Just-in-time Teaching
Faculty used student homework to adjust your lesson, lecture, or activities just before class.
About
There are a variety of ways that this activity is used, so it is quite adaptable. Faculty sometimes ask students to email their questions the day (or night) before class, and then they scan through them and look for patterns that need to be addressed. Other faculty collect feedback at the end of class by handing out a 3x5 index card and asking students to write about what they are still unclear about (what’s the “muddiest” point). Still others use a short minute paper at the start of class as a sort of attendance check-in. Regardless, the focused attention on student knowledge is beneficial for addressing misconceptions and areas of difficulty, but it also builds a relationship between the students, the faculty, and the subject that feels responsive and personal, and helps build community. A large reward for such a small (10 minute) investment.
The original study's data and analysis for "Just-in-time Teaching" can be found on this link.
What Faculty Have To Say
Strengths (4)
- Allows addressing students concerns and doubts as close as possible to when they are expressed
- Allows the instructor to focus on topics that students are interested in or are having difficulty with
- Does not bore students
- Helps build an interactive community
Weaknesses (3)
- Hard to find time to fit it into course preparation consistently
- Requires me to have done broader previous preparation to cover different alternatives for topics
- May not work well for less prepared students
Pedagogy Usage
Bucknell faculty was asked their best estimate for how often in the semester they used Just-in-time Teaching and the average class time it took.
Average Duration: 12 min (mode=10)
Remote Suggestions
Typically, this pedagogy uses homework submitted by email to help the instructor frame the lesson plan or discussion an hour or so prior to the class. It can be used in the same way for remote classes, and the instructor can cut and paste the most critical questions or insights into a shared Google doc so the whole class can see and add to the answers. The above Google Doc idea could be used across several weeks to build an online study guide.
Resources for Additional Learning
Articles & Books
- Just-in-Time Teaching and Peer Instruction, Eric Mazur and Jessica Watkins: http://mazur.harvard.edu/sentFiles/Mazur_274365.pdf
- Just-in-Time Teaching, A. Gavrin: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/muj/article/view/20284/19877
- Just-in-Time Teaching, Gregor M. Novak: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tl.469/epdf