delivering content via the web.
Goals of JiTT:
• Student preparation
• Obvious communication loop
• Student ownership and buy-in
• Create a community effort towards learning

13. 13
Consider a typical day in your class. What fraction
of students did their preparatory work before
coming to class?
A) 0% - 20%
B) 20% - 40%
C) 40% - 60%
D) 60% - 80%
E) 80% - 100%

14. 14
WARMUP QUESTIONS
• Every-day language
• Occasional simple comprehension question
• Mostly higher level questions (a la Bloom)
• Perhaps any question is better than none
Connections to evidence:
– Pre-class work reduces working memory load
during class.
– Multimodal practice (not learning styles):
JiTT brings reading, writing and discussion as
modes of practice.

15. 15
METACOGNITION
Two questions end every WarmUp:
“What aspect of the material did you find the
most difficult or interesting.”
“How much time did you spend on the pre-class
work for tomorrow?”
Connections to evidence:
– Forced practice at metacognition:
Students regularly evaluate their own
interaction with the material.

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CLOSING THE LOOP
Student responses:
• Graded on thoughtful effort
• Sampled and categorized for display
• Quoted anonymously
Closing the loop:
• Respond to some students digitally
• Class time shifts to active engagement.

17. 17
EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK
Faulkenberg’s criteria for feedback:
• Feedback doesn’t work if students don’t
correctly perceive the performance standards.
• Feedback doesn’t work if students cannot
correctly evaluate their own performance.
JiTT feedback loop:
Clarify standards in low-stakes situations.
Allows students to judge whether they have
correctly evaluated their own performance.

18. 18
MOCK WARMUP QUESTION
Students have developed a robot dog
and a robot cat, both of which can
run at 8 mph and walk at 4 mph.
A the end of the term, there is a race!
The robot cat must run for half of its
racing time, then walk.
The robot dog must run for half the
race distance, then walk.
Which one wins the race? Explain!

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WRITE A QUESTION AND SHARE...
Imagine an introductory course in your discipline.
Imagine a topic you discuss early in that course.
Pick ONE type, write a question:
– A “low level” question (remember, understand):
Terms: “Define, repeat” or “describe, explain”
– A “higher level” question (apply, analyze,
evaluate)
Terms: “Sketch, use” or “compare, estimate”
Write for a few minutes, then to trade and answer
your neighbor’s.

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WHAT TOOLS TO USE?
• Course management systems (Blackboard)
(Ready to use, tools are imperfect to awful)
• Free service from JiTTDL.org.
(Designed just for JiTT, but extra login, and
the site has not been improved in ~4 years)
• Email (No setup, very direct, but tends to be
overwhelming and discouraging)
• Blogging tools (WordPress)?
• Top Hat Monocle?

21. 21
MAZUR AFTER 1 YEAR

22. 22
ELSEWHERE?

23. 23
STUDIED EFFECTIVENESS
Used at hundreds of institutions
Dozens of studies/articles, in many disciplines:
Bio, Art Hist., Econ., Math, Psych., Chem., etc.
– Increase in content knowledge
– Improved student preparation for class
– Improved use of out-of-class time
– Increased attendance & engagement in class
– Improvement in affective measures

24. STUDENT FEEDBACK ON JITT
315 students in 7 classes over 4 terms (roughly ±6%)
Agreed or
The WarmUps have…
Strongly Agreed
…helped me to be more prepared
70%
for class than I would otherwise be.
…helped me to be more engaged in
80%
class than I would otherwise be.
…helped me to learn the material
64%
better than I otherwise would
…been worth the time they
57%
required to complete

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WHAT MIGHT STOP YOU?
In terms of the technique:
Time, coverage, not doing your part, pushback…
In terms of the technology:
Learning curve, tech. failures, perfectionism…
In any reform of your teaching:
Reinventing, no support, too much at once…

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MY SUMMARY
JiTT may be among the easiest research-based
instructional strategies that you can
consistently integrate into your teaching.
From an evidence-based perspective, JiTT
addresses often-neglected areas.
As with all reforms, be prepared to find that
students know less than we might hope.

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YOUR SUMMARY
For yourself… or to share?
What part of JiTT concept/process is the fuzziest
for you after this talk?
What is the biggest reason you might not give
JiTT a try in one course next term?
You can find these slides at
www.slideshare.net/jeffloats