Keys to a successful implementation of Just-in-Time Teaching.

1. Name
School
Department
JUST IN TIME TEACHING
KEYS TO SUCCESS
@ USAFA BROWN BAG, AUGUST 2014
DR. JEFF LOATS
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

2. THE EVIDENCE STANDARD
Teachers can feel bombarded…
I strive to be a scholarly teacher …
• Apply the rigor we bring to the discipline of
physics to the discipline of teaching.
• Choose teaching methods that are strongly
informed by the best empirical evidence
available.
Contrast teaching your subject with treating
diabetes

3. OVERVIEW
1. Why JiTT
2. The “Sales Pitch”
3. Demonstrating value
4. Consistency
5. Summaries
Please jump in with questions anytime…

4. Consider a typical day in your class. What fraction
of students did their preparatory work before
coming to class?
Previous anonymous poll results (compiled):
28%
33%
21%
14%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%
N = 206

5. JUST-IN-TIME TEACHING
A different student role:
• Actively prepare for class
(not just reading/watching)
• Actively engage in class
• Compare your progress & plan accordingly
A different instructor role:
• Actively prepare for class with you
(not just going over last year’s notes )
• Modify class accordingly
• Create interactive engagement opportunities
Learne
r
Teacher

6. 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.
• Forced practice at metacognition:
Students regularly evaluate their own
interaction with the material.

7. THE SALES PITCH
The way we talk to our students impacts
• How they approach the assignments
• How they feel about the work they do

8. OVERARCHING MESSAGE
Communicating with your students (humans)
• Message (explicit statements)
• Attitude (subtext, body language, etc.)
Consistent subtext:
"I am here to help you learn, and I have thought
about your learning trajectory carefully."
Consistent attitude:
I am comfortable and relaxed about my part of
this partnership.

9. DAY 1 – GENERAL
Describe components of the course
• How each one is graded, and why.
• How each one is important for learning and/or
assessment.
Keep justifications short and succinct
Be honest:
"This is my first time using this method, and
there is a lot of data on how and why this is
effective and what the best practices are."

10. DAY 1 – JITT
When discussing JiTT:
“Today is going to feel pretty ‘normal.’You’ll get
to see how this works starting next time, after
you’ve done your first warm-up.”
It isn’t “more assignments = more work,” but
rather “working in smaller chunks is more
effective and more efficient.”

11. ALLOW TIME
They (probably) won’t “buy it all” on Day 1
Emphasize that you will be consistent and they
will get to see its value over time
“This class is different, and I will say that to you,
but it really is something you will get to
see/experience every day.”

12. DAY 2 – JITT
Discuss their first experience with warm-ups
Share how many did them
Remind them of structure:
Release/due times, course value, grading
Remind them of the purpose of warm-ups:
–Student preparation
–Instructor preparation
(“Which I’ll show you now!”)

13. DAY 3 – JITT BITS
A different role for you:
• Actively prepare for class by engaging and
being reflective.
(not just reading/watching)
• Be ready to actively engage with the material
in class.
• Take regular “readings” on your experience
with the material compared to classmates.
Make plans accordingly.

14. DAY 3 – JITT BITS
A different role for me:
• I will actively prepare for class by engaging
and focusing on you.
(not just going over last year’s notes )
• I will modify the class plan based on what I
see in your preparatory work.
• I will consciously create chances for you to
grapple with the material in an active way.

15. STUDENTS: BUSY-WORK
DETECTORS
K-12 represents more than 13,000 hours of class
Students are experts at detecting what really
matters to an instructor:
• What does the instructor do with class time?
• What does the instructor talk about?
• Does the instructor push against the usual
“invisible contract” of the classroom?

16. DEMONSTRATING VALUE IN JITT
Ideas for demonstrating that you value JiTT
• Thank those who do them for giving you
insight into their learning.
• Bring at least one “difficult/interesting” item
from WarmUp to class each day.
• Give non-verbal cues that you value
discussing WarmUps as much (more) than
other course components.
• Be consistent!

17. CONSISTENCY
Be consistent with:
• Assignment releases
• Assignment due dates/times
• Follow-up in class
• Exam questions that build on WarmUps

18. JITT STRUCTURE & RESPONSE
RATES
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
%Responsed
Class #
Response Rate by Day
College Physics I, N =
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
%Responsed
Class #
Response Rate by Day
Intro. Sociology, N =
Worth 10% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days
College Physics I Intro. to Sociology
Worth 5% of final grade
Due 10 PM the night before class
Assignments available for prior 2-3 days

19. JITT VS. FINAL GRADE
CORRELATIONS
College Physics I Intro. to Sociology
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
CumulativeScore(withoutwarm-ups)
WarmUp Score
WarmUps vs. Cumulative Score
Correlation
r = 0.71
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
CumulativeScore(withoutWarmUps)
Warmup Score
WarmUps vs. Cumulative Score
Correlation
r = 0.50

20. PROGRESSIVE EXAM
CORRELATIONS
College Physics I:
Important disclosure: This was not a hypothesis we were
testing, it appeared as we analyzed the data. Could be
0.18
0.33
0.43
0.54
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Mini Exam
(week 4)
Exam 1
(week 7)
Exam 2
(week 11)
Final Exam
(week 16)
NoneWeakStrongModerate
Correlations between Total WarmUp Score
and Sequence of Exams

21. Mean on 1-5 scale
Preparation for class 4.06
Engagement during
class 3.93
STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS
9% 10%
81%
10%
18%
73%
10%
22%
68%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Harmful Neutral Helpful
How did WarmUps affect your...
Preparation Engagement Learning
N = 781

22. STUDENT SURVEY QUOTES
Physics:
“Initially, it was hard for me to get used to the
warm-ups. It seemed like along with the
homework assignments there was a lot of things
to do. Eventually I got used to it and ultimately
the warmups really helped me to learn the
material and stay caught up with the class.”
“If it weren't for warm ups, the amount of time I
spent reading the book would have dropped by
75%”

23. MY SUMMARY
Being in a department that explicitly supports
innovative pedagogy, like JiTT, is rare and
valuable.
From an evidence-based perspective, JiTT
addresses often-neglected areas.
The sales pitch, demonstrating value and
consistency can make the JiTT experience shine
for both you and the students.

24. YOUR SUMMARY
What is the most important “nugget” you want to
remember from the discussion?
What part of is the fuzziest for you after this
discussion?
Email: Jeff.Loats@gmail.com
Twitter: @JeffLoats
Slides: www.slideshare.net/JeffLoats
Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

25. JITT REFERENCES & RESOURCES
Simkins, Scott and Maier, Mark (Eds.) (2010) Just inTimeTeaching: Across the Disciplines, Across the
Academy, Stylus Publishing.
Gregor M. Novak, Andrew Gavrini, Wolfgang Christian, Evelyn Patterson (1999) Just-in-Time
Teaching: Blending Active Learning with WebTechnology. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River NJ.
K. A. Marrs, and G. Novak. (2004). Just-in-Time Teaching in Biology: Creating an Active Learner
Classroom Using the Internet. Cell Biology Education, v. 3, p. 49-61.
Jay R. Howard (2004). Just-in-Time Teaching in Sociology or How I Convinced My Students to
Actually Read the Assignment. Teaching Sociology,Vol. 32 (No. 4 ). pp. 385-390. Published by:
American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3649666
S. Linneman, T. Plake (2006). Searching for the Difference: A ControlledTest of Just-in-Time
Teaching for Large-Enrollment Introductory Geology Courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol.
54 (No. 1)
Stable URL:http://www.nagt.org/nagt/jge/abstracts/jan06.html#v54p18
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